Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana Wilson

 

 

 

Field Guide IDs:
NG-392; G-306; PE-26O; PW-pl 53; AE pl 389; AW-pl 454; AM(III)-196


Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs &
Mating System
Dev. &
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
..
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 13 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
6 feet - 65 feet
?
3-5
MONOG?
F: 13-15(?) DAYS
MF
FRUIT
HAWKS

BREEDING:

Coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous woodland, mostly in mountains. ? broods.

DISPLAYS:

?

NEST:

Rarely in deciduous tree; in fork on horizontal branch, well out from trunk; of twigs, rootlets, moss, lined with hair, rootlets.

EGGS:

Bluish, marked with browns, often wreathed. 0.9" (23 mm).

DIET:

Includes few buds.

CONSERVATION:

Winters mostly in highlands from c Mexico to Costa Rica, in variety of forest, woodland, and scrub, esp pine, pine-oak, forest edge and clearings. Rare cowbird host.

NOTES:

Female does not flush easily when incubating.

STANFORD. NOTES:

Uncommon migrant and rare winter resident in various habitat types throughout campus. Often present in oaks and eucalyptus near the Mausoleum, and occasional individuals overwinter here.

ESSAYS:

Decline of Eastern Songbirds; Color of Birds; Wintering and Conservation.

REFERENCES:

Bent, 1958.

Except for Stanford Notes, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).