Community Chat

[151949]

I am 67 years old and the only red bird I have ever seen is a cardinal. Now cardinals are beautiful but today I saw a different red bird. No crest , no black beak - not the shape or size of a cardinal. It looked like a red canary so I looked it up in google and there was my visitor - a scarlett tanager. It said they have a beautiful song but my visitor did not sing. I saw it go into my next door neighbors birdhouse so I think I'll be seeing a lot of this beautiful bird. Has anyone ever seen one - so pretty.

[SilleeMee]

We have tanagers here. They are migratory. The ones I've seen are bright yellow with a flaming red head...beautiful!

[vermint]

Lucky you! I've never seen one before. We have a cardinal living in our yard right now that spends the day beating his brains out on our windows. This has been going on for a couple months now. He'll take a break to splash around in the birdbath, then right back at it. My cats are loving the entertainment!

[Witchy Woman]

Never seen a bird like you described.  How exciting!  I always loved seeing a new visitor at my backyard feeders.

Sadly, because of critters destroying every feeder I tried, I had to remove them, so the birds stopped coming

In the winter, I would often see 6 or more Cardinal "couples."  It made my heart sing watching those tiny red flickers!

For a few summers, I had Indigo Buntings.  They are teal blue and beautiful beyond words!

As much as I would like to attract birds, I just gave up battling the outside forces. 

Enjoy your birdies!

[StylishLady]

We have a mate pair of cardinals that frequent our bird feeders. I recall seeing Scarlet Tanagers back north. The most colorful birds we get during the winter are the Painted Buntings. Enjoy the birds.

[IamMrsG]

Is this your bird?   If so, you're a Lucky Lady and I'm jealous.  

[151949]

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@IamMrsG wrote:

Is this your bird?   If so, you're a Lucky Lady and I'm jealous.  

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No - mine had red wings too , but is just another type of scarlett tanager.

[Zhills]

Summer tanager?

Common to Pennsylvania

[IamMrsG]

I am not familiar with Summer Tanager, so Googled it.  Here is a snipet I found:  "The summer tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family, it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family. Wikipedia"   

[Zhills]

I did notice that it was also referred to as a Northern Cardinal.  Didn't know there were different cardinals!  The ones here are beautiful.  I have had 6 at my feeder at once.