By Kathy Raines
Special to the PARADE
A bright red bird! And it’s not a cardinal! And it’s not fluttering away at first glimpse!
During April, the peak of spring migration in South Texas, one often spots a summer, scarlet, or occasionally, a western tanager resting on one of our low branches—to the delight of photographers unable
to convince fluttery warblers to strike a pose. We are indeed fortunate hosts.
In much of their nesting and wintering grounds, tanagers dwell and hunt so high in the treetops that locals seldom see them.
Though Scarlet Tanagers, distin- guished by the breeding male’s black wings and tail, pass through our state to nest in the Midwest or East, Summer Tanagers, which are primarily birds of the Southeast and lower Midwest, nest throughout most of Texas. Most com- monly, Summer Tanagers nest in East Texas, but can also be found nesting along the Edwards Plateau and in the Coastal Prairies and Trans-Pecos re- gions.
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