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Animal profile

Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

AvesMature deciduous forest, especially large unbroken oak standsLeast Concern

Field profile

The scarlet tanager is a mid-sized forest songbird, the breeding male brilliant red with black wings and tail, the female olive-yellow. It feeds high in the canopy on insects and is easier to hear than to see. It winters in Andean foothill forest.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-05-22

Scarlet Tanager

The scarlet tanager sits with the cardinals

Genetic work moved the genus Piranga out of the true tanager family and into Cardinalidae, alongside cardinals and grosbeaks. The name is a holdover from classification by appearance, and the bill shape had been quietly signalling the truth for years.

Read with evidence →

Scarlet Tanager | Daily Animal Facts