You’re walking in the park when you see a stunning flash of red in the tree canopy above you. You don’t get a good look, so you write it off as another cardinal. But something about it just didn’t seem right to you. Suddenly, you see the flash of red again up ahead, but this time the bird lights on a branch, sidles down, and grabs a large insect before it viciously begins to thrash it into submission. You look through your binoculars and this time get a good enough look to be certain it’s no cardinal, but what could it be?

Male Summer Tanager. Photos by Eli Haislip.

The Summer tanager is an eye-catching bird to say the least. These neotropical migrants call our deciduous and pine-oak forests home for the spring and summer months. During fall migration, they leave their summer breeding grounds behind and will travel as far south as the rain forests of Bolivia. When they aren’t traveling between hemispheres, they can usually be found in the tops of trees where they are more easily heard than seen. Listen for their robin like song, or their unique “pi-tuh-took” call. Once you are able to recognize these by ear, you will be amazed by just how common these beautiful birds are. To hear this birds call check out the Summer Tanager profile on allaboutbirds.org

During early spring, the males sing and aggressively chase one another in order to establish territories. Males will take only one mate per season. After the birds pair off, females will weave crude bowls out of dried grasses and other vegetation. Females incubate eggs while the males will busy themselves with important activities such as preening, foraging and getting a little rest. After an incubation period of 11-12 days, both parents will help to raise the young. After a period of as short as 8-12 days, it is time for the fledglings to leave the nest, despite being barely able to fly. During this period, they usually will hide themselves in dense vegetation, only calling on occasion to their parents who will continue to feed them for around 3 weeks.

While visits to feeders are rare, they are not entirely unheard of. They are known to visit suet feeders, and they might not rule out a plump mealworm if the opportunity presented itself. However, they are more likely to spend their time in the treetops where they specialize in eating wasps, bees, as well as other insects, and fruit or berries. Great places to see these birds include Edwin Warner and Bowie Nature Park in Fairview.

Here we are in mid-July and the time everyone anticipates. Ruby-throated hummingbirds will soon ramp up their interest in feeders and the action will be fast and furious through the end of September.

For many of you the spring and early summer months produce little if any activity at your feeders. Why? Let’s not forget Ruby-throated hummingbirds DO NOT make the long journey here from Central and South America for the sugar water. They DO NOT NEED the feeders but will take advantage of them when they are through with nesting and fattening up for migration is their foremost concern. Hummingbirds have been migrating here for thousands of years to breed and to take advantage of the abundance of insects, which is their primary food source. They would come here even if hummingbird feeders did not exist.

August through September is the peak time for us to see hummingbirds at feeders. Based on frequently asked questions at the store there's a lot of confusion surrounding Ruby-throated hummingbirds and the first few months they are here. It is true Ruby-throated hummingbirds begin migrating through and into TN as early as mid-March. At this time you may see some activity at a feeder as migrants move through, feed, and then keep moving. Or an early arrival summer resident may visit a feeder often for the first few days as it settles in after its long journey.

Although all summer resident hummingbirds of Tennessee have arrived by mid-May, most people will see very little of them and activity at feeders will be minimal and infrequent until at least mid-July when there is a sudden surge in activity.

It is thought by many the reason for this sudden surge is they have just "come back" from where they've been. Actually, it is that the summer resident hummingbirds have concluded raising one to three broods of offspring and are ready to begin taking advantage of nectar in feeders.

Ruby-throated hummers usually raise two chicks at a time so when the nesting phase concludes you may be seeing at least 6 young hummers coming to feeders.

Since hummingbirds feed on small insects an alternative way of feeding them is available.Try placing some fruit in a mesh sack and hang it near your hummingbird feeder.The fruit will draw fruit flies which the hummingbirds will readily devour.It is quite interesting to see a hummingbird dart its specialized tongue out to snag the flies. And it is their long tongue that laps up the nectar from feeders.

So, if you have been disappointed because you haven’t seen hummingbirds at your feeders that’s all about to change. Give your feeders a good cleaning and get some fresh nectar made (1 part sugar to 4 parts water). Remember, nectar is only good for about 3 days at a time in summer heat. Enjoy the action!

Bird Bio: Summer Tanager

Hummingbirds. Here We Go!

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