Summer Tanager

Status Rare vagrant. Chamberlain (1887a) cites an undated specimen from Halifax, and Downs (1888) noted "one or two instances—spring." A bird collected on 25 April 1898 (Piers' notes) was characteristically early. There were only about 10 more records up to 1960, but since then it has been seen much more often. Among these recent occurrences there have been 6 birds in April (earliest on 3 April 1964 at Digby), 24 in May, and 3 in June (latest 21 June 1964 at Rockingham, Halifax County). It has been less frequent in autumn, with two in August (earliest on 19 August 1964 on Sable Island), three in September, and nine in October. A later male was seen in Yarmouth County on 9 November 1951, and a very late female visited the feeder of the Donald Robertsons in Shelburne on 1 December 1957. Only about half of these occurrences have been on the southwestern islands and Sable Island; the rest have been widely scattered from Yarmouth to Glace Bay.

Remarks The adult male remains bright rose-red all year, but the female is olive-green tinged with yellow, and can be confused with the darker-winged and greener females of the Scarlet Tanager. The Summer Tanager does not nest north of southern New Jersey but is now one of the most regular of the birds that "overshoot" their normal ranges in spring to land in Nova Scotia.