Scarlet Tanager

Status Uncommon vagrant, very rare in summer. This bird is so regular, with over 250 reports since 1957 about equally in spring and fall, that it might almost be best to accord it transient, rather than vagrant, status. McKinlay (1885) wrote of its occurrence in numbers near Pictou in May about 20 years earlier, and Chamberlain (1881) documented a flight to Brier Island on 15 April 1881. Evidently the bird was straying beyond its normal limits in spring then as today. Most such records today are from the southwestern part of the province, especially the islands, but there are reports from all regions, including Cape Breton Island.

An adult male seen by Harrison F. Lewis at Sable River, Shelburne County, on 20 March 1963 was extraordinarily early. Most first spring reports are for May, although occasionally in April (average 13 May, earliest 1 April). Migrants may still be found on our islands and elsewhere into June (average of last spring records 28 May, latest 19 June). A half-dozen reports since 1965 from Annapolis, Halifax, Queens and Shelburne counties of birds in late June through July, including singing males, suggest that the species may breed in small numbers. Fall migrants generally reappear first in late August (earliest 5 August) and are usually last seen in October (average 15 October, latest 11 November). A very late male was on Sable Island on 6 and 7 December 1969. One at the feeder of Isabel Cossitt, at Smith's Cove, Digby County, after a heavy ice storm on 28 February 1979, seems unlikely to have wintered in the region.

Remarks The outstanding characteristic of this species is the brilliance of the adult male's plumage in spring and summer, which contrasts sharply with the dullness of the female's plumage. Its name is descriptive, for the male's head and body are brilliant scarlet and his wings and tail are jet black. The female is olive-green and blends so well with the summer foliage that her presence is apt to pass unnoticed. The food of tanagers is largely the insects found among the trees in which they spend most of their time. In spring they sometimes present a striking sight when hunting for insects in the seaweed stranded on our shores.