Head to head
Summer Tanager vs Western Tanager
The summer tanager and western tanager are both North American members of the tanager family, but their colouring, diet specialisation, and breeding range set them apart in genuinely striking ways.
| Summer Tanager | Western Tanager | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Piranga rubra | Piranga ludoviciana |
| Plumage | Entirely red | Yellow body, black wings, red head |
| Diet specialisation | Bees and wasps, stingers removed | General insects and fruit |
| Source of red colour | Standard plumage pigment | Rare pigment absorbed through diet |
| Breeding range extreme | Southeastern and south-central US | Furthest north of any tanager |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Population trend | Stable | Stable |
| Habitat | Forest | Forest, mountains |
Summer Tanager vs Western Tanager: common questions
Which of these two tanagers is entirely red?
The summer tanager is the only bird native to North America with plumage that is entirely red across its whole body, while the western tanager instead has a bright yellow body with black wings, with red colouring limited to the head in breeding males.
Why is the western tanager's red head unusual?
A male western tanager develops red head colouring from a rare pigment absorbed through diet rather than produced internally by the bird's own body, an unusual source of colouration compared with the summer tanager, whose red plumage is produced through more typical pigment synthesis.
Which tanager breeds further north?
The western tanager breeds further north into Canada than any other tanager species, including the summer tanager, which instead breeds across the warmer forests of the southeastern and south-central United States.