Cheryl’s bird
Cheryl’s bird
By {authorlink} – 5:35 pm
To those who read Cheryl Carlton’s email concerning a dead bird on her potted plant, I’m sending my reply to everyone because, unfortunately, it appears to be a dead Summer Tanager, as she guessed. The body and bill are the right size and color for a tanager, and there are clearly orange feathers in the vent area, and one close-up of the head shows a small orange area right by the base of the upper mandible. The bill is too light to be a Hepatic (among other things).
Interestingly, Sibley doesn’t show any orange on an adult female Summer (?). Is there any possibility its a juvenile male?
I’ve enclosed some of her key photos. They’re a great study of what a female Summer Tanager looks like.
Nice it came to SD, but we’d prefer it to be alive. Bird flu? Cat?
Cheryl wrote:
Thanks for the help, Phil. I have a lot of pics. I’ll send ones that show the orange tint where I saw it. Also one with a measurement.