Photo courtesy of Joseph V. Higbee

Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Listen:
Sound courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Did you know?

The Western Tanager lives among the higher branches and treetops in the forest. We can find this tanager in both planted and rustic (naturally diverse) shade coffee plantations, but not in sun coffee plantations.

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General Description

Adult male Western Tanagers are bright yellow with a black tail, black back, black wings with two whitish wing bars, and an orange-red head in breeding plumage. Females and immature males show gray to brown instead of black, and lack the distinctive orange-red head.. The red pigment is rhodoxanthin, which it obtains either by eating plants containing the pigment or by eating insects that have fed on those plants. Visit BirdWeb to read more about this bird.

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Habitat & Migration

Western Tanagers breed in open evergreen forests and in mixed evergreen/deciduousA tree or shrub that sheds its leaves at the end of each growing season.
More... forests of western North America from southern Alaska to the Mexico-U.S. border. They range eastward to western Manitoba, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and western Texas. The Western Tanager breeds farther north than any of the other tanager species. They frequent the deciduous forest canopy and also the crowns of small trees in scrub and second growth habitats, semi-open areas, and hedgerows. Western Tanagers pick food from leaves and branches, and also catch airborne insects in flight. They feed mostly on insects during the breeding season, but also eat fruits and berries when available. In the non-breeding season, fruits and berries account for a substantial portion of their diet.

Western Tanagers migrate south to spend the non-breeding season in coastal southern California, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, western Nicaragua, and western Panama. They inhabit tropical pine-oak woodlands, and are often found in shade-coffee plantations. During migration they use a wide variety of habitats, including suburban yards, grasslands, shrub-steppe, and orchards. They also visit feeders containing fruit.

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The Coffee Connection

Western Tanagers have been documented on coffee plantations in Mexico and Guatemala. It is unclear if Western Tanagers have preferences among the various shade coffee habitats. In a 2006 study analyzing habitat use by birds at seven coffee farms in Chiapas, Mexico, Western Tanagers were found in lower montaneHighland areas located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions.
More... rainforest and on rusticThe coffee-growing system in which the original tree layer is left intact and coffee bushes replace the original undergrowth.
More... coffee plantations, in which the original tree layer is left intact and coffee bushes replace the original undergrowth. The bird was not found in either shaded monocultureThe cultivation of a single crop, such as coffee, on a farm or in a region. Also may refer to the planting of one tree species to provide shade cover for a crop.
More... plantations (in which planted trees, mainly IngaFlowering tropical trees commonly used to provide shade in coffee plantations. Some shade coffee birds use Inga flowers and nectar.
More..., provide almost all the shade), or in sun coffeeCoffee grown without the cover of a forest canopy or planted shade. This usually requires intense management and chemical inputs.
More... plantations. However, in another study the bird was found on six of seven coffee farms visited, ranging from rustic to commercial polyculturePolyculture is the practice of cultivating multiple crops in a given area, in an effort to imitate a natural ecosystem. In coffee polycultures, some of the natural forest is removed; the remaining trees and other plants provide shade and offer food and medicinal crops.
More... (with a diverse canopy of planted shade trees) to shaded monoculture. A 1997 study of coffee farms in this area of Mexico found that Western Tanagers used both Inga and rustic coffee farms equally.

A study in central Guatemala looking at bird populations in shade and sun plantations, as well as in forest remnants and shrubby areas, found Western Tanagers in cardamomA flavorful herb grown like coffee as a shaded understory plant.
More... forest, but not in any other habitat. These researchers noted that the lower bird diversity they found in coffee plantations compared to nearby Chiapas, Mexico was probably due to low tree height, low tree species diversity, and heavy pruning on these plantations. These results demonstrate the importance of maintaining a tall, species-rich, structurally diverse tree canopy on shade coffee farms to support birds.

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Conservation Status

Western Tanagers are not threatened or endangered and, in fact, their numbers have been increasing since 1980. According to the International Union for Conservation of NatureA global environment network which publishes a "Red List" indicating the conservation status of plants and animals. Status on the “Red List” increases from Least Concern to Near Threatened to Vulnerable to Endangered to Critically Endangered.
More... (IUCN), the global conservation status of the Western Tanager is "Least Concern." However, these tanagers seem to prefer old-growth forests in some parts of their breeding range, and they prefer forests and shaded plantations during the non-breeding season. These findings indicate that forest management practices and land use may be important to maintain the current widespread distribution of this forest bird.

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