Nombre en español: Piranga abejera

Nombre cientifico: Piranga rubra

Nombre en ingles: Summer Tanager

Familia: Cardinalidae

Foto: Niky Carrera Levy/Mauricio Ossa

La Piranga abejera ó tángara roja migratoria (Piranga rubra) es una especie de ave paseriforme de la familia Cardinalidae (aunque algunas fuentes sitúan su género, Piranga en Thraupidae).

Los individuos adultos miden entre 17 y 19 cm. Los machos son completamente rojos, con el pico amarillento muy pálido, y no cambian plumaje en invierno, como otras tangaras del género. Las hembras tienen pico gris pálido, son de plumaje oliváceo en la región dorsal y amarillo oscuro en las partes ventrales; a diferencia de P. olivacea, las alas son más claras. Los machos inmaduros son similares a las hembras, pero al adquirir el plumaje de adulto presenta un plumaje rojo, oliváceo y amarillo.

En verano, habitan en bosques de encino y bosques de galería en el centro y sur de los Estados Unidos y norte de México. En otoño migran hacia el sur, e inviernan desde el centro y sur de México, en América Central, y en el noroeste de América del Sur (hasta Perú y oeste de Brasil), donde habitan principalmente en selvas tropicales. Se alimentan de insectos, pequeños frutos, y frutas tropicales.

Construyen un nido en forma de cuenco sobre ramas horizontales de árboles de altura media y alta.

Summer tanager

The summer tanager (Piranga rubra), is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species’s plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.

The genus name Piranga is from Tupi Tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird, and the specific rubra is from Latinruber, red.

Their breeding habitat is open wooded areas, especially with oaks, across the southern United States, extending as far north as Iowa. These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. This tanager is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe.

Adults have stout pointed bills and measure 17 cm (6.7 in) in length and 29 g (1.0 oz) in weight. Adult males are rose red and similar in appearance to the hepatic tanager, although the latter has a dark bill; females are orangish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail. As with all other birds, all red and orange colorations are acquired through their diet.

These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, especially bees and wasps, and berries. Fruit of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae) are an especially well-liked food in their winter quarters and birds will forage in human-altered habitat. Consequently, these trees can be planted to entice them to residential areas, and they may well be attracted to bird feeders. Summer tanagers build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch.

Voice

The summer tanager has an American robin-like song, similar enough that novices sometimes mistake this bird for that species. The song consists of melodic units, repeated in a constant stream. The summer tanager’s song, however, is much more monotonous than that of T. migratorius, often consisting of as few as three or four distinct units. It is clearer and less nasal than the song of the scarlet tanager.

The summer tanager also has a sharp, agitated-sounded call pi-tuk or pik-i-tuk-i-tuk.

Wikipedia/eBird/xeno-canto