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Going Neotropical

Western Tanager
Western Tanager

Earlier this month, I awoke to the sound of two different bird calls in the tall trees surrounding our home – Neotropical migrants heading south.  They were both here earlier than usual, perhaps due to the extremely hot and dry summer.

The first call, uttered from high in the tallest remaining Douglas Fir in our neighborhood, was the characteristic “Chid-up” or “Pri-dik” call of the Western Tanager.  It took a while to find this bird due to its uncanny ability to blend in to the tree foliage despite it being characterized by David Sibley as one of the “…most intensely colored birds in North America.”

This Western Tanager is staging here prior to its return trip to Western Mexico and Central America where it will spend the winter.  Most Western Tanagers depart from the Pacific Northwest by late October and return to breed in our conifer forests in April and May.  In the spring, the first tanagers we see in our yard arrive in mid May.  Tanagers are insectivores, feeding on wasps, bees, caterpillars, moths and beetles.

Black-headed Grosbeak

The second vocalization I heard was the “Zhink” call of the Black-headed Grosbeak.  Occasionally, this call is accompanied by its florid whistling song that birders say sounds like a drunken robin.  The Black-headed Grosbeak is easier to spot, because it parks on the feeder and eats copious quantities of sunflower seeds before making its return trip to central Mexico.

When you see the Grosbeak through binoculars, you are struck by the size of its triangular “grosbeak” bill.  This big bill is not only good for crunching down seeds, but also insects including beetles.  When the Black-headed Grosbeak returns to Mexico, it will be among wintering Monarch Butterflies, which despite their toxic content, Grosbeaks can eat.

As the Grosbeak spends hours and days (up to a week) at our feeder, it gains weight and starts to tip the feeder.  Sometimes you wonder if this newly acquired pudginess will impede its journey, but the extra fuel is necessary to complete the 2,000-mile-plus trip.  Maybe the same male will be back on our feeder next year in full adult plumage?  I hope so.