May is a great time of year this is to observe birds and bird migration! A recent arrival to my back yard was the charismatic and colorful Western Tanager. If you click on the image above to make it larger and clearer, you will see why I call it the Tanager Tree.
According to backyard lists I have kept since 1993, Tanagers arrive to my yard between May 1 and 18. This year the date was May 7. They are remarkably consistent in the timing of their journey from Mexico. Even more remarkable is seeing them in top of the same large Douglas Fir tree each year.
This type of behavior is called philopatry, a term for site fidelity. Many birds return to stops like the “Tanager Tree” with regularity during their migratory journeys. There is a Harlan’s Hawk in the Skagit valley that often winters in the same tree each year.
Western Tanagers breed in the coniferous forests of the Cascade foothills, but a few of them stop and perch on the way there and on their way back to Mexico, in the same north Seattle Douglas Fir. I am always grateful to hear the harsh “chid-up” call, and to see their bright yellow and red forms, like gaudy Christmas Tree ornaments. Keep an eye and an ear out; they could be passing through the tops of your neighborhood trees.
