Western Tanager

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Western Tanager

6/8/2023

Species: Western Tanager
Most recent capture date: 5/07/2023
Age: less than one year old
Sex: male

Notes: Western Tanagers are a rare, exciting catch for us. On May 7th, we caught one and got excited - and then caught five more! All were male, some first-years like this fellow distinguishable by their comparatively dull plumage, and some more vibrant older birds. This is the only time in the history of CCFS that six Western Tanagers have been caught in a single day.

1 Comment

Jennifer Ross

10/7/2025 10:56:23 am

I recently saved a young male western tanager here at my property in western New Mexico.
He was caught up in chicken wire and had injured his wing that had visible tissue damage.
To make sure wing wasn’t broken I had my mobile vet inspect him. She told me his wing wasn’t not broken but I would need to keep him and care for him till spring due to the fact he wouldn’t heal in time for his migration back to Mexico.
I am currently feeding him mealworms blueberries cherries apple etc and occasionally catching him flies and moths that I hand feed him.
I am wondering if you have any other ideas as to what I should be feeding while he heals.
Thank you

About

You never know who you'll catch when you're bird banding! We wanted to share that sense of surprise, so we'll be posting here some of the birds we catch in the course of our research. Some birds will be here because they are unusual in some way; others just because they took a nice photo.

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We are biologists who study landbirds in the south San Francisco Bay Area through bird banding at Coyote Creek Field Station. We have extensive training (and official permits) for our bird handling, and we prioritize bird safety over all else.

NOTES FROM THE STATION

Western Tanager

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