The folks in the Riverwalk Bird Club don't just watch birds. The group includes some excellent photographers.
Nooga.com Outdoors is happy to share their great photos by featuring a Bird of the Week.
This week, we feature the scarlet tanager, taken by Dick Schier at the Chattanooga Nature Center.
A striking black-winged red bird, the scarlet tanager is a common species of the eastern forest interior. Despite its brilliant coloring, it is often overlooked because of its rather secretive behavior and its preference for the forest canopy.
Interesting facts
—On the wintering grounds in South America, the scarlet tanager joins mixed species foraging flocks with flycatchers, antbirds, woodcreepers and resident tropical tanagers.
—The female scarlet tanager sings a song similar to the male's, but it is softer, shorter and less harsh. She sings in answer to the male's song and while she is gathering nesting material.
—The response of the scarlet tanager to habitat fragmentation varies from place to place. In the heart of its range in the Northeast, it can be found in small forest patches. In the Midwest, similarly sized forest patches have no tanagers. These conclusions are based on Project Tanager at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; more information can be found here.
This information is courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.