Summer Tanager - Vancouver, BC

Summer Tanager are very rare visitors to the west coast and even more rare north of the US-Canada border. This immature male bird had made an area in and around the Marpole Neighborhood of Vancouver its home for a stint. He was dodging in and out of a Laurel picking away a the feeders in the area. The red flecking on the face and partial red rump identifies this bird as a young male just coming into his soon to be overall red colors. These birds usually spend their winters from Mexico south to the northern half of South America. Immature birds sometime go on walk-a-bout in the fall and don't head south for some time. For more details on this rare bird and others in British Columbia, go to British Columbia Rare Bird Alert.