Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 39
Western Tanager
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Birds of the Rockies, 1902 · No restrictions
Bird

Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana
Cardinals and Allies (Cardinalidae)
Heading out
Summer visitor. Expected here roughly Apr to Oct. Moving on: expectation falls from 33% now to 17% a month from now.
Field marks
A yellow bird with black wings and tail and two wing bars; the breeding male has a flaming red-orange head, like a lemon that caught fire at one end.
Male & female
Females and winter males are olive-yellow with greyer wings and no red.
Voice
A hoarse, robin-like song, slower and burrier, and a rising 'pit-er-ick' call.
Diet
Insects, especially wasps and bees, plus berries in late summer.
Habitat
Open conifer and mixed forest in summer; winters in Mexico and Central America.
Nesting
A loose cup out on a conifer branch; 3–5 eggs.
Size
6–7½ in long, about 1 oz: two slices of bread, painted by someone excited.

The red on the male's head comes from a pigment (rhodoxanthin) picked up from insects, not made by the bird itself: you are what you eat, and he eats red. Gone south by October.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 3 calls on 2 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 30

0100:00 — 1 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 1 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 1 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
12Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 1 callsOct 30 — 2 callsOct 31 — 0 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

From the encyclopedia

The western tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species' plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.
From Wikipedia, "Western tanager", CC BY-SA 4.0.