I got quite the surprise while playing “how many species will land in the tree by my bird feeders and bird bath” on Saturday when - late afternoon - a tanager with light bill, grey legs and undertail, bright yellow chest, uniform greenish across the head and back, and dark wings without wingbars popped up in the back of the tree. I do wish all tanager viewing could take place at eye level from a second story deck in nearly leafless trees! The scarlet tanager was species #11 for the tree that day (along with Anna’s hummingbird, house finch, lesser goldfinch, yellow-rumped warbler, orange-crowned warbler, Northern mockingbird, blue-gray gnatcatcher, warbling vireo, Nuttall’s woodpecker and scaly-breasted munia) , one of 26 observed in the yard on 10/22, and species #67 for the yard since 2018. Scarlet tanagers had evaded me thus far from the Carolinas to Balboa Park, so it was an extra special lifer, yard bird, and a wonderful way to spend the day.
