North America is home to five strikingly colorful tanager species, each bringing a splash of red, yellow, or orange to the treetops. From the ruby-red scarlet tanager to the golden-hued western tanager, these birds aren’t just pretty—they also have rich, melodic songs that fill the forests in spring and summer. Though they were once classified as true tanagers, science has since grouped them with cardinals and grosbeaks. But no matter what family they belong to, spotting one of these bright birds flitting through the canopy is always a treat. Let’s take a look at the five types of tanagers you can find across the U.S. and where to see them!
Tanager Characteristics
First, let’s mention a slightly confusing fact about these tanagers versus the more southern species. The tanagers found in the U.S. were originally classified as true tanagers in the Thraupidae family, but have since been reclassified into the Cardinalidae family (the cardinal and grosbeak family). Genetic studies revealed that North American tanagers are more closely related to cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings than to true tanagers of the Thraupidae family, which are mainly found in South America.
Unlike true tanagers, which are mostly fruit eaters, U.S. tanagers have a diet that is more insect-heavy, especially during breeding season. Their song structure and nesting behaviors are also more similar to cardinals and grosbeaks. Today, they are still called tanagers due to their historical classification and appearance, but scientifically, they are no longer considered true tanagers.
That said, let’s look at some of the common characteristics of these North American tanagers:
- Medium-sized songbirds (typically 6-8 inches long).
- Brightly colored males (reds, oranges, yellows) with duller females (yellow or olive tones).
- Stout but slightly hooked beaks suited for eating insects and fruit.
- Omnivorous: Eat insects, fruit, and sometimes nectar.
- Forage high in the canopy, often catching insects mid-air or picking them off leaves and branches.
- Males often sing from treetops, producing rich, robin-like songs.
- Prefer woodlands, forests, and riparian areas.
- Found in deciduous or mixed forests, often near oak, pine, or sycamore trees.
- The vast majority migrate to Mexico, Central or South America in fall and spend the winter.
- Nest in trees, typically high up, using twigs, grass, and leaves. Females build the nests and incubate the eggs.
- Their nests are often targeted by cowbirds who will be aggressively chased away if seen.
5 Types of Tanagers in North America
Check here for tips on how to attract these tanager species to your yard!
1. Hepatic Tanager
- Scientific Name: Piranga flava
- Size: 3.5 – 7.9 inches
Hepatic tanagers are only found in the southwestern United States during the spring and summer breeding season. Most can be found in the mountain ranges of Arizona and New Mexico, with some in western Texas, southern California and parts of Colorado. Open woodlands with pine trees are their favorite breeding habitats. Once summer comes to an end, they head south to Mexico.
Males are all red while females are yellow, both having a silver-gray beak. Those in the more northern parts of their range can have a gray cheek and some gray on their back. Since this species breeds from the U.S. all the way down to Argentina, there are some slight variations in plumage between the different regions.
Insects and spiders make up most of their diet, and they hunt by methodically moving up the interior of trees, searching through each branch. Small fruits, small seeds, and nectar are also part of their diet. Females do the majority of the nest building, about 15-50 feet up on a forked tree branch. Males use their songs to defend territory – a relaxed warble that sounds similar to an American Robin.
“Hepatic” means liver-colored. This refers to the male’s reddish-brown plumage, which is slightly rustier looking than the brighter red of other tanager species.
2. Summer Tanager
- Scientific Name: Piranga rubra
- Size: 6.7 inches
During the breeding season, summer tanagers are found throughout the southern and eastern United States, with the strongest populations in the southeast. They also breed in parts of the Midwest and Southwest, such as Arizona, New Mexico, and southern California. As fall approaches, the Summer Tanager migrates south to southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
Males are fully bright red and females are yellow. Immature males often show an interesting mix of the two, a watercolor of pinks and yellows. This tanager species has a thick, blunt-tipped beak that is pale or pinkish in color. Despite their bold colors, they can be difficult to find as they tend to stay high up in trees, hidden behind the leaves. Listening for them in the woods is a good way to track them down, as males sing a robin-like song of slurred whistles separated by short pauses.
Summer tanager specialize in catching and safely consuming bees and wasps! They catch them in the air, then bring them to a perch where they can rub it against a branch to remove the stinger. If they find a nest they will consume the adults first, then once they are safely disposed of they can dine on the larvae. Ants, beetles, cicadas, flies and grasshoppers are also on the menu, as are berries and soft fruits.
3. Scarlet Tanager
- Scientific Name: Piranga olivacea
- Size: 6.3 – 6.7 inches
While males are red and females are yellow similar to the other tanagers we’ve talked about, the scarlet tanager has one feature that easily sets them apart. Their wings and tails are dark. Males wings and tail are solid black, while females are a grayish-brown. Unlike any of the other tanagers on our list, males of this species molt into a dull yellow-green color, similar to females, before migrating south for the winter.
During the breeding season, the Scarlet Tanager is found primarily in the eastern United States and parts of southeastern Canada. Its range extends from the Great Plains eastward, covering states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, down through the Appalachians. In the fall, Scarlet Tanagers migrate south through the southeastern U.S., Mexico, and Central America. They are often seen in states like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana as they prepare for their journey to their wintering grounds in northwestern South America.
This species prefers deciduous forests, but will also frequent parks and gardens, particularly those dominated by oak and maple trees. The can be hard to spot in the upper canopy of the forest, so listen for their robin-like melody or chick-burr calls. Similar to other tanagers they focus on eating a variety of insects and berries. They pluck most of their insect prey from high in the tree canopy. These tanagers nest quite high up too, usually 50 feet or more above the ground.
Scarlet tanagers rely on the forest interior for nest sites, and have been negatively impacted by forest fragmentation. When able to nest deep within an unbroken forest, they are less likely to have their nests parasitized by cowbirds.
4. Western Tanager
- Scientific Name: Piranga ludoviciana
- Size: 6.3 – 7.5 inches
The western tanager is the most populous tanager species in the U.S. They are widespread in the western half of the country, breeding from Canada down through the western U.S. and migrating to Mexico and Central America for the winter. During the breeding season, they can reach as far north as southern Alaska and across much of western Canada, including British Columbia and Alberta. This makes it the northernmost-breeding tanager in North America.
All the other males on our list have been red, but the male western tanager has a bright yellow body with a flame orange face. Females are yellow also, but much more subdued with no facial coloring. They can vary from mostly yellow to mostly gray with yellow undertones. They have dark wings with two white or pale yellow wingbars. During the non-breeding season, males loose their fiery facial coloring.
Western tanagers breed in open conifer forests, especially ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine and Douglas fir. A majority of their diet is insects they forage from trees, including termites, files, caterpillars, wasps and stinkbugs. They can even catch dragonflies, but remove their wings before eating. Most of the fruit they consume, like hawthorn, wild cherry, elderberry and service berry, is during the fall and winter. Oranges and other fresh fruits can sometimes attract them to backyard bird feeders.
5. Flame-colored Tanager
- Scientific Name: Piranga bidentata
- Size: 7.1 – 7.5 inches
The flamed-colored tanager gets honorable mention here for it’s extremely small range in the United States. Flame-colored Tanagers are primarily a Mexican and Central American species, with the U.S. representing the extreme northern edge of their range. Most sightings involve a few breeding pairs or lone individuals that wander north.
Arizona: Sightings occur mainly in the Sky Islands region of southeastern Arizona, particularly in the Chiricahua Mountains, Santa Rita Mountains, and Huachuca Mountains. They favor oak-pine woodlands at higher elevations.
Texas: Rare vagrants have been spotted in Big Bend National Park, but confirmed sightings in Texas are very uncommon.
They follow the typical red male, yellow female pattern, however they have a streaked upper back, a dark cheek patch, and dark wings with large white spots. These tanagers are one of the only bird species that has been observed eating army ants! Many tropical birds take advantage of army ant swarms by eating the other insects that flee from the ants path, but not many will consume the ants themselves.
Melanie is an environmental scientist, birdwatcher, and amateur photographer. She’s been a birding hobbyist for years and loves feeding and learning about birds of all types. Over the years, Melanie has identified more than 250 bird species, with sightings of the Atlantic Puffin, Hawaiian Goose, and Arctic Tern among her most cherished.