Orange County SUMMER TANAGER!

Wow! SUMMER TANGER in the OC! How exciting is that? I ran for the bird this evening after work, but I came up empty. Here’s Linda Scrima’s account of seeing the first Summer Tanager in Orange County since May of 1980:

I went to Laurel Grove this morning, hoping to view some of the warblers during this spring migration.  I was searching the tree tops, hoping to see the warblers that move around in the tree canopy.  I heard a call from a bird perched at the top of an  evergreen and looked up and saw this tanager. It was not the call of a Scarlet Tanager, but yet, this tanager was calling.  My cell phone battery was dead, so I was not able to try to get a audio/video of the tanager calling.  The tanager’s head formed a peaked crest, which was different than that of a Scarlet Tanager’s head (and the bill looking slightly different, too).  The tanager was facing me in a a resting position, so I was not able to see the wings, but I was able to see enough of the front appearance to notice the lack the prominent dark black wings of the Scarlet Tanager.  I noticed the overall red color, and hoped that I had some photos of a side profile view, showing the lack of the darker black wings.  The tanager moved in the tree and my view was obscured by the evergreen branches.  I waited a few minutes, and decided, to move on in search for more spring migrants.  I then wanted additional views of the tanager.  I circled back to the evergreens and then saw the tanager fly in and perch on top of another evergreen, near the original evergreen.  Although I did see a few warblers while at this location, my thoughts were that I wanted to make sure that this was actually a Summer Tanager.  My mind was screaming silently that it was a Summer Tanager, but I had to caution myself because I had never seen a Summer Tanager, and this location is in *Orange County*.  When I got home, I plugged in my cell phone and took a few cell snapshots of the tanager photos from camera viewfinder. I was glad to see that I did get the side profile views, showing the overall red color (noticeable, the lack of the prominent black wings).

I texted the photos to Matt Zeitler, Rob Stone, and Ken McDermott, all who have much more birding experience than I do, and especially in *Orange County*.  All came back with SUMMER TANAGER!  Ken McDermott stated that it is a second recorded sighting here in Orange County.  Ken McDermott  saw the first recorded sighting almost thirty seven years ago! It is an exciting find.  Thanks to Matt, Rob and Ken for confirming the sighting.  Another good bird sighting in Orange County!

No, thank you Linda! Nice job with the photos and the write up too, it’s certainly appreciated. And congrats on another great find!  – Matt