There are always a few birds that wander off their normal spring migration pattern and cause a stir among local birders. This spring our wanderer was a Summer Tanager.
This bird was especially cooperative. It hung out in some trees behind a park nature center in a suburb of Milwaukee. It caught bees and regularly flew to the nature center’s birdfeeder for some suet. The bird stayed visible for photographers, birdwatchers and onlookers to enjoy for almost two weeks.
My friend and I love to find new birds to add to our life lists, so off we went to Milwaukee. It was a very raw, overcast May day. We asked employees inside the nature center if the bird was still around, and they told us it had been spotted earlier that morning. I expected to find throngs of people behind the nature center, but when we walked to the back of the building there was only one other person present. He had a camera with a giant lens on it aimed toward the middle of a tree. We looked up and a flash of red immediately caught our eyes. There was the beautiful Summer Tanager:
When settling into their summer breeding grounds, Summer Tanagers usually only make it as far north as southern Illinois. Their main summer territory is in U.S. southern and mid-Atlantic states. In the fall they migrate to Central America and even as far away as central South America.
Summer Tanagers eat mostly insects and fruit, and they are specialists at eating bees and wasps without getting stung. And when they wander off-course and have to spend two chilly, windy weeks in Wisconsin, they’ll also eat suet:
