Two old friends (1 male 1 female) said good morning by calling for their breakfast [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

X post in GD.

My 3-26-15 post about putting out jelly the first time this year full of old photos: http://www.democraticunderground.com/12081244

We don't leave bird food out overnight because of the raccoon's. I had already let the dogs out (checking to make sure we didn't have turkeys in the yard first) when we got up. We had the windows open overnight for a gentle cool breeze.

With the windows open, Marta and I soon heard the familiar call. A male Summer Tanager was calling for his grape jelly breakfast. I rushed out and fed everybody.

Our first major returnee that we know of. The photo below is a couple years old. We will have some new photos up in the next couple weeks.




Much more including their songs at link: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Summer_Tanager/id



The only completely red bird in North America, the strawberry-colored male Summer Tanager is an eye-catching sight against the green leaves of the forest canopy. The mustard-yellow female is harder to spot, though both sexes have a very distinctive chuckling call note. Fairly common during the summer, these birds migrate as far as the middle of South America each winter. All year long they specialize in catching bees and wasps on the wing, somehow avoiding being stung by their catches.