My husband came back from the gym telling me about a bird he’d seen that he was sure wasn’t in our yard, at least when we’ve been looking.
Not long after he came home, he hollered for me to get to the front window, that the same species was in one of our trees. Sure enough, there was a Western tanager, who thankfully stayed in the area while I retrieved my binoculars from the other room.
Not only was the lovely male flitting from truck to branch to leaf, but his less-colorful mate was, too. I watched for a good while as the pair went from birch to sycamore to maple and then, eventually flew southwest towards Garden Home.
I’ve linked these pilfered photos from a couple of bird sites where you can learn more about them, if you’d like. The photo to the left is from The Field Guide to Birds of North America website. The one below is from the Royal Alberta Museum website, and the link is to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology site, All About Birds.
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One of these has been showing up in our backyard the past couple days! Never seen them in Portland before. Absolutely lovely birds.
Wow, what a beautiful bird. Only pigeons and the occasional sparrow on my balcony in Paris. Sigh
what a gorgeous bird, so colourful! How nice to have them visit!
Hi Dale,
I’d not seen them either, although I knew they were supposed to be around. The guides say they are not noticable, even with their coloring, due to their low-key browsing habits…but if you google “Western tanager Portland” you’ll find a few bird-bloggers have noticed them, too.
Hi Rethabile,
Thanks for the visit. Funny, many people would sigh over your Paris balcony! My husband talks about wanting to move downtown (Portland, hardly a Paris) sometime when we are older, and I always reply, “But what about my birds?!” We’ll have a great deal of negotiation over the subject, one day.
Hi Juliet,
I knew you’d like these guys!