Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon migrant and rare winter resident in various habitat types throughout campus. Often present in oaks and eucalyptus near the Mausoleum, and occasional individuals overwinter here.
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 13 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
6 feet - 65 feet
?
3-5
MONOG ?
F: 13-15(?) DAYS
MF
FRUIT
HAWKS

BREEDING: Coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous woodland, mostly in mountains. ? broods.
DISPLAYS: ?
NEST: Rarely in deciduous tree; in fork on horizontal branch, well out from trunk; of twigs, rootlets, moss, lined with hair, rootlets.
EGGS: Bluish, marked with browns, often wreathed. 0.9" (23 mm).
DIET: Includes few buds.
CONSERVATION: Winters mostly in highlands from c Mexico to Costa Rica, in variety of forest, woodland, and scrub, esp pine, pine-oak, forest edge and clearings. Rare cowbird host.
NOTES: Female does not flush easily when incubating.
ESSAYS: Decline of Eastern Songbirds; Color of Birds; Wintering and Conservation.
REFERENCES: Bent, 1958.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).