Scarlet Tanager Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesScarlet Tanager
Breeding male
Stocky songbird with a thick blunt-tipped bill. Breeding males are unmistakable with bright red bodies and black wings and tails.
© Ryan Sanderson / Macaulay LibraryIndiana, May 17, 2020Female
Medium-sized rather stocky songbird. Females/immatures are olive-yellow with darker wings and tails.
© Marieta Manolova / Macaulay LibraryOntario, May 13, 2015Breeding male
Song is a hurried series of rising and falling warbles with a burry tone.
© Benjamin Clock / Macaulay LibraryNew Jersey, May 08, 2011Not all videos have sound
Nonbreeding male
Nonbreeding males look like females, but have darker black wings and tail.
© Dan Maxwell / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, October 16, 2015Breeding male
Chunky songbird with brilliant red plumage. Some males may have more orangish feathers on the back.
© Marieta Manolova / Macaulay LibraryOntario, May 13, 2015Breeding male
Some males have orangish feathers in the wing that could be leftover from molting into breeding plumage.
© Charmaine Anderson / Macaulay LibraryOntario, May 16, 2017Nonbreeding male
Males can have a splotchy appearance as they molt into their yellow-olive nonbreeding plumage.
© Jay McGowan / Macaulay LibraryNew York, September 02, 2018Breeding male
Breeding males are unmistakable with bright red bodies and black wings and tails.
© Steve Kolbe / Macaulay LibraryMichigan, May 20, 2016Breeding male
Breeds in large tracts of deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen forests.
© Griffin Richards / Macaulay LibraryConnecticut, May 10, 2014Similar SpeciesSummer Tanager
Adult male
Adult male Summer Tanagers are entirely red, without the black wings and tail of adult male Scarlet Tanagers.
© Alex Burdo / Macaulay LibraryTexas, April 16, 2016Similar SpeciesSummer Tanager
Female
Female Summer Tanagers are yellow overall and do not have darker wings like female/nonbreeding male Scarlet Tanagers.
© Heather Pickard / Macaulay LibraryHeredia, February 16, 2008Similar SpeciesWestern Tanager
Adult male
Adult male Western Tanagers have yellow underparts while Scarlet Tanagers have red underparts. Ranges rarely overlap: Western Tanagers breed in western North America and Scarlet Tanagers breed in eastern North America.
© Nick Saunders / Macaulay LibrarySaskatchewan, June 08, 2017Similar SpeciesWestern Tanager
Female
Female Western Tanagers have 2 wingbars whereas female/nonbreeding male Scarlet Tanagers have unmarked dark wings. Ranges rarely overlap: Western Tanagers breed in western North America and Scarlet Tanagers breed in eastern North America.
© Arlene Ripley / Macaulay LibraryArizona, July 16, 2017Similar SpeciesNorthern Cardinal
Male
Northern Cardinals do not have the black wings or the black tail seen on breeding male Scarlet Tanagers.
© Alix d'Entremont / Macaulay LibraryNova Scotia, May 02, 2017Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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Species in This Family
Cardinals and Allies(Order: Passeriformes, Family: Cardinalidae)
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