Scarlet Tanager on 140 lb watercolor paper. The scarlet tanager is one of North America's most visually stunning songbirds. Breeding males are unmistakable — their body is a blazing, almost neon red-scarlet, set off dramatically by jet-black wings and tail, creating a contrast so vivid it seems almost tropical against the green canopy of eastern deciduous forests. Females and non-breeding males, by contrast, are dressed in soft olive-yellow with darker wings, a modest disguise that makes them far harder to spot. About the size of a house sparrow but stockier, the scarlet tanager has a thick, pale bill well-suited for eating insects and berries. Despite the male's brilliant plumage, these birds are surprisingly easy to miss — they tend to forage high in the forest canopy, and you're often more likely to hear their hoarse, burry song (sometimes described as a robin with a sore throat) than to catch a glimpse of that flash of living flame among the leaves.
