Allan Hancock College campus, Santa Maria, California
December 15, 2007
While attempting to locate a reported Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) at Allan Hancock College campus in Santa Maria, I discovered this first-year SCARLET TANAGER flycatching from low pines around an open lawn area near the college administration buildings.
Account:
At approximately 9:15 a.m. while looking and listening for phoebes, I spotted a large passerine lazily fly down from the lower branches of a pine into a thick hedge of junipers near the southeast corner of the college administration buildings. My initial reaction upon viewing through binoculars was that I have found a late Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) since the bird was facing me and I could not see the upperparts. When the bird returned to perch in a pine then I could clearly identify it to species. I watched it for approximately 50 minutes. The following account is from memory and review of photos.
Description:
This was a fairly large passerine, clearly larger than a wood-warbler and approximately the size of a Western Tanager, but smaller than American Robin (Turdus migratorius). The plumage was overall greenish from head to tail, darker on the mantle and wings, and brighter yellow on the underparts, especially on the undertail coverts. The sides and flanks were paler gray. The first identifying character I looked for was the presence or lack of any wing bars. Any tanager in California in December is a potentially "good" bird, and could theoretically be almost any North American species. A tanager without wing bars effectively rules out Western Tanager, the most likely species to occur in December. When viewing from the back I could clearly see there were no wing bars and the wing coloration was a darker gray and olive-green, not the dull glossy black of a young male. The ends of the tertials were light gray, and the greater coverts and tertials were greenish edged. The upper surface of the tail was also gray-green, while the under surface appeared pale or whitish. This bird also lacked the dark gray mantle of a female Western Tanager. The back was concolorous with the head and nape. The bill was short, thick and flesh colored. It was smaller billed than Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra). The culmen was curved to the tip and dark along the upper edge. Legs and feet were blackish. It would perch still for periods of time only flying into other nearby trees after flying insects.
Note green-edged greater coverts
Addendum:
On December 16, 2007 the tanager remained where previously seen. The photographs above and below were taken on that date. It was also heard calling on this occasion; a thick warbler-like "chip" or "chep" note which it repeated for about one minute.
Note short, flesh-colored bill, lack of wing bars. Photographed December 16, 2007
Status:
In Santa Barbara County Lehman (1994) lists Scarlet Tanager as a casual fall vagrant along the coast. Garrett & Dunn (1981) also describe this species as casual in southern California. It is seldom encountered in December. In the recently published Rare Birds of California by the California Bird Records Committee (Western Field Ornithologists 2007), coastal records account for nine out of every ten found in the state, the great majority of them found from Santa Barbara County southward. As of this publication, two records in California (San Diego) accounted each for a December 30 and January 2 date. Photos © J. Chavez
