This week in the woods, the summer canopy is rapidly closing, which means that the window of opportunity to easily observe summer forest birds is closing, too. Scarlet tanagers are especially hard to see once the trees have fully leafed out, because they both nest and typically forage near the top of tall trees. (They seem to be especially partial to oaks).
We found this male scarlet tanager perched near the top of an ash tree, where it was pecking at the tree’s male flowers and emerging leaves, and stopping every once in a while to sing. That singing didn’t appear to attract any females, but it did catch the attention of a male rose breasted grosbeak, who dive-bombed the tanager and ultimately chased it out of the tree.
The grosbeak then sang for a while before flitting off to a nearby oak, at which point the tanager immediately returned and snagged a big, gray-striped caterpillar (best guess from a distance: some kind of geometrid moth caterpillar, a.k.a. looper). It gulped down the caterpillar and began singing again.
What have you noticed in the woods this week? Submit a recent photo for possible inclusion in our monthly online Reader Photo Gallery.