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Summer Tanager Piranga rubra |
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Description: Length: 6-7 ½ inches Habitat: Riparian Woodlands Vocalization: chicky-tucky-tuck The bird in the photo is an adult male. The female has a yellowish green back and wings and a yellow throat and belly. Summer Tanagers are an ornithologically prominent feature of the last fourteen miles of the South Fork Kern River before it terminates at Isabella Reservoir. California's largest nesting population (35-50 pairs!) is found here. As many as ten nests of this "flying neon tomato" have been found in a single nesting season in the two mile stretch of riparian forest found between the Fay Ranch Road Bridge and the Sierra Way Bridge. The first birds arrive for the nesting season the last few days of April. The rest of the population migrate in throughout May. The last individuals leave for fall migration the last week of September and, rarely, into early October. This species is most often heard and seen around the Kern River Preserve Headquarters, along the preserve's nature trail (Look for it in the exposed, leafless branch tops of the largest Fremont cottonwoods), along the ranch road leading west from Headquarters, around the Sierra Way Bridge area, Fay Ranch Road on both sides of the bridge (Bird from the sides of the road. The land in the immediate vicinity of the Fay Ranch Road Bridge is private property. Do not go off of the margins of the road!), and in the Sequoia National Forest's South Fork Wildlife Area north and west of the Sierra Way Bridge over the South Fork Kern River. |
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Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in positive conservation experiences. | |||||||||||
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Kern River Preserve • P.O.
Box 1662 • 18747 Hwy. 178
• Weldon, CA 93283 •
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This site was created on October 21, 1998. Please
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