The Story
I made this photo of a Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) at Finca Alejandría at Km 18 above Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It builds a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch, about 1 to 14 meters off the ground. It breeds across the southern United States and northern Mexico. It often forages out of sight high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. It mainly eats insects but regularly adds fruit to its diet. Cali lies in the Cauca River valley at about 1,000 meters, with the Western Andes rising to the west of the city.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −1 EV. IUCN lists the Summer Tanager as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) belongs to the family Cardinalidae (Cardinals and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List
