The Story
This male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) perched on a branch at Finca Alejandría, known as El Paraíso de los Colibríes, at Kilometer 18 near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, his red plumage standing out against the green foliage in soft light filtering through the canopy. Summer Tanagers breed across the southern United States and northern Mexico and winter in Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Adult males are rose red, and like other birds they get their red color from their diet. Its call is a sharp pi-tuk, and its song is similar to an American Robin’s. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/350 sec, f/11, ISO 6400, −1 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18 is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2024 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