summer tanager

[ suhm-er tan-uh-jer ]

noun

1. an American songbird, Piranga rubra, the male of which is bright red: recently classified as a member of the cardinal family rather than the tanager family, the summer tanager breeds in the southern and central United States and migrates as far south as northern South America.

Word History and Origins

Origin of summer tanager¹

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85

Example Sentences

The chirp of summer tanagers and warblers, the rare bloop of fish jumping in the stream and the strokes of our paddles were the only sounds to break the quiet.

From New York Times

Painted buntings and summer tanagers flash among cabbage palms.

From The Guardian

“I see an American redstart. No, it’s a bay-breasted warbler and there’s a summer tanager, a female because it’s yellow-orange.”

From Washington Post

Birds that live both in our area and on Ometepe Island include Baltimore orioles, indigo buntings, yellow warblers, ovenbirds, summer tanagers and ruby-throated hummingbirds.

From Washington Post

In the Southern States, one of the most familiar birds in the orange groves, orchards, and woods of pine and oak, is the summer tanager, another smooth-headed redbird, but without a black feather on him.

From Project Gutenberg