{"id":20853,"date":"2015-03-04T05:28:39","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T12:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=20853"},"modified":"2025-09-08T08:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:19:54","slug":"western-tanager-in-the-targhee-national-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/04\/western-tanager-in-the-targhee-national-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Tanager in the Targhee National Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Tanager in the Targhee National Forest – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Western Tanagers could be called “flame birds” because of their bright, colorful plumage and flame colored heads.<\/p>\n

The red pigment in their feathers isn’t produced by the bird but is from their diet and they acquire that pigment from insects. The females are much duller than the male above.<\/p>\n

The bright yellow and red of this male Western Tanager caught my eye last May while on a dirt road in the Targhee National Forest<\/span><\/a> in Idaho just south of the Montana state line.<\/p>\n

I knew immediately what species the bird was when I spotted it and I am thrilled that it hung around long enough for me to get a nice series of images. I haven’t had the best opportunities with this species so I jump at every chance I get.<\/p>\n

Western Tanagers were first recorded on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and they are primarily a western bird though during the winter vagrants have been found as far away as the eastern coast. Their diet includes berries and insects.<\/p>\n

Western Tanagers breed further north than any other species of tanagers. Before long these bright colored birds will move into their breeding territories and maybe, just maybe, I’ll have the opportunity to photograph them again.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Western Tanager photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bright yellow and red of this male Western Tanager caught my eye last May while on a dirt road in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho just south of the Montana state line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2578,2244,2261,2126],"tags":[4004,4021,4471,4897,5370,3422,4062,4069,4104,4103,6761,6762,4102],"class_list":["post-20853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-targhee-national-forest","category-western-tanager-tanagers","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-bird-watching","tag-branch","tag-forest","tag-lewis-and-clark-expedition","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-piranga-ludoviciana","tag-tanager","tag-tanagers","tag-western-tanager"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-male-mia-mcpherson-1796.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5ql","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102638,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/25\/female-western-tanager-perched-on-a-juniper\/","url_meta":{"origin":20853,"position":0},"title":"Female Western Tanager Perched On A Juniper","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent time photographing a female Western Tanager perched on a juniper in a canyon out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Western Tanager perched on a juniper, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/western-tanager-adult-female-juniper-mia-mcpherson-8495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/western-tanager-adult-female-juniper-mia-mcpherson-8495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I found this young Western Tanager in the Wasatch Mountains after it came out of a Gambel Oak tree to perch out into the open.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Western Tanager in the Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/western-tanager-immature-gambels-oak-mia-mcpherson-1134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/western-tanager-immature-gambels-oak-mia-mcpherson-1134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"August 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It was fun to have the male and immature Western Tanager in my viewfinder for a few moments high in the Wasatch Mountains last week. I hope I see more soon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Western Tanager tilting its head, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-immature-perched-mia-mcpherson-2498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-immature-perched-mia-mcpherson-2498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-immature-perched-mia-mcpherson-2498.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-immature-perched-mia-mcpherson-2498.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7469,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/07\/western-tanager-male-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":20853,"position":5},"title":"Western Tanager male at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This Western Tanager was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Tanager male in breeding plumage, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}