{"id":7469,"date":"2013-02-07T07:10:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T14:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7469"},"modified":"2025-09-08T08:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:14:32","slug":"western-tanager-male-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/07\/western-tanager-male-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Tanager male at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-154819 size-full\" title=\"Western Tanager male in breeding plumage, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg\" alt=\"Western Tanager male in breeding plumage, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20800%20572%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27800%27%20height%3D%27572%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg 800w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Western Tanager male in breeding plumage<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This is the only bird I could find in my files that had the same colors of the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a title=\"A Flaming Hibiscus\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/07\/a-flaming-hibiscus\/\">Flaming Hibiscus<\/a><\/span> I posted earlier this morning and since I didn&#8217;t want this to be a <em>birdless<\/em> day on On The Wing Photography I worked this Western Tanager file up in a hurry.<\/p>\n<p>This Western Tanager was photographed last spring at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/red_rock_lakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/a><\/span> in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.<\/p>\n<p>I sure wish I had been able to get closer to this flame-colored bird, the cows there allowed me to get much closer than this tanager did.<\/p>\n<p>Have a super day!<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/western-tanager-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Western Tanager photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Western Tanager was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154819,"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":[1513,27,223,12,608,2126],"tags":[4004,4430,4053,3830,2124,4062,1009,4103,165,5434,4102],"class_list":["post-7469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-western-tanager-tanagers","tag-adult","tag-barbed-wire","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-fence","tag-flame-colored","tag-male","tag-perching-birds-2","tag-piranga-ludoviciana","tag-spring","tag-valley","tag-western-tanager"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8898.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Wt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23326,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/09\/a-white-faced-ibis-in-breeding-plumage-at-red-rock-lakes-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":0},"title":"White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage at Red Rock Lakes NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The first bird I photographed on my recent trip to Idaho and Montana was a White-faced Ibis in full breeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-4403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-4403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-4403.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-4403.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20853,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/04\/western-tanager-in-the-targhee-national-forest\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":1},"title":"Western Tanager in the Targhee National Forest","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Tanager in the Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-male-mia-mcpherson-1796.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-male-mia-mcpherson-1796.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/western-tanager-male-mia-mcpherson-1796.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102638,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/25\/female-western-tanager-perched-on-a-juniper\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":2},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/western-tanager-adult-female-juniper-mia-mcpherson-8495.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/western-tanager-adult-female-juniper-mia-mcpherson-8495.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8574,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/12\/male-tree-swallow-in-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":3},"title":"Male Tree Swallow in morning light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This male Tree Swallow was perched on a fence post in western Montana last week when I photographed him while the morning light lit him up beautifully.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Tree Swallow with shaded mountains in the background, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2703.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2703.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2703.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89384,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/29\/male-western-tanager-close-up-image\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":4},"title":"Male Western Tanager Close Up Image","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I had the opportunity to photograph a male Western Tanager up close in the foothills of some of the sky island mountains in the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Western Tanager close up, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3722.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-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3722.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3722.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/western-tanager-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3722.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36244,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/23\/barn-swallow-in-a-fog-at-red-rock-lakes-nwr-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":7469,"position":5},"title":"Barn Swallow In A Fog At Red Rock Lakes NWR, Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I had forgotten about photographing this Barn Swallow in a fog at the Lower Lake of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge until I was going through my archives yesterday.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Barn Swallows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Barn Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/barn-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Barn Swallow in a fog at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-fog-mia-mcpherson-0394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-fog-mia-mcpherson-0394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-fog-mia-mcpherson-0394.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-fog-mia-mcpherson-0394.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\/7469","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=7469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}