Another fall image with new birds. Technically this one isn't quite right-- the male tanager would look similar to the female (yellow w/black wings) in the fall months... but I took a little artistic license and kept him in his summer scarlet plumage. Also shown the left in the image is the male Wilson's Warbler. While the Wilson's Warbler visits backyards throughout the US, I had to travel to Gettysburg, PA to see my first Scarlet Tanager. Scarlet Tanagers are found East of the Mississippi River in the United States and Southern Canada and down through the Caribbean into Columbia, Equator, Peru and Bolivia. They breed in mature deciduous forests and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests in eastern North America and primarily eat insects. Males, in summer, have blood red heads and body with black wings and tail. During migration to the south, they trade their scarlet plumage for yellowish-green heads and body, resembling the females, but with black wings and tails. Overall, Scarlet Tanager populations appear stable, although their numbers have fluctuated regionally in the last several decades. The species increased in parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes, and South but declined in areas of the Northeast and New England. Partners in Flight estimates there are about 2.2 million Scarlet Tanagers, with 93 percent of the breeding population in the United States. Scarlet Tanagers are interior forest species, so changes in land-use fragmentation by development as well as regrowth as cleared land reverts to forest may be responsible for some of these conflicting trends. In fragmented landscapes, nests are in greater danger of being parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds and from predators that operate along habitat edges. To safeguard the Scarlet Tanager population, researchers recommend preserving and restoring mature forest habitat for breeding, migrating, and wintering birds. Rendered in Poser 2014 without postwork. Model Credits: Forest Autumn (Andrey Pestryakov/DAZ), Scarlet Tanagers and Wilson's Warbler (me/Hivewire3D), Perching Place Oak Branch (me/Hivewire3D)