One of the many birds that inhabit our backyards during the spring and summer is the summer tanager. Although it is one of our most beautiful backyard residents, it is a bird that lives there in relative anonymity. This is because it rarely visits our feeders and regularly feeds out of our sight within the thick canopies of tall, leafy trees. If we were able to peel away the leaves and watch a summer tanager feed, we would be soon discover that this striking bird has an odd food preference.

       Like a number of our other summer avian residents, the summer tanager dines on a wide variety of foods. Its varied diet includes fruits and berries in addition to a host of various invertebrates such as grasshoppers, cicadas, spiders, moths, and butterflies. However, the thing that separates the tanager from many birds is its affinity for bees, hornets, and wasps. In fact, it is so fond of them it is sometimes called the bee bird.

       Remarkably one of the bird’s favorite foods is the paper wasp. Summer tanagers are known to eat the adult wasps and also rip open their nests and feast on the wasps’ larvae.

       More often than not, we rarely catch a glimpse of a summer tanager hunting for insects that can deliver a painful sting to bird or man alike. From time to time though, summer tanagers can be seen perched closer to the ground near a beehive waiting for the chance to snatch a worker honeybee flying to or from the hive.

       The summer tanager is able to avoid being stung by grabbing hold its prey and flying back to a nearby perch. Once there it pounds the hapless insect against the branch until it is dead. It then proceeds to wipe the lifeless insect on the branch. This removes the bee’s stinger and other body parts that are inedible. Once this food preparation is completed, it swallows the bee whole and awaits the chance to feed again.