One of my favorite backyard birds is the summer tanager. The male is Georgia’s only all red bird. Unfortunately, I do not see summer tanagers as often as I would like. In fact, I see more bathing in birdbaths than moving about the canopies of the numerous trees scattered across my property. Fortunately, for the past few weeks I have been hearing them practically every day calling from the canopy of the numerous trees scattered about my property, their picky-tucky-tuck call is unmistakable.
If I saw the birds more often, perhaps I would have better luck watching them capture wasps and bees. Tanagers catch these insects in flight. When a tanager captures one of these stinging insects it lands and beats them against a branch and removes the insect’s stinger. Studies have found that a single tanager may capture and eat 10-20 wasps and bees a day.
The Summer Tanager is certainly a favorite of mine. But I rarely get to actually see one, even in a bird bath.
Last week, my wife and I, were able to observe a Cooper’s hawk defeather a Mockingbird and fly away with the carcass. We didn’t see him catch it but were able to observe the act which took about 10 minutes. Such observations are probably rare, but we were in the right place. This occurred around 7 a.m.
Wow! You indeed were in the right place at the right time. It has been my experience that far too often I miss a great photo opt because I didn’t have my camera with me.