118. Western Tanager

Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) are a summer bird for us.  They arrive the last week of April and stay until the first week of September. Our best looks almost always are when then come to the pond to bath and drink.  To be more accurate, they are particularly attracted to the gravel beds that we built to filter the pond water.  The shallow water flowing over the rocks and gravel are the favourite bathing area for many species, including these tanagers, Purple Finches, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Warblers and others. This summer we intend to spend part of a day in a blind photographing the bathers, until then, these photos were "shot from the hip" during happy hour last Sunday on the deck beside the water features.