Pale Adult Female Western Tanager?

[wendy]

This has been a regular at my feeders for the last two days. It's eating the sunflower seeds and peanuts. It likes to come around when there are other birds at the feeders. I eyeballed it at just under 8" in length. Did I guess right? (Sorry, I don't have a good camera lens).

[Chris]

Hey Wendy, that looks like a female Western Tanager to me. I am just going by memory right now so I could be over looking something. Great sighting! Did this bird arrive May 1st?

[Gord]

I agree with you guys on the tanager. Not a bad find for early May! Good work. Thanks for sharing excellent photos and good eye spotting it.

[wendy]

Thanks for letting me know. I first spotted her at 2:15 on May 2nd. She's still here today and is working her way through the peanuts. I hadn't noticed that she wasn't supposed to be here this early.

[Gord]

Wendy, neat observation on the food it is eating. Never knew they would go after seeds and peanuts. Any book I have here says insects and fruit. Something new to be learned all the time!

[flutternfly1]

Hi, I am new here. This post caught my eye, I saw a male western tanager yesterday in my back yard...took me forever to figure out what he was! Beautiful bird! I did not spot any females yet...um..unless I mistook an American Goldfinch female for one? They look quite similar from a distance to me.
Anyhow, I didn't see him go to feeder, but my feeder has peanuts in it too.

[wendy]

(The last time I saw the female tanager at my place was May 12th)

The male western tanager is a real looker. Bird IDing can be pretty addictive too! It's hard from a distance but the female american goldfinch is 2.25" shorter in length than the tanager and their bill is tiny in comparison. The tanagers eyes are nice and round and the upper part of their bill curves down. The head of the tanager looks a little bulbous to me with a fatter throat area compared to the sleeker lines of the goldfinch. The tanager's legs are sort of grey while the goldfinch's legs are sort of orangish. Lastly the female tanager has a greyish patch on her back between her wings. Phew! It gets a lot easier the more you watch them and it's totally worthwhile.

Happy Birding.