About an hour ago (2 pm), I looked out of my window, and the
courtyard of the campus building where I work was suddenly full of
Western Tanagers. Individuals of both sexes flew over the building
from one grove of Douglas-firs to another, while other individuals
flew among the magnolia trees in the courtyard. For about 10
minutes, it seemed as if anywhere you looked there was a tanager
flying by. Males varied in head color from blindingly red to very
little red, while females varied from quite bright yellow to very
dull gray. It was almost as good as looking at a museum tray full of
them (biased statement)!

I estimated only about a dozen birds were seen, and no other migrants
of any kind, but it was a wonderful experience. On a few other
occasions I've seen pure flocks of Western Tanagers like this, and I
wonder about the dynamics. Do they migrate together at night and
remain associated during the day? One of the most memorable things
about feeding flocks of migrants is sometimes the speed at which they
move, passing through an area so fast you know they can't possibly be
searching for food exhaustively, but instead the act of heading
toward their goal is just as important as the foraging.

Dennis
--
Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
1500 N. Warner, #1088
Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html