Scarlet tanager in Morton Grove

Scarlet tanagers are listed as a common bird, but until yesterday I never laid eyes upon one. Pictured is a male in its breeding plumage, which I encountered in Morton Grove's Linne Woods. They are hard to see because they avoid the ground--Scarlet tanagers prefer higher forest canopy. According to the Illinois Natural History Survey, these birds "have been known to eat as many as 2,100 gypsy-moth caterpillars in an hour."

The Morton Grove bird was prodigiously digging into tree bark looking for such bugs--way up high of course, which is why the photograph is a bit grainy.

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