Summer Tanager at Wehr Nature Center in Franklin Wisconsin on May 15, 2019

My first birding stop this morning was Wehr Nature Center for warblers. I was headed into Milwaukee but felt I had to check this place out first as talk of weather pattern might give us a great day for warblers. The creek areas were very quiet warbler wise. My next stop was over at the center itself to check if anything had come in over night. Upon arriving a stunning 1st year male Summer Tanager was looking right at me near the feeders on a fence. The bird went for a bee at the hives there, perched and ate it. It took another and perched and ate that too. The bird looked a little tired and maybe had flown very many miles recently. On a third try for a bee the tanager came down out of a tree and did a small window crash but never lost flight, never hitting the ground. It was shocking to see this happen. After that it perched fairly high for a couple of minutes and then took off flying west. I remained at the area for another hour and it never returned. Hopefully this beautiful bird will come back for others to see it. A beautiful morning out with full sun, low breeze, very pleasant. I then headed back over to the creek area for warblers and it had become very busy! Images were taken on May 15, 2019.

The first year Summer Tanager, male…

With a bee…

 

Perched in a nearby tree…

Perched again…

Singing…

Here with another bee and killing it…

Eating the bee…

Tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

About admin

Window to Wildlife features the photography of Jim Edlhuber. A lifelong native of Wisconsin, Jim has been photographing wildlife for 20 years. He considers himself an avid photographer and is always trying to capture nature and wildlife through his lens. He is in several photography clubs and has won numerous awards for his work. In recent years, Jim has focused mostly on birding photography and finds it to be the most challenging.

3 Responses to Summer Tanager at Wehr Nature Center in Franklin Wisconsin on May 15, 2019

  1. Greg Neu says:

    Beautiful pictures of a very beautiful bird! Thanks for sharing.

  2. Kathi Johnson Rock says:

    Wow, wonderful captures of such a special bird!! Congrats Jim.

  3. Julie Woodcock says:

    Beautiful photos of a Tanager who looks like he may have contracted measles. Thank-you for all your wonderful photos.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *