Date: 11/6/26 10:31 am From: <lehman.paul...> via SanDiegoRegionBirding <lehman.paul...> Subject: Re: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Tanager ID at Wing Street Canyon and miscellaneous
I should add that some Scarlet tanagers in the fall can have pale edges to the wing coverts, giving them a faint thin wingbarred look and has been the cause of actual misidentifications of vagrant Western tanagers in the East that were actually weak wingbarred Scarlets. But this bird in Wing Street Canyon the one obvious wingbar seems too thick and fairly bright yellow. Also, there may be pale tertial edges and the one or two new photos I just saw seem to show that the flanks are are quite bright yellow like the rest of the underparts whereas in Scarlet tanager they tend to have grayer flanks. I am making these comments from only seeing a handful of photos, so not the most exhaustive study by any means!
Paul Lehman, San Diego
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On Friday, November 6, 2026, 10:08 AM, Paul Lehman <lehman.paul...> wrote:
First off, some little miscellanea from this morning, Friday, the adult lesser black-backed Gull continued at pond 22 off the end of 13th Street and there was a female type summer tanager in the Bird & Butterfly garden.
Over the past few days, most reports of the Scarlet Tanager at Wing Street Canyon either have included no photos or photos that don't show a lot of detail, including none of the full Wing. Today I am seeing at least one photo as well as people mentioning a bird that has black wings, but it has a big yellow wedge on the lesser coverts, which means it's not a pure Scarlet tanager. Would really help if there were more clear photos of the bird or two birds that are there, but recall that there was a very strange tanager there last spring which people wondered if it was a Scarlet X Western hybrid.
Paul Lehman, San Diego
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