Scarlet Tangers and Chainsaws

I can tell another year has gone by when I see my second Scarlet Tanger. Without fail, every summer I have seen exactly two of them in different places, totally random. It could be that I don't pay close enough attention, or was not familiar enough with their song, but times they are a changing.

Yesterday afternoon, during the peak heat of the day, I thew on some long sleeves, heavy canvas Carhartt pants, and headed out to cut down a dead hemlock that has been bugging me for a few weeks. Not my best idea in recent memory.

About an hour into it I had to stop to tighten the chain. While doing so I caught a bright flash of red out of the corner of my eye. That was no cardinal, the jet black wings gave away what would be come my first Scarlet Tanger sighting of the year.

After finishing up in the punishing heat I was relaxing on the front porch searching some more info about the Tanger. I played its song a few times on my lap top to see if by some chance it might draw the bird in for a better look, and it did. It was almost too easy. The bird spent about 10 minutes with us , VERY confused as to what was going on. I decided to snap a few photos and let him get back to doing what ever Scarlet tangers do on a summer evening, and i got back to doing what I do, cold beer on the deck!