One of the more colorful birds to grace California during spring migration is the Summer Tanager. This bird spends its winters in Central American and northern South America and comes up into the Lower 48 in great numbers. The breeding range covers a large crescent of forest habitat from the middle of the East Coast down through the South and westward to California. The Golden State is really at the western tip of this range, and so we don't get a ton of the birds here. The ones we get are restricted to the southern half of the state, and the eastern half of that. The Summer Tanager is a really great looking bird, rosy red. It's also really tough on the bees and wasps, and fun to watch feed on them. Take a look at the map below to see where they're being seen so far in May (photo by Alan Vernon):