0 the summer tanager , piranga rubra , is a medium-sized american songbird .
1  formerly placed in the tanager family (thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (cardinalidae) .
2  the species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family .
3 their breeding habitat is open wooded areas , especially with oaks , across the southern united states , extending as far north as iowa .
4  these birds migrate to mexico , central america and northern south america .
5  this tanager is an extremely rare vagrant to western europe .
6 adults have stout pointed bills .
7  adult males are rose red and similar in appearance to the hepatic tanager , although the latter has a dark bill; females are orangish on the underparts and olive on top , with olive-brown wings and tail .
8  these birds are often out of sight , foraging high in trees , sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight .
9  they mainly eat insects , especially bees and wasps , and berries .
10  fruit of cymbopetalum mayanum (annonaceae) are an especially well-liked food in their winter quarters , and birds will forage in human-altered habitat .
11  consequently , these trees can be planted to entice them to residential areas , and they may well be attracted to bird feeders .
12  summer tanagers build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch .
13 the summer tanager has an american robin-like song , similar enough that novices sometimes mistake this bird for that species .
14   the song consists of melodic units , repeated in a constant stream .
15   the summer tanager's song , however , is much more monotonous than that of t .
16  migratorius , often consisting of as few as 3 or 4 distinct units .
17   it is clearer and less nasal than the song of the scarlet tanager .
18 the summer tanager also has a sharp , agitated-sounded call pi-tuk or pik-i-tuk-i-tuk .
