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Scarlet tanager on spring oak · 80% cotton / 20% polyester fleece · eight garment-dyed colors · Comfort Colors 1566 · printed graphic, nothing stitched on
Garment-Dyed Sweatshirt · Eight Colors · Designed in Colorado
A male scarlet tanager on an oak branch just coming into leaf — the reddest bird in North America, painted in a realistic illustration style with no text.
Garment-dyed 9.5 oz heavyweight brushed fleece, soft from the first wear.
One bird, drawn as the species: a male scarlet tanager in full breeding color, the body a flat, saturated scarlet and the wings and tail jet black, with the pale bill and the dark eye that tell him apart from a cardinal at a glance. He is perched side-on with his head turned a little toward you, on a short oak branch whose leaves are still small and new — the way they are in the first week of May, when he arrives. No background, no border: the shirt color is the sky behind him. No text, no slogan.
The Design
Large front-centered chest print — not a back print
Subject: a male scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea) perched on an oak branch with new spring leaves
Style: realistic bird illustration in true colors and markings — scarlet body, black wings and tail, pale bill — with a little paper softness in the branch
No text. There is no lettering, slogan, place name or wordmark anywhere in this design
Technique: a printed graphic — the ink sits in the fleece, straight onto the garment color with no background panel, and nothing is stitched or sewn on
Shown in Pepper. The print sits centered on the chest, straight onto the garment color — no panel, no frame, not a back print.
Most people who have a scarlet tanager in their woods have never seen one. He lives in the top of the canopy, in tall oaks and maples, and he sings from up there all through May and June — a hoarse, hurried phrase that birders describe as a robin with a sore throat, and a short chick-burr call that is the easier thing to learn. That is usually all you get: the song, and a flash of red crossing a gap in the leaves. The red itself comes from carotenoid pigments in the insects he eats, which is why no two males are exactly the same shade. The female is olive-yellow with dusky wings, so a pair looks like two different species. And he does not stay red. After the nesting season he molts into the same olive-yellow as his mate, keeps the black wings, and heads south like that — across the Gulf of Mexico to the foothills of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where he spends the winter and nobody down there knows what he looked like in May.
The Story Behind It
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He learned the song before he ever saw the bird. His father had pointed up into the oaks one morning in May and said, that one — the robin with the sore throat — that's a scarlet tanager, and then they had both stood there with their heads back for ten minutes and seen nothing but leaves. It became a thing between them. Every spring, the song came back to the same stretch of woods behind the house, and every spring they went out and stood under it, and every spring they came back in without having seen him.
He was fourteen the year it happened. A storm had taken the top out of one of the big oaks, and the bird was singing from a branch that was suddenly in the open, forty feet up and lit from the side, redder than anything he had ever seen that was not made by people. He did not say anything. He ran back to the house and got his father, and they stood there together, and the bird sang four more times and then went back into the leaves.
That is still the only time. He is in his fifties now and he still goes out every May and stands under the oaks with his head back, and he still hears him every year. He says that is enough. He says the one time was for both of them.
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Wear it for the song in the top of the oaks, and for the one time you saw him.
A gift for the birder who keeps a life list and has this one on it, for the one who has heard him every May and never seen him, for anyone who wants a red bird on a sweatshirt that is not a cardinal, or for anyone who simply wants one bright bird on a branch and nothing written on the shirt. There is no snow and no holly, so it is right in May and right in December, and because he is drawn as the real species, it is the one a serious birder will actually wear. Pair it with the Winter Cardinals Sweatshirt for the red bird everyone does see.
Details
Large front print, centered on the chest — not a back print
Relaxed unisex fit, side-seamed body, roomy through the chest
A pullover crewneck — no hood, no zip and no front pocket
1x1 ribbed collar, cuffs and waistband; rolled forward shoulder
Twill-taped back neck with woven label and back neck patch
Eight colors — Blue Jean, Blue Spruce, Pepper, Denim, Butter, White, Grey and Light Green — sizes S to 3XL
Ready-made design — choose a color and size, nothing to upload or customize
Made to order in the USA, printed and shipped in 2–5 business days · free US shipping, no minimum
Fabric
Printed on a Comfort Colors 1566 garment-dyed crewneck sweatshirt blank
80% ring-spun US cotton, 20% polyester, 9.5 oz heavyweight — substantial, and warm enough to be the layer rather than something under one
Three-end fleece with a 100% cotton face and a brushed fleece interior, warmer than a lighter French terry
Dyed after the garment is sewn, using salt-free pigment dyes; OEKO-TEX certified
Holds its shape through the wash, with almost no shrinkage at home
The graphic will not crack or peel. It is printed flat into the face of the fleece — no heavy vinyl patch, no rubbery texture, nothing to pull loose
Choosing a Color
The design is two colors that do all the work — scarlet and black — with a brown branch and a few small green leaves, and no painted background. The darker and cooler the shirt, the louder the bird. We left the red and crimson blanks off this one on purpose; a scarlet bird on a scarlet shirt disappears.
Blue Jean. A mid washed denim — a clear May sky, and the one on the hero photo. Red against blue is the strongest contrast in the set.
Blue Spruce. Deep evergreen. The birder's classic, and the ground where the tanager looks most like he does in the woods — red in the top of a dark tree.
Pepper. A soft washed black, closer to charcoal. The most dramatic — the black wings melt into the shirt and the scarlet body floats.
Denim. A deep washed blue, colder and darker than Blue Jean. Night-sky ground; the red glows.
Butter and White. A pale warm yellow and clean white — the field-guide look, closest to the painting on the page, where the black wings carry the drawing.
Grey and Light Green. Washed grey and soft sage keep it calm; the sage is the one that reads as spring, with the new oak leaves picking up the shirt color.
Garment-dyed colors look softer and more muted in person than on a screen, and each piece varies slightly. That lived-in tone is part of the charm.
Sizing
Fit at a glance: relaxed fit, roomy through the chest · length hits at the hip · full-length sleeve with ribbed cuff · 9.5 oz heavyweight fleece · runs true to size
A relaxed unisex cut that most people wear true to size. Size down one for a closer fit; size up for an oversized, layer-under-a-coat fit.
Adult sizes only, S to 3XL. Between sizes? We will make it right, free.
Care
Machine wash cold, inside out. Tumble dry low. Avoid bleach, high heat, and ironing directly over the artwork.
Pairs Well With
The red bird everyone sees, and the whole branch at once.
Winter Cardinals SweatshirtColorful Birds on Branches SweatshirtAll Bird DesignsComfort Colors SweatshirtsHe says the one time was for both of them.
The Known Pack Promise
Beautiful things from the natural world, on a sweatshirt you'll reach for all season long.
Butterflies, birds, wildflowers, and the quiet stories behind them. Detailed designs in the spirit of vintage botanical plates, each with a true fact from nature on its page.
Printed on garment-dyed Comfort Colors fleece, 80% ring-spun cotton, broken in from the first wear and softer with every wash. Relaxed, roomy, and made to be your cold-morning favorite.
Why we choose it →Money is set aside from every order to help protect the trails and wild places our designs are drawn from, so the meadows keep blooming for the next generation.
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