The Calaveras Warbler 



his head back and sings 

 with great animation: 

 choopy, choopy, choopy, 

 churr (tr). The trill is 

 composed of a dozen or 

 so of large notes which 

 the ear can easily dis- 

 tinguish, but which, be- 

 cause of the vivacious 

 utterance, one cannot 

 quite count. The song 

 has something of the 

 sharp, wiry quality of 

 the Yellow Warbler's. 

 A male heard at Ka- 

 nawyers was actually 

 confusing by reason of 

 the quality ; tsewick, 

 tsewick, tsewick, tse, tse, 

 tse, or it' sick, it' sick, it'- 

 sick, it'se keee. This 

 bird moved about rest- 

 lessly in a tall fir tree 

 as he sang, and he had 

 to deliver himself of this 

 message, or challenge, or 

 declaration of love, once 

 every twenty seconds. 



While the female is 

 sitting upon a neatly 

 turned nest, sunk flush 

 with the ground at the 

 base of some small sap- 

 ling or bush clump, the 

 male takes good care not to be seen in the immediate neighborhood. His 

 voice is so penetrating that it may distill a sufficient consolation for the 

 brooding mate from any one of a dozen stations a hundred yards away. 

 The finding of a nest, therefore, is a matter of accident rather than atten- 

 tion ; or, if you insist upon inspecting the whole hillside on hands and knees, 

 you must be prepared to count a nest of the Calaveras Warbler's close 

 associates, the Tolmie Warbler, the Spurred Towhee, or the Sierra Junco, 

 a sufficient reward. 



Taken in Fresno County 



ARE BIRDS AWARE? 



Photo by the A uthor 



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