Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Benha
1957
Melospiza melodia
3,
26 March
Bridge SU of LSB - at N side of bridge,
heard a bird sing + another trill. Both were
in bases of Eucalyptus trees. Singing bird I
assume is trilling female. When I sang, she trilled &
would fly toward her with tail fanned. Then
he would retreat + sing, & she would trill. The
procedure repeated several times. She stayed
low in bushes, could not see her always. He
flew to live oak nearer LSB, sang. Than he
went to S side of bridge + sang. Heard trills
too, not on N side - she must have moved
also. A third bird during all this was
in a nearby tree, active, giving normal
call notes as well as weak, thin chirps.
Assume it is &. Must be just on edge of
territory.
Downstream from last locality
a pair down here, also in the singing -
trilling routine. Main activity in and
around a clump of Purple Flowering Raspberry,
somewhat across stream on either side
esp. downstream. The downstream part of
their activity must lie at a territory boundary.
As they flew upstream in a chase, another
pair appeared from downstream and then
the first pair came back. There were at least
3, probably 4 birds feeding very close - a foot or
so at times, but no fighting. Occasionally
the upstream bird would fly into lower
branches of tree + sing. Didn't hear either bird
sing until first bird had gone back upstream.
The area of overlap is by a little waterfall -