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The Western Tanager Wintering in Southern California

E. S. Spaulding

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A small flock of Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) has spent the winter in the trees on the grounds of the Deane School in Montecito, near the city of Santa Barbara. The situation is a favorable one for birds. An open grass oval of perhaps three acres in extent is completely surrounded by a dense but shallow woods composed of many varieties of trees, pines, cypress, eucalyptus, oaks, acacia, and many others.

The birds arrived in a loose flock early in November and at the present writing (February 10, 1931) are still present. How many birds compose the flock is uncertain, because they usually appear in widely scattered formation. On some days only a single bird is seen at any given time; on other days two or three are noted. One day they seemed to be in the trees all about the grass oval and, from the noise made, gave the impression of a dozen or more active, feeding birds; all were in the tops of the trees. Hardly a day goes by that at least one bird is not heard.

At least three different phases of plumage have been definitely recognized: full plumage with full red head, an intermediate plumage (the specimen taken on the 3rd of February and now no. 1572 in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History) with but a slight washing of red about the forehead, which, in the high trees, was unnoticeable to the unaided eye, and a full eclipse plumage. Perhaps there are from six to ten birds in the flock; perhaps a few more. The call is the familiar and unmistakable purr--urr-up.

One thing that is especially noticeable in these birds is the regularity of their habits; almost every afternoon at about four o'clock a dark bird, in-eclipse plumage, takes up its position in an old, low-growing oak at the northwestern curve of the oval and for perhaps half an hour, with but few intervals of silence, gives its call or song. The specimen taken had a more or less clearly defined route through the tops of the higher trees, that it followed more or less regularly as to time, arriving at the Senior Dormitory about nine o'clock in the morning; but this bird was not seen with the same regularity as has been the first mentioned bird. The bird in full plumage, usually in the high tree tops, has not been seen since the first of the year.

Deane School, Montecito, California, March 24, 1931

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