Birds of Mount Shasta Tanagers

Entry 97. Piranga ludoviciana. Mountain Tanager. [Western Tanager]

One of the commonest, as well as handsomest, birds of the Shasta fir forest. At Wagon Camp, at the lower edge of the Canadian zone, these tanagers were seen every day from the middle of July until August 10, when that camp was temporarily abandoned. They were very tame, and spent much time in camp, drinking from our little spring and peering at us from the lower branches of the firs. On July 21 I saw several picking caterpillars from the leaves of the buck brush (Ceanothus velutinus) in an opening in the firs. Walter K. Fisher states that one sang continuously at his camp in Mud Creek Canyon at the mouth of Clear Creek about the end of July. At Sisson this tanager was seen July 15 by Miss Merriam.

Western Tanager
Painting by Jacob Bates Abbott

Spring song of Western Tanager © 1999 Doug Von Gausig.