California Towhee, Melozone crissalis
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![]() California Towhees are familiar birds to Californians, having expanded their habitat to include suburban parks and gardens as well as their native chaparral and oak woodland underbrush. They are a sedentary species, with long-term pairs occupying vigorously defended territories throughout the year. Males give their descending ping-pong-ball trilled song, similar to that of the Wrentit, only when they are unpaired, so it is not regularly heard; but the bird's sharp "chink" call, and the squealing duets of mated pairs, are common year-round. California Towhees were recently reclassified from the Pipilo to the Melozone genus along with their cousins of the southwestern desert, the Abert's and Canyon Towhees. |
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