“Chipee!” Next time you’re walking along the stony banks of a river, the bends of a dry canyon or the top of a granite peak, listen for this sound and look out for a tiny bird bopping around nearby. That’s the call of a Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus), a songbird that loves rocks so much that it forages on boulders, nests in rock crevices AND collects pebbles to decorate around its nest. Rock on little Rock Wrens! 

Art and fact by Ian Haliburton, @chapparal_pal

[Edited by Isabelle McDonald]

References:

Rock Wren Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rock_Wren/overview#