For The Birds: That Little Jobbie with the White Tail Feathers

Male Oregon Junco
Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

Are you seeing birds dive into a bush, showing a flash of white tail feathers? In this area those are juncos. 

Stand still, watch for movement and flashes of white on or near the ground and listen for their contact call, a kind of a clicking sound.

Dark-eyed Juncos are the most common bird in North America with our area having them all year long. 

The more white outer feathers, the older the bird.
Photo by Chris Southwick

The Middle US only has them during wintertime when they migrate from Canada—that’s where they are known as Snowbirds.

Juncos are part of the Sparrow family and eat and nest mainly on the ground. The Dark-eyed Juncos we have here are a sub-species called Oregon Juncos.

The rapid trill of the mate-seeking, territorial male is delightful, and if you find a nest in a hanging basket, it is probably a junco’s. 

Juncos do not use nest boxes, preferring to hide their nests on or near the ground. I’ve had juncos nesting in evergreen clematis and other low dense bushes. 

This male is feeding his young while the
 mother is probably on a second brood
Photo by Chris Southwick

The female, who sometimes sings, hides her nest for 3-5 eggs, usually in a clump of grass, behind a log, rock or tree root. Some have learned that fuchsia baskets, whose flowers hummingbirds frequent, make great nesting sites. (Tip - use a watering can with a long spout to water the edges of the plant until the babies fledge.)

Both parents feed their young and often raise a second brood here, with the father feeding the first brood while the female is on the second brood. The male has a dark black head and hood, the female’s is grayish sometimes with a little brown.

Presumed successful nest found
while pruning ferns
Photo by Chris Southwick

Since juncos are ground feeders and nesters, cats are especially dangerous to juncos, and should be kept indoors, even at night. Because ground nests are so vulnerable, juncos leave the nest 9-12 days after hatching, before they can fly.

If you want juncos in your yard, plant flowers and put up a feeder (they like millet). 

Provide water and shrubs, and evergreen trees for shade. Juncos prefer escape routes using multi–stemmed shrubs, like rhodys and snowberry. 

Besides, it’s fun to watch them plummet from a small branch, and brake just before certain destruction.

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For the Birds: Our Smallest Songbirds

Crown of male Golden-crowned Kinglet
Photo by Chris Southwick

Our Smallest Songbirds 

By Christine Southwick

Do you know that we have two songbirds in our area that are smaller than Bushtits but larger than Anna’s Hummingbirds?

We have both Golden-crowned Kinglets and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, which are wing-flicking nimble little birds.

Female Golden-crowned Kinglet- note yellow feet
Photo by Chris Southwick

Both are olive-green, have a crown patch, and constantly flit across leaves and branches looking for their buggy rewards. Both kinglets have two white wing bars, with a black smudge below the second bar, black legs and YELLOW FEET (if they stayed still long enough you might even see those little feet)

Golden-crowned have a striped face pattern and both male and female have erectable yellow crowns, but only males have a orange stripe in the center. In the summertime they stay high up in coniferous forests, making them hard to see, and their high-thin call-note can be hard to hear. They often hover while plucking tiny insects from conifer needle clusters.

Golden-crowned Kinglet
Photo by Craig Kerns

Golden-crowned Kinglets are mostly seen here on lower branches during the wintertime and early spring. They can often be found gleaning insects on deciduous trees like Indian Plum Trees.

Both kinglet species build their nests, with up to eleven eggs (likely high mortality) usually at least 50 feet up, hidden under overhanging branches near the trunk. Most breed in the boreal forests of Canada, but suitably dense and tall forests here in Washington have provided suitable habitat for resident breeding kinglets. 

Both Golden-crowned Kinglets and Ruby-crowned Kinglets can be found from sea level up to 10,000 feet elevation.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Photo by Doug Parrott

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet has a plain face with a bold white eye-ring. Only the males have the erectable red crown.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are often found with other small birds during winter but are most obvious in the spring and fall when they migrate to/ from their higher elevation breeding locations. During travel they search for bugs on lower branches than the rest of the year.

During March-April, I listen for a “Cheebe cheebe che “ “Cheebe che” of the Ruby-crowned. The Golden-crowned Kinglets have a high repeated buzz. So, listen for the songs of these two kinglets. Often you will hear a kinglet before you see it. Look for these little wing-flicking energetic birds-they are a delight to watch.

Previous For the Birds columns here

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For the Birds: Barred Owls Live Here

Barred Owl on snag
Photo by Doug Parrott

By Christine Southwick

Barred Owls are in our Shoreline neighborhoods. Since they don’t migrate, they are heard all year long in areas of dense large trees which are needed for nesting. 

These owls are often found near streams or ponds because of the diversity of prey like moles, voles, squirrels and rabbits. 

Adaptable to varied treed habitat they are often heard in large conifers while they are hunting.

Here's lookin' at you, kid!
Photo by Elaine Chuang

Barred Owls are frequently vocal with the distinct call of “Who Cooks for You? Who Cooks for You All…ll..  

Barred Owls generally hunt at night - but can often be heard just after sunrise or before sunset.

Even though they started on the east coast, following areas with trees they have succeeded in expanding from the eastern US through Canada, and down into the Pacific Northwest.

Barred Owl
Photo by Doug Parrott

This has put the native Spotted Owl, which are old-growth specialists, into competition with these more adaptable owls. 

The Barred Owls appear to be winning.

Barred Owls are monogamous and form long-term pair bonds. These bonds are maintained throughout the year, and pairs may defend their territories year-round, especially in the fall when their youngsters are dispersing 

Note: runners and walkers should use other routes and avoid areas where attacks have occurred. Using their sharp talons is the only defense these owls have.

Barred Owls nest in natural tree hollows, or in old nests like hawk’s or squirrel’s and will use artificial nest boxes. They add little or no material to the nest. The female typically incubates 2-3 eggs for about 30 days, while the male brings her food. 

He continues to bring food for all until about 4-5 weeks when the young leave the nest and venture onto nearby branches, which is called “branching”.  

The female then starts hunting and helps feed their young. Young Barred Owls begin to take short flights at 10 weeks.

The only natural enemy of Barred Owls is the Great Horned Owl, of which we have some in Shoreline. Barred Owls usually stay silent when they hear Great Horned Owls and have been known to move to new territory to avoid a Great Horned Owl.

Great Horned Owl
Photo by Doug Parrott

Barred Owls have dark brown eyes and a yellow bill. Great Horned Owls have yellow eyes and a dark bill.

The greatest threat to the rat-and-mice-catching Barred Owls is loss of large trees, and rat poison.

These are special birds. Hope you hear and see one soon.

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For the Birds: Our NW Christmas Bird

Female Varied Thrush. Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

The Northern Cardinal is considered the Christmas Bird due to its bright red coloring.

But we in the western US do not have Northern Cardinals. Southern Arizona has some, but that is as close as they come to the rest of the West.

We don’t really have any winter birds with much red or green for that matter. We have Spotted Towhees with their rufous sides, Pileated Woodpeckers with their red caps, Red-breasted Sapsuckers with their red heads, but our own distinctive bird that is a winter visitor would be preferable.

When an area doesn’t have the most recognized U.S. Christmas bird symbol in their area, what is the alternative?

Male searching leaves for delectable morsels. Photo by Craig Kern

Varied Thrushes fit the bill. Their coloring is so impressive they could be a Christmas ornament, and their ethereal winter song is distinctive and delightful.

They are in the same family as American Robins, same size and shape, but more vividly colored.

The male has a burnt-orange stripe above his eyes that match his vivid breast and belly. He has a wide black necklace, and his head, back and tail are a bluish slate color. If that isn’t enough to make it look like an ornament, the wings are a bold pattern of slate, black and orange.

Female in front male in back they often chuck to each other.
Photo by Craig Kerns.

The females have the same pattern, but their backs are brown rather than slate-color, so the overall impression of the female is “What is that orange bird?” The necklace on some females is hard to see — but it is there.

Varied Thrushes breed at higher elevations and come down to our area during winter months looking for seeds and berries. They frequent Himalayan Blackberries and yards with leaves looking for tasty bug snacks.

As a Pacific Northwest bird, they particularly like dense forests and bushes, especially near streams and water, but they will sometimes dart out into yards during the winter.

Varied Thrushes will eat from feeders with ledges.
Photo by Christine Southwick

In the wintertime Varied Thrushes will eat from feeders. Planting native fruiting shrubs is also a good way to attract them into your yard. Huckleberry and salmon berry are good plants for birds.

Snowberries are an easy plant to grow. The white berries throughout the winter add interest to an otherwise drab yard, and once there has been a frost, Varied Thrushes and Spotted Towhees will eat those berries. Often while foraging you’ll hear a cute little “Chuck,” “Chuck.”

May your yard have our NW Christmas Bird this year!

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For the Birds: Fall is Here

Fox Sparrow enjoying liquid water during freezing time

Story and photos by Christine Southwick

Fall is here. Gone are the summer birds. Not until spring will we delight in the songs of the migrating Yellow-rumped Warblers, nor catch the passing notes of the Pacific Slope Flycatchers.

Snow geese are just starting to arrive from Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast and will stay in Washington until sometime in April. The Skagit and Frazer deltas with their farmed fields and the native bulrushes support the largest flocks on the West Coast.

Shorebirds like the Black Turnstone should be showing up soon to winter here until they leave in April for their Alaskan breeding grounds.

Hairy Woodpecker
note her bill is as long as the width of its head

Fox Sparrows and Varied Thrushes could start being seen. My heart quickens to hear the first hauntingly beautiful notes of the wintering Varied Thrush. 

Homeowners with enough native plants and trees generally have these lovely birds until early May. It may surprise you that both species can often be found in Himalayan Blackberry with its sheltering habitat, leftover fruits and bug meals.

One of the many delights of living in an area with large trees is that we have five species of woodpeckers here:

Pileated—the largest, most vocal, and impressive with its dramatic red crest;

Hairy—reasonably common, medium sized with a bill the same length as the width of its head

Downy—diminutive, not much larger than Black-capped Chickadees, with a short bill.

Downy Woodpecker
note how small he is and how short his bill

Northern Flicker—smaller than the Pileated, also vocal, especial during breeding season, unusual in that it not black, but has a pleasantly varied-colored plumage.

Red-breasted Sapsucker—not very common. It prefers cottonwoods for nesting with its softer wood. 

These are the woodpeckers that leave a series of small shallow holes in the bark of trees. 

They like the energy content of the sap, and other birds, including Anna’s Hummingbirds, will partake in this quick often buggy treat.

Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees are year-round residents. 

Anna Hummingbirds have become year-round residents, and some Townsend’s Warblers now stay through the winters.

Red-breasted Sapsucker
note the shallow sap holes it has drilled

Keep liquid water all year long—birdbath heaters that come on when it's cold are available and will provide much need liquid during freezing temperatures.

Suet will provide quick needed energy. I keep my feeders dry by having baffles over them, and I watch for spoiled seed which I promptly throw away.

Previous For the Birds articles here

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For the Birds: Ground-loving Song Sparrows

Song Sparrow on alert between bushes.
Photo by Christine Southwick

By Christine Southwick

The summer Dark-eyed Juncos have finished reproducing and have mostly moved on. 

Leaves are starting to drop, creating visual spaces under bushes and shrubs. 

Now you can see small brown chunky birds moving about on the ground eating insects and seeds which help keep your yards healthy. 

What are these feathery skulkers?

Song Sparrow showing back and side coloring.
Photo by Christine Southwick

There are 29 sub-species in the US. 

Our local Song Sparrows are large-ish chunky dark sparrows, with a long tail that they pump while eating and while flying low from one shrub to the next cover. 

Their head is streaked with rich browns and light grays between, with a distinct eyeline running from the bill to the shoulders. 

The back and shoulders are streaked, and the breast usually has a dark center.

They mostly build their nests on the ground hidden in grasses, ferns or shrubs, sometimes even low branches. 

Like most ground birds, they do not use nest boxes. They can have several broods, if a brood is destroyed, each with usually 3-6 blue-green eggs. 

Cats are their main predators. Hawks, owls, raccoons, coyotes and dogs also are a danger.

Song Sparrow eating one of its favorite meals.
Photo by Elaine Chuang

Song Sparrows will often sing all year long, even the females may occasionally sing. 

Males sing to proclaim their territory and attract a mate. Juvie males learn their songs by listening to their neighborhood male birds, so birds in different regions have variations of the basic Song Sparrow melodies.

If you have native plants, shrubs and bushes, maybe a little Himalayan Blackberries in your yard, then you undoubtedly have Song Sparrows. 

Considered habitat generalists, about the only place you won’t find them is within forests. 

They eat weevils, beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, craneflies, and spiders, plus seeds and berries like blackberries, serviceberries, thistle berries and raspberries.

Song Sparrow on alert on feeder.
Photo by Christine Southwick

Song Sparrows gladly drink and bathe in bird baths—an easy way to support and to view these fun birds.

Keep some of your leaves under bushes, shrubs, and trees—they provide hiding places for delectable bird bug-meals, nourish the soil and protect plants from cold all at the same time.

Though some people lump them with other LBBs, (Little Brown Birds), our song sparrows can cheer up a drab winter day when they start belting out a song often at the top of a bush just a few feet from where you are standing drinking your morning coffee.

Previous For the Birds columns can be seen here.

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For the Birds: Hummers in Fall Mode

Male Rufus Hummingbird passing through

By Christine Southwick

Gone are the lazy days of summer where two or three hummingbirds could sip at the feeder at the same time.

Male Anna’s Hummingbirds are aggressively guarding their chosen feeders again, after being mostly low-key during the hot summer, letting females and juvies drink a while before running them off.

Male Anna's Hummingbird by Craig Kerns
Note how only part of gorget is reflecting
that gorgeous rose color

This is a sign that the season is really changing toward fall—maybe even a time to think about how you are going to keep hummingbird feeders liquid in the winter. 

Cold weather feeding is more important than feeding them during the summer - but summer feeding is so fun to watch.

We have Anna’s Hummingbirds all year long - they have adapted to our many flowering plants, tiny bugs, and our usually mild winters. 

The males are now claiming feeders for their winter feeding, only letting others feed if there are two or more feeders a distance apart so that male has to fly back and forth to defend them all, thus allowing the females to sneak in while he is at the other feeder.

Female Rufus by Craig Kerns
rusty looking sides with white-ish neck margin

You might be seeing (and hearing) Rufus Hummingbirds as they pass through on their way southward. 

Their tails make kind of a toy-boat vibration noise, whereas the Anna’s are detected by their buzzy song.

Male Rufus are dramatic with their rufus sides, bronze gorget and black-tipped tail feathers. 

They are often not seen as they only stop for a quick power drink then fly on. 

The female and juvies are less dramatic with only a little rufus on their sides and will often stay at a good feeder for a week or so, stocking up on needed fuel before continuing to travel southward.

Female Anna's by Craig Kerns

Right now it may be hard to tell the Anna’s females from the Rufus females. 

Here’s what I do. First, I watch my feeders as much as possible. I look for rusty sides - the Anna’s only have grayish green sides. 

 I also look for a thin white margin around their necks - Anna’s females don’t have that margin - their necks are gray green like most of their body.

Hummingbirds have iridescent feathers (mostly in their gorgets) which reflect the sun. 

Gorgets can boldly shine or look black depending on where you are in relation to sunlight bouncing off those feathers. 

That’s why a courting male will face the female with the sun on his throat so that she can see his gorgeousness.

Read previous For The Birds articles here

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For the Birds: Help Your Local Birds

Black-capped Chickadee really into its cooling bath.
Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

Water is probably the most important item you can provide - clean and cool in the summer, liquid in the winter. Water can be as simple as a large dish, or it can become a dramatic yard feature. Running water, like a fountain or mini stream will draw in more resident birds and even migrants flying over, needing a refreshing stop.

Black-headed Grosbeak, male
Photo by Craig Kerns

Plant trees and native bushes for food, roosting, and hiding places for most of our local birds. 

Keep large trees (dead trees made-into-snags are vital for larger cavity birds) for nesting sites, and plant native serviceberry trees and/or crabapple trees, or other fruiting native trees like Indian Plum and bushes like Snowberries. 

By planting native vegetation, local insects, which birds need to survive, will be found and controlled by our native birds. Birds are great pollinators which help fruits and even flowers.

Think about creating your yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat to help compensate for major habitat loss—the most dangerous cause of loss of birds—both in numbers and in species.

Golden-crowned Kinglet juvie note the gape coloring
Photo by Craig Kerns

If you have insects that are eating some of your plants too fast, spray them off with water, hand pick, or buy beneficial insects, and attract more insect-eating birds into your yard with water and habitat. That will make both you and local birds happy.

Pesticides kill an estimated 72 million birds each year! So don’t use pesticides. They aren’t good for birds, kids, dogs, cats, or the environment.

Western Tanager, breeding male just passing through, stopping for a much needed drink
Photo by Craig Kerns

And please, watch for cats. Spray them with water if they come into your yard. They will learn to go elsewhere, at least when they see you.

Cats are an invasive species which kill approximately 2.4 billion birds EACH year!

As a cat owner, I love my cat(s). Most cats will easily adjust to watching birds through windows, and chatter away and swish their tails. I had one cat that really wanted outside. I built a successful small enclosed outside area with a cat door access so it could go in and out of the house unassisted. 

My cats and I are happy and the birds are safe. So, for the few cats that insist on going outside, that is a do-able solution that also keeps cats safe from our neighborhood coyotes, cat fights, and being hit by cars. (There are fancy catios available if you prefer.)

Seed and suet also help birds and make bird watching a delight. Suet can be used all year around and helps provide protein when the bugs are sparse—especially welcome while hungry fledglings are learning to hunt bugs.

Previous For the Birds columns here

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For the Birds: House Finch or Purple Finch?

House Finch pair note white on wings
Photo by Chris Southwick

By Christine Southwick

So you have a reddish bird on your feeder. What is it?

In our area it will be either a House Finch or a Purple Finch (Cassin’s Finches are higher up in the mountains).

Firstly, both birds are reddish tinted—to my eye there is no purple in a Purple Finch—raspberry coloring yes, but definitely not purple.

The house finch, especially in early spring can be bright red, and can be easily confused with the Purple Finch at first glance.

Lucky for us there are some distinct differences.

House Finch males have brownish wings with white wing bars and no red on their shoulders or wing edges. (Note: depending on food, some House Finches can be orangish, but that is not common.) House Finches of both sexes have streaking from their breast all the way to their tail.

Purple Finch pair note clear belly on female.
Photo by Chris Southwick

Purple Hinch males have a delightful raspberry red coloring over most of their body, except for their clear white underbellies. 

Their wings have a brownish undertone, but the raspberry wing bars and edges dominate. 

Their bellies, and those of the females are clear white, without streaking. Both House Finches and Purple Finches have reddish coloring on their tails.

One of the easiest physical differences is that Purple Finches have an exaggerated eyebrow—white on the female, raspberry on the male-just lighter than the rest of his head.

Females of both finches are brownish with no red at all. The best way to tell the adult female Purple Finch from the adult female Purple Finch is to look for that eyebrow. Purple Finches have shorter tails than House Finches, but that usually doesn’t help me.

House Finch female Photo by Craig Kerns

Not all brown-colored finches in the summer are females. 

Young males of both House Finches and Purple Finches are without any red until their second year, when they molt into their adult plumage.

For me, the easiest way to identify Purple Finches is to hear them singing their rich melodious song that end with clear notes. 

The House Finch’s song usually ends more quickly and with muted notes. 

Purple Finches appear chunkier that the House Finches which often appear thinner. 

Then I look for those other diagnostic clues.

Male Purple Finch note eyebrow
Photo by Chris Southwick

Enjoy these year-round birds. Often you will have only a couple of Purple Finches, but if you have House Finches there will usually be several.

Purple and House Finches nest in trees, usually evergreen, but do not use nest boxes. 

Their favorite birdseed is sunflower seeds—with or without shells. Water, especially this hot summer, will help bring them in.

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For the Birds: Bugs Beware – Nuthatches on Duty

Nuthatch on fountain. Photo by Christine Southwick

By Christine Southwick

If you see an energetic small bluish bird with a black eyestripe zig-zagging headfirst down your trees, your trees are being gleaned of bugs and protected by Red-breasted Nuthatches.

Red-breasted Nuthatches eat beetles, spiders, ants, caterpillars, earwigs, and other tasties and feed these to their nestlings. They actively devour spruce budworm. These delightful birds readily come to feeders for peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet. In the winter they also eat conifer seeds, and any of those seeds/peanuts that they cached earlier.

Note: The theme for this year’s International Migratory Day is “Protect Insects - Protect Birds”.

Photo by Christine Southwick

These nuthatches build their nests in softer wood, especially in dead or dying trees, trees with dead tops or even just a softer space under a dying branch. They prefer conifer forests. They especially like cottonwood and alder that are near pines, firs, or cedars.

It is unusual for a non-woodpecker to excavate a nest hole, but both the female and male Red-breasted Nuthatches do this excavating. After they have lined the nest, they smear pine resin around their entrance hole, a unique practice to deter predators. The parents fly directly into the hole to avoid that goo.

Both feed their young 18-21 days in the nest, and then for two weeks after they fledge. She may have up to eight eggs and stays silent while on the eggs. The male feeds her while she is on the nest.

When these nestlings fledge you can track where they are by their loud tin-horn sounding “Yank, Yank.” Red-Breasted Nuthatches don’t have a song per se, their contact calls resemble something like a tin horn, which makes them easy to locate.

Nuthatch photo by Christine Southwick

They prefer to make their own nest holes, but they occasionally use nest boxes. They are fussy about sizing and aging (a preferred nest box mimics their deep, often 8-inch cavity) so it is better to put a nestbox up over the winter, which also offers shelter for local birds.

Save snag trees for the birds. Loss of habitat includes suitable trees for all kinds of cavity nesters.

When you hear their “Yank, yank” calls, especially if a brood has fledged, look for these delightful birds learning to use your suet.

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For the Birds: Yellow Birds - Oh So Pretty!

Orange-crowned Warbler
Phoro by Dan Streiffert

By Christine Southwick

How many local insect-eating yellow birds can you identify?

Townsend's Warbler
Photo by Craig Kerns

Townsend's Warbler can be found here all year. They prefer evergreen forests, but in winter will use deciduous forests as well. Birdbaths and suet will draw them into your yard.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler can be found all year long, though less common here in the summer since they go north to breed. They love to eat bugs in flowering trees.

Orange-crowned Warbler—olive yellowish green above with yellow below, with a small erectable orange crown on males. Found here from late March thru usually September.

Wilson’s Warbler usually arrive here about April and leave September-ish. They prefer willow and alder stands in dense moist areas. Fountains and bird baths will likely lure them into your yard.

Wilson's Warbler
Photo by Elaine Chuang

Western Tanager fly through our area during migration in late April-May. The breeding males have bright red heads, and brilliant yellow with back wings. 

They usually perch in trees with yellow tints (like willows) during migration which makes them hard to see. 

They can be found locally in high forested areas of Washington, especially in Ponderosa-pine and Douglas-fir forests (like Roslyn). 

The sound of fountains often attracts them to yards while migrating.

American Goldfinch are mainly in our area from May through Oct, with some wintering flocks staying and searching for local food. Basically seed-eaters, these finches prefer open areas, and will not come to feeders under branches. They use thistle down to line their nests so nest later than all our other local birds,

Yellow Warbler, male,
Photo by Tony Varela

Yellow Warbler arrive here in May and are usually gone by September. They are most often found in deciduous habitat near streams. Running water could attract them to your yard.

Pine Siskin intermittently can be here all year long, often in numbers. They are finches with narrow bills, and yellow streaks on flanks and tails.

Evening Grosbeak can be seen intermittently all year. They arrive at feeders in numbers, with the males being a bright yellow and black, the females being brownish gray with a dark head and yellow underwing coloring. They love spruce budworm. Their large bills are indeed gross beaks.

Golden-crowned Kinglet a small yellow-tinged, fluttering insect-eating bird frequently near human habitat. Usually high in the canopies during the summer they come down lower during the winter when they may join mixed flocks.

Common Yellowthroat can be heard (witchity, witchity), and maybe seen, in wet marshy areas from early April through September.

Save birds by saving insects!

Previous columns by Christine Southwick can be viewed here.

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For the Birds: Happy Morning Chorus

Communal bathing

Story and photos by Christine Southwick

American Robins start singing their lovely cheery songs just before dawn and can be seen running across lawns and curbs, suddenly stopping and tilting their heads looking for their tasty worm meals.

When you really look at robins, you’ll see that they are pretty birds, with black stripes on a white throat, and white feathers around the eyes. Females are paler than males, and juveniles have spots on their buff breasts.

Juvie learning that leaves aren't food

Robins are one of the first birds most people learn to recognize, and their size is often used as a reference, as in, “Larger than a chickadee, smaller than a robin.”

Even though we see robins all the time, chances are they aren’t the same ones. Most here in the winter go further north to breed, and the ones who breed here probably came from Oregon or California. Even its name, Turdus Migratorius, recognizes this songbird’s short-distance movements. American Robins are members of the Thrush family.

Robins are social and feed in small flocks, with larger flocks at night, and when migrating. In addition to worms, they eat volumes of beetle grubs and caterpillars. Robins watch vigilantly for predators like cats or hawks, and you can often see a robin on guard duty while others are bathing.

Female gathering mud for nest building

The female makes the nest, coating it with mud and grass before laying three to five blue eggs in a tree or under an eave. Jays, crows, squirrels, and in some places, snakes, like their eggs. Both parents loudly and boldly protect their eggs and their fledglings until they can forage on their own. Even so, less than 25 % of each year’s broods survive to see their first November.

The worm that didn't get away

Cats, crows, hawks, window strikes and the pesticides that poison the worms and berries Robins eat, take their tolls. The average lifespan of American Robins is two years, but some have lived to 10-13 years.

Stop using insecticides and harsh fertilizers, provide a shallow birdbath and plant a crabapple or serviceberry tree, and your will be rewarded with these lovely American Robins.

When you hear cheery morning singing, take a minute to watch the early bird running across your lawn, grabbing that early worm. It will bring a smile to your face.

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For the Birds: The spiderwebs were deliberate

Hard to get the spider web from toes to nest.
Photo by Jan Hansen

By Diane Hettrick

Remember the charming photos of a hummingbird picking spiderwebs out of her toes?

We thought she had accidentally flown through a web.

Offended hummingbird. Photo by Jan Hansen

She was a little offended at the assumption. 

According to For the Birds columnist Christine Southwick this is a female Anna's Hummingbird, who is in the process of building her nest!

Anna’s Hummingbirds nest starting as early as late December, although as cold as it was I suspect most waited until about now.

The females build a nest for their two small eggs using spider webbing to bind it together and to allow the nest to expand as the nestlings grow.

The whole nest is only about 1 1/2  inches across. 

 

Keep your feeders clean and active and you should see some juveniles in about a month.

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For the Birds: Who’s That Singing in My Yard?

Resident Bewick's Wren foraging in the snow
Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

If you have a small boisterous brown bird with a white eye line flitting through your shrubs, stopping every so often to belt out lovely warbles, whistles, and trills, you have a Bewick’s Wren. 

He and his mate are probably year-round residents.

Those lively buzzes, trills, warbles and bubbly songs of these wrens bring such joy to my ears.

The male Bewick’s Wren sings to protect his territory, which he takes quite seriously, and to attract a mate. 

This is a full-time effort, especially since he must endeavor to win his mate by melodiously belting out up to 22 different songs in his repertoire, and to keep other males away.

Active nest box near house
Photo by Craig Kerns

Since the majority of these local wrens stay paired they are usually the first perching birds (passerines) in this area to start nesting.

Once he has won the affection of this year’s mate, the male fashions three or four nests full of twigs for the female’s approval. 

These are often in the most unusual places; hose bib covers, boots, corners of carports, all hidden near human habitation. 

Bewick’s Wrens will readily use a nest box near/against your house. They don’t like high-traffic areas and won’t make nests out in the open.

When the female has selected the preferred nest location, she will finish it with feathers, hair, leaves and mosses and a soft warm cup for her eggs.

While the female sits on her 4-6 eggs the male brings food to her, and he helps feed their offspring. The female often has a second brood.

Score a spider
Photo by Craig Kerns

These spunky hyperactive little birds, with their tails cocked over their backs, can be found climbing on branches, skulking in blackberry brambles, sometimes upside down, and investigating the leaves on the ground, looking for their buggy delicacies, especially those tasty spiders.

If you go too close to them while they are searching for food, they will often scold you.

Extermination at your service
Photo by Craig Kerns

Fledgling Bewick’s Wrens are the same size as their parents when they leave their nests, only their tail feathers still need to finish growing. 

Since their eyebrows are rough and uneven these juvies look unkempt until they molt into their adult feathers the next year.

Your yard is being used by one of the best insect and spider eliminators, so don’t use pesticides which will likely kill these delightful super-bug-eaters. 

Let these energetic birds be your bubbly exterminators.

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