Showing posts with label for the birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label for the birds. Show all posts

For the Birds: Hummers in Fall Mode

Monday, September 2, 2024

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

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

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?

Monday, July 8, 2024

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

Sunday, June 9, 2024

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!

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

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

Sunday, April 7, 2024

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

Monday, February 19, 2024

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?

Sunday, February 4, 2024

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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Birds need drinking water

Friday, January 19, 2024

 
Photo by Christine Southwick
At 16 degrees outside, this is what Christine Southwick's birdbath looked like.

Photo by Christine Southwick

Very concerned about the birds who relied on water in her yard, Christine bought a heating system and set it up.

Photo by Christine Southwick

This thirsty Black-capped chickadee was very happy to get a drink.


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For the Birds: There’s Snow in the Valley -- Snow Geese that is…

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Snow Geese landing. Note the black wingtips.
Photo by Ray Hamlyn
By Christine Southwick

Snow Geese have returned to Skagit Valley, one of their prime wintering grounds, near Fir Island and northward to Port Susan Bay Preserve. They spend their summer breeding on the Russian island of Wrangel, 3,000 miles away.

Snow Geese are a North American species, with both lesser (western), and Greater (eastern) subspecies, all of which breed in various parts of the Arctic Tundra. They start arriving in late September and usually leave in late March.

Snow Geese can be identified by their black tips on the underside of their wings. Snow Geese have a black edge along their bills - it almost looks like someone ran a black crayon between the upper and lower bills. 

Their legs and feet are rose-colored, but their legs and heads are often stained a rusty-brown from the minerals in the soil.

The rich farmland in Skagit County supports approximately 100,000 Snow Geese in their large wintering and migration flocks. It’s a treat to see these white geese with black under-wing tips land in nearby fields. 

They are very vocal and can be heard more than a mile away from where they are foraging.

Flock by the road. Photo by Doug Parrott

A Snow Goose usually forms a lifelong pair bond in its second year and starts raising its annual three to five goslings in its third year. The females return to their hatching grounds to breed their young. The babies leave the nest and start feeding themselves within hours of hatching but stay under their parents’ protection for the next two to three years.

Snow Geese forage by using their sharp beaks to pick up seeds and rip vegetation from the ground. Because of their increase in numbers they are starting to destroy some of their winter habitat.

Snow Geese may be hunted between October through January in Washington State, so be aware of your surroundings if you go viewing where hunting is permitted. Hunters that I have seen have obvious locations and are required to shoot upward.

The Skagit Valley is a major wintering site for Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and Tundra Swans. It is well worth the trip to go see and hear the flocks. There is an annual Port Susan Snow Goose and Birding Festival in February at the Nature Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve.

Just remember to pull off the much-used rural roads, don't approach the flocks, and respect the property rights of the local landowners.

Previous For the Birds columns can be seen here


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For the Birds: Pileated Woodpecker - Largest in North America

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Male Pileated - note red mustache.
Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

We in the Pacific Northwest are enamored with “our” large and impressive black, white, and red Pileated Woodpeckers. In North America only the Imperial and the Ivory-billed woodpeckers were larger, and both of those are presumed extinct.

Pileated Woodpeckers are 16-19 inches tall with a wingspan up to 30 inches across. With their red cap, roller-coaster undulating flight, and usually loud call preceding their arrival at your suet feeder, these are impressive birds.

They are non-migratory, can live to be 12 years old, and stay with the same partner, only replacing a mate due to their partner’s death. They have a very large territory which they defend all year long.

Father and son drinking at birdbath.
Photo by Craig Kerns
Fortunately, as long as humans leave large dead or dying trees (called snags) for Pileated Woodpeckers to use for nesting, and roosting, we should be able to keep these magnificent woodpeckers viable.

Pileated Woodpeckers are found across much of the US and Canada, wherever stands of large diameter deciduous and evergreen trees are found and the dead trees are allowed to remain.

Mother bringing son to suet feeder.
Photo by Craig Kerns
Dead or dying trees are the housing needed for these large birds. Indeed, these birds are so large that the mated pair sleep in separate cavities due to how large a hole would be needed to accommodate two adult Pileated Woodpeckers.

Creating a nesting hole for the three to five offspring can take 3-6 weeks, be 10-24 inches deep, and has an oblong opening. Both parents help make the nest cavity, with the male doing the heavy work, and the female mostly completing the finishing touches.

Carpenter ants are their primary food, followed by beetle larvae, termites, spruce budworm, and other wood boring insects. They help make our forest healthier. They also eat blackberries and elderberries and have been known to eat apples in the wintertime.

Female -note black mustache.
Photo by Yokari Yoshioka
Being insect eaters, they will gladly eat suet all year long, and teach their young to use suet feeders. What a delight it is to watch these awkward punk-headed youngsters first being fed that suet, and then trying to retrieve it themselves.

I call them punk-headed because their topknot sticks up in unruly fashion, and is a pinkish-not-quite red. Next spring their head covering (the pilum) will be that brilliant red. Even the red mustache that identifies the males from the females is that lighter color the first season.

Put out suet where you can see it and watch for these magnificent birds. You will be pleased that you did so.


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For the Birds: Fall and Winter Birds

Monday, October 9, 2023

Fox sparrow in leaves
Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

Migrant birds such as Western Tanagers, most of our warblers and flycatchers, plus our Osprey have flown southward heading to areas with winter food and warmth.

Because of our habitat-providing trees, this area has a good variety of resident birds, plus some that fly here to winter in our milder climate.

Year-round birds are easier to see in the winter perhaps because there are fewer leaves, or because they are drawn to bird feeders, suet, and liquid water in times of cold.

Two warblers who have adapted to our wet winter weather are the Townsend Warbler and the Yellow-rumped Warbler. They are a welcome splash of color during our grayer days.

Townsend's Warbler by Craig Kerns
Two migrating birds that will be arriving soon are the Varied Thrush and the Fox Sparrow.

Indeed, I have been hearing Varied Thrushes for the last two weeks, which seems early for this area. Maybe it was too dry for their mountain bugs…

Fox Sparrows could be arriving anytime now. They particularly like habitat with Himalayan Blackberries. 

These blackberry vines provide shelter from predators, protection from much of the cold weather, especially if we have snow (usually there is reduced or little snow on the ground under blackberry brambles), and there is always food such as bugs, spiders and leftover berries for them to forage.

Spotted Towhee by Christine Southwick
Our resident birds like the Spotted Towhee, the Song Sparrows and the Bewick’s Wrens all search through leaves to find their delectable life-saving bug meals. 

It is important for conservation-minded neighbors to keep areas of fallen leaves until spring cleaning.

When I first started attracting birds into my yard, I looked to other yards that had Spotted Towhees and found those birds foraging through leaves. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler on suet
by Christine Southwick
Once I started raking leaves off my grass onto my dormant flowerbeds, I had towhees and wrens and sparrows.

Suet and water kept liquid are two other life-sustaining commodities you can provide for birds.

Suet supplies much needed protein, especially when bugs can be scarce during cold weather. Chickadees, Juncos, Bushtits, Hairy, Downy, Pileated woodpeckers, and Flickers will all come to suet feeders. Townsend Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers will also eat suet.


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For the Birds: Seasonal Changes a Happening Thing

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Dark-eyed Junco female feeding juvie
Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

The Merlins nesting in Shoreline are now flying about and making lots of noise. 

The Kenmore Heronry is empty until next spring. 

The Osprey nests in Shoreline will soon be abandoned until next April, with the adults leaving for Central or South America. 

The juveniles will follow soon thereafter, finding their own way and meals.

And right now, environmentally-friendly yards have lots of hard-to-identify juvenile birds. Most juvenile birds look different from adults due to camouflage to help ensure their survival.

Here are three birds that I can offer tips to help you identify them.

Dark-eyed Junco showing white tail feathers
Photo by Craig Kerns
Many people had Dark-eyed Juncos nesting in their flower pots, or hiding underneath ferns and in tall weeds (their nests are very well made, pretty even). 

The youngsters of these Oregon Juncos, our local subspecies, are striped brown and don’t have their distinctive head-coloring yet. 

The best way to tell these flittering ground birds is to look for their outer white tail feathers. 

When you see one of these confusing brown-jobbies watch for a flash of white in their tail as they fly away.

It is usually obvious, and is what birders call a “diagnostic clue”. 

If you see that flash of white, then it is a junco.

Juncos usually have two-three broods a year, and our local birds should be on their last brood. Both parents feed their offspring. I have found that males usually are feeding the youngsters from the first brood or two while the female is on the next clutch of eggs.

Spotted Towhee - first stage

Spotted Towhee second stage
Photo by Craig Kerns

Spotted Towhees
are hard to identify their first six months. When Spotted Towhees first leave the nest, they look like over-sized Song Sparrows with tail feathers and wings that are too dark, with some spots instead of varying shades of brown on their backs. 

About three-four weeks after they have fledged, their breast and lower body feathers start molting into that distinctive orange-red color of adult Spotted Towhees, but their dark-brownish flight feathers will not change until they do their first full-feather-replacing molt next spring.

Juvie Song Sparrow
Photo by Craig Kerns
That brings me to the next confusing brown ground bird—the Song Sparrow

Juvenile Song Sparrows don’t have distinctive streaking on their heads, nor do they have their distinctive breast spot. 

They are mostly just variations of brown with shading. If you have ruled out the other two juveniles, and a bird scurries on the ground through bushes, it is probably a Song Sparrow.

Offer food and water. Both the parents and the youngsters can use that extra protein and hydration.

Previous For the Birds columns can be seen here.


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For the Birds: Our State Bird — the American Goldfinch

Saturday, July 8, 2023

 

Male feeding adult female note plumage difference - probable mating bonding.
Photo by Doug Parrott

By Christine Southwick

The American Goldfinch with its vibrant yellow plumage, black cap worn jauntily low over its forehead, black tail, and wings edged with white, is always a welcome sight at local feeders.

Goldfinches arrive in small flocks, first heard calling while flying in an up-down rollercoaster fashion.

Winter use of birdbath. Note bird in middle is a Pine Siskin flanked by two goldfinches.
Photo by Christine Southwick

The American Goldfinch is the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year: in early spring the male changes into the lemon-yellow breeding plumage that so many of us expect when we think of goldfinches; in late fall their body feathers are exchanged for yellow olive-brown ones, minus the cap. 

The females stay a dullish olive-yellow with yellow highlights that are bright yellow in the summer, and pale in the winter. Females have two light wing bars on their black wings, versus the single white wing bar that the male displays. Both have pink conical bills in the summer which turn dark in the winter.

Two males eating sunflower seeds at my feeder. There
were eight plus goldfinches including females-delightful!
Photo by Christine Southwick
Most goldfinches arrive in our area mid-April and leave mid-October, but there are always a few hardy flocks that stay and grace our presence, roaming from weed-patch to open fields, staying for a while in yards with seed-heads and seed feeders, and then nomadically moving on to the next source of seeds.

American Goldfinches are happiest in abandoned fields and roadsides where they consume vast amounts of thistle¸ dandelion, tree (especially maple), and other wild seeds.

By using their feet extensively while feeding, American Goldfinches are able to pluck seeds that other birds can’t access. 

They are classified as “granivores”, meaning that they are almost totally vegetation, eating only seeds, or maybe a few aphids. 

They even feed their four-to six nestlings regurgitated seeds, not insects.

Their breeding season starts in July, later than any other finch, timed to use seed fibers, especially thistle down, for their nests, and to have ripe weed and flower seeds for eating.

Close up of male.
Photo by Christine Southwick
Bring American Goldfinches into your yard with nyjer thistle seed, black-oil sunflower seeds, and bird baths. 

Place your feeders in an open area away from overhanging tree branches. (Note if you use black-oil sunflower seeds with shells, starlings can’t eat those seeds.)

Do not use any pesticides or weed killers.

Plant zinnias, cosmos, bee balm and perennial flowering plants, and leave the flower heads until spring for winter feeding. 

You may be rewarded with a fly-in by these cheerful Wild Canaries.

Previous For the Birds columns can be viewed here.



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