Choir of Chickadees and a Red-breasted Nuthatch

On Sunday, I spent a little time at a local state park, Black Moshannon. There, I walked the Star Mill Trail bordering the lake. Greeting me at the trailhead was a large flock of Canada Geese, enjoying the lake under a sunny, blue sky. I don’t know about you, but seeing their white tail ends stick out of the water while they dabble below the surface always makes me smile.

I began my short hike (full loop is 2 miles) hoping to catch sight of other waterfowl. And did accidentally flush two separate groups of ducks, though I couldn’t identify either. When attempting to identify ducks taking wing from the water, I do know to note whether they fly directly up or “skitter” (a kind of skipping run) over the water surface. If the former, then most likely you’re looking at “dabblers,” but if the latter, then you’ve watching “divers.” Both groups I watched were “dabblers” but that’s all I could tell.

But enough about ducks that I couldn’t identify!

I’m writing today about the Black-capped Chickadees that took exception to my appearance beneath their trees. (Watch the video below.) They descended through the tree branches to investigate me, calling out in alarm as a chorus: chickadee-dee-dee, chickadee-dee-dee-dee, chickadee-dee-dee. Of course, I loved the attention and wasn’t about to budge—which paid off. Because after the hysterics of the chickadees passed and all returned to calm, I caught sight of a Red-breasted Nuthatch clinging to the trunk of a white pine. (Photo courtesy of Charles H. Warren.) What a pleasant surprise! A beautiful day made more beautiful still in the company of so many wondrous birds.



Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne Butler

Blue Jays Everywhere

I’ve been keeping an eagle eye out for birds the last day or two, hoping to report on some “special” bird. But the most conspicuous birds in my yard this week have been Blue Jays.

So what’s NOT special about a Blue Jay?

I asked myself this to understand why I was willing to overlook this showy, noisy bird? The answer: there’s NOTHING not special (excuse the double negative) about this colorful bird! In fact, this “common” bird deserves nothing less than a real tribute. So let me give you mine.

Blue Jays are handsome birds. A quick glance at this photo (courtesy of Ken Thomas) will convince you of that. Blue Jays are social birds and, like crows, they hang out together. I enjoy watching an entire group of these large, flashy birds swoop down into my trees and then onto my bird feeders. These birds are not “picky” eaters. They’ll eat seeds, nuts, insects, fruit, grains, and even other small animals. (I’ve never seen this but read about it on All About Birds.) My sister, who lives on a residential street in Gettysburg, feeds peanuts in a shell to the squirrels and Blue Jays. The latter dive onto her porch to pick up the daily offering and fly off again.

But what makes Blue Jays special to me are their range of calls and vocalizations. Like Northern Cardinals, who also have an interesting musical repertoire, these jays make all kinds of sounds. They have a harsh call something like jeeah or jay (Peterson’s Guide), but also a delightful gurgling sound, described as queedle, queedle. They also whistle musically; after all, Blue Jays are songbirds. But more, they even imitate Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks. In fact, their imitations of a Red-tailed hawk have fooled me more than once.

Find out much more about these wonderful birds at Cornell Lab’s All About Birds web site. In a brief visit, you’ll learn much more than you ever knew. I did. And the more you learn about a bird, the more you appreciate that bird next time you see one.

Till next time. Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne Butler

Three House Sparrows in a Parking Lot

Last week, I went to a local shopping mall and when exiting my car saw three male House Sparrows fighting over crumbs left behind by some other motorist on the parking lot. Only a few car lengths away, they jostled for position, hopping in and out to pick at the stray morsels, quarreling loudly over whose turn it was. My close proximity didn’t bother them a bit.

You’ve heard of city folk and country folk? Well when applied to birds, House Sparrows fall more into the city (and town) category, being a bird that likes man-made structure for nesting. Next time you go to a fast food restaurant, pay attention with your eyes and ears. These sparrows are quite noisy and, though seedeaters, have an appetite for junk food. You might find one hopping to scavenge a dropped French fry or piece of bread. French fries are certainly not good for birds, so I don’t advise feeding these eager little sparrows your leftovers. Besides, they appear to be resourceful enough on their own.

House Sparrows are cavity nesters and I’ve seen them nesting within light poles and on top of light fixtures, tucked behind storefront signs, within roof gutters, any place imaginable. They’re very creative that way.

One last comment before I close. House sparrows are quite attractive. Note the male’s black bib, which gets more predominant with age. (Photo by John J. Mosseso; offered for Public Domain use.) Also notice how the gray of his cheeks and shoulders contrast beautifully with his reddish-brown and black striped back. As typical, the female (also shown here in a Public Domain image provided through U.S Fish & Wildlife Service) is considerably less showy, but pretty nonetheless.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne Butler

Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a White Birch Tree

For a few weeks now I’ve been spying (from my bedroom window) on a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. He (or she) has been busily gleaning insects from the branches of a white birch growing close to my house. The male has a red crown, which is not at all easy to see. (Notice the tiny dab of color visible in this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo). Apparently, this ruby crown is more evident when the bird raises his head feathers in display or agitation.

I keep a small pair of binoculars by my bedside specifically to spy on the birds that congregate all the year long in the branches of this white birch. For the last two weeks or so, the birch has been host to this active, tiny kinglet. In color, this bird is a drab olive-grey but even so is pretty easy to identify—if you have binoculars. First, it’s a tiny bird, only 3.5 to 4.5 inches, approximately. Second, it has a very conspicuous white eye-ring, referred to as “broken” because it doesn’t entirely circle the eye or not in a consistent width. The bird I’ve been watching these last few weeks has eye-rings, which though “broken,” are much more prominent than shown in this photo. Third and the final “giveaway” is this bird’s habit of hovering (almost like a hummingbird) to glean insects from the tips of branches and foliage. Did I say “final”? Let me quickly add one more behavior—he’s very active, flitting here, there, and everywhere, so that you’d better be ready to keep up!

I only see the kinglet during its seasonal migrations because this bird summers far north in Canada and winters farther south all across the United States and into Central America. Check out the range map for this species at All About Birds.

What's especially delightful about this tiny kinglet is that he stays to visit a good long time and spends much of that time in a white birch outside my window.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne

Red-bellied Woodpecker: A "one-bird-band"

Some people can identify a specific species of woodpecker by the sound of the bird’s drumming. I’m not one of these people. But when I hear something drumming in the woods, I know it’s probably a woodpecker. Not much to brag about but something—ha! Well, the other day while walking near the woodland adjacent to my property, I heard an array of musical sounds, as if the singer (or singers) were practicing an entire repertoire. I heard short bouts of a high-pitched rolling “purr” (for lack of a better descriptor), followed by something that sounded like the tiny bark of a Chihuahua. But that’s not all. Into the mix add all manner of throaty gurgles and growls and maybe you’ll get an idea of what I stood listening to—in utter delight, I might add. (Photo courtesy of Ken Thomas.)

Something told me that the noisy bird (or birds) was a woodpecker. Off in the distance, I then heard a drum roll—definitely a woodpecker, and probably one commenting on the performance of the bird (or birds) closest to me. Actually, if not for this bird’s bizarre range of sounds, I would have immediately identified him as the Red-bellied Woodpecker because I know the Kwirr call of this species. (What I refer to above as the rolling "purr.") But in each of my prior encounters with the Red-bellied, I’d only ever heard the one sound—the Kwirr call. Thus I wasn’t prepared for the more full range of that bird’s vocalizations.

As I always do now when attempting to identify a bird by sound, I went to the Cornell Lab’s web site All About Birds, selecting their option, “Browse by Name and Shape.” This is a great resource, which lists all birds of a common type together. Thus I can select “woodpeckers” and see a long list of North American woodpecker species, which I can then compare by sight and sound! This is an amazing help.

On listening to the audio for the Red-bellied Woodpecker, I identified my bird but more, I had the opportunity to listen to its many different sounds, preparing me better for my next encounter. Oh, by the way, remember that Chihuahua sound I mentioned? Apparently that’s the bird’s “Cha call,” something new I learned from the web site.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne