Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin

by Dave Zittin

Every once in a while Pine Siskins appear in our backyard. These birds “irrupt” or move into areas in great numbers where food is abundant. These irruptive flights occur in the winter and are caused by poor availability of food over their northern range. 

Pine Siskins are members of the Fringillidae family, which is a widely distributed and diverse group that includes the American Goldfinch, the Hawaiian honeycreepers, and the Neotropical euphonias, and more. Most members of this family are exclusively seed, fruit, and vegetable eaters. Pine Siskins are in the genus Spinus (20 species), which locally includes Lawrence's Goldfinch, the Lesser Goldfinch, and the American Goldfinch. 

Pine Siskin showing sharply pointed bill, thin yellow lines in wing and heavy streaking on back and under parts. Photo: Tom Grey

Like other members of their family, Pine Siskins are mostly vegetarian and feed on seeds of conifer and deciduous trees such as alder, birch, sweet gum (Liquidambar), and maple. They also eat fresh buds of various plants and wild sunflower seeds. 

Interestingly, Pine Siskins consume salt from various sources, which suggests that their vegetative diet lacks minerals. Some are killed by road traffic in winter when they consume salt used to melt ice and snow.

Pine Siskins tolerate freezing cold winters provided they obtain sufficient food to maintain their metabolism. Unlike hummingbirds, which lower their metabolism as an adaptation to cold (torpor), Pine Siskins raise their metabolism—as much as five times over baseline—to tolerate temperatures as low as -70 degrees Fahrenheit. This requires a lot of food. Compared with their close relatives, Pine Siskins can store more body fat, which helps them withstand the cold. They also store up to 10% of their body weight in food in their crop, a specialized throat pouch. This storage provides 4-5 hours of additional energy to help them through cold nights. Observations suggest that Pine Siskins feed at night when there is bright moonlight which could help them make it through the cold until sunrise.

At feeders, they attack birds larger than themselves including Purple Finch and House Finch. I have even seen them attack and chase away much larger Evening Grosbeaks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Their sharply pointed beaks make effective, and I am sure painful, prods to incentivize other birds to get out of the way. If they are unable to open seeds, they will not chase away birds that can crack the shells, expose the seed and provide them with scraps.

Pine Siskins demonstrate strong flocking characteristics throughout the year, even when foraging during the breeding season. When we were in rural Colorado, a large flock descended on a stand of waist-high composite plants and in every imaginable position, much like chickadees.

Pine Siskins can carry and spread salmonella at feeders. It’s important to always sanitize feeders regularly, but when a salmonellosis outbreak occurs, removing feeders to disperse birds is important to reduce the spread of this lethal disease. Read more about salmonellosis outbreaks and on cleaning feeders here: https://scvas.org/backyard-bird-blog/salmonellosis.

Attracting Pine Siskins to Backyards

Any feeder containing seeds, especially hulled seed chips, will work. Pine Siskins especially like nyjer and black sunflower seeds. Composites such as dandelions, and sunflowers will also draw Pine Siskins to your backyard.

Lesser Goldfinch (top) and Pine Siskin (bottom). Photo: John Richardson

Description

The Pine Siskin is a small and streaky finch with a thin, sharply pointed bill and a notched tail. It has two dusky wing bars that fade to white over time. Flight feathers have yellow bases, which are obvious in flight but otherwise mostly concealed. These yellow bases often show up as inconspicuous, thin yellow lines on the wing when they are at rest.

Distribution

The Pine Siskin is a challenging research subject because of its unpredictable migration patterns and the apparent low fidelity to specific breeding areas. Lack of food in the northern part of their range likely triggers irruptions elsewhere. Pine Siskins occur over most of the United States and north into Canada and south into northern Mexico.

Similar Species

Compared with other members of the genus Spinus in Santa Clara County, the Pine Siskin is the only member with conspicuous streaking on its underparts. Its tiny size, very sharp, pointed bill and the yellow base of its flight feathers make it easy to identify. The yellow is conspicuous in flight and sometimes apparent on the wing as thin yellow lines when the bird is at rest. The female House Finch, which can appear similar to the Pine Siskin, has heavy streaking on her underparts but will never have yellow on the wings. The bill of the female House Finch is conical instead of long, narrow and pointed like that of the Pine Siskin.

Explore

• Salmonellosis outbreaks and cleaning feeders - Santa Clara Valley Audubon

• Safe bird feeding - All About Birds

• Cleaning your feeders - Feeder Watch

• Songs and calls - All About Birds

• Photo showing yellow on flight feathers, heavy streaking and sharp pointed bill.

• Photo of flying Pine Siskin showing yellow bases of flight feathers on wings and tail

• Distribution map - All About Birds

• “Pine Siskins Have Taken Over the Country” - National Audubon

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Pine Siskin by Brooke Miller

American Crow

American Crow

BY DAVE ZITTIN

The American Crow has to be the most difficult backyard bird to write about because there have been so many interesting studies on this species. The goal of this article is to introduce you to the American Crow and hopefully make you want to learn more on your own.

American Crow. Note the brown feathers. Photo by Tom Grey

When I was a grad student, we spent summers in a small fishing village on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, where we frequently heard a metallic “bong” or “boing” sound similar to that of a rapidly released metal spring. The sound came from within a dense conifer forest, and we spent months looking for its source. Eventually, we found it: a Northwestern Crow. (Recent research has folded the Northwestern Crow into the American Crow, so the Northwestern Crow no longer exists as an independent species.) Crows can mimic sounds of other species including the human voice, so the boing sound we heard could have been a mimic of some unknown sound.

American Crow by Brooke Miller

American Crows are highly-adaptable opportunistic feeders consuming seeds, marine, and terrestrial invertebrates, eggs, nestlings of other bird species, turtles, small rodents, fruit, road-kill, garbage, and more. Once, we had American Crows feast on bags of groceries we were transporting by boat. They quickly found our cheese packages, and during the seconds we were away from the boat carrying bags into the house, they excavated the cheese blocks remaining on the boat. This species is extremely intelligent and will sometimes cooperate when it comes to acquiring food. In one case, American Crows were observed taking a fish from a river otter. One pecked at its tail, causing the otter to drop the fish, while the other crow grabbed the fish and flew off to a perch where they both had a feast. American Crows are often mobbed by other bird species who are protecting their eggs and young from this predator. American Crows will eat carrion, but their beaks aren’t strong and sharp enough to pierce the skin of a dead animal, so they must wait for a better-equipped carrion feeder to break the skin. Crows will also carry turtles, nuts, clams, etc. into the air and drop them on hard surfaces to crack them open.

American Crows congregating by John Scharpen

American Crows are social. Family groups of up to 15 individuals stay together, and sibs from previous hatches help raise younger brothers and sisters. Outside the breeding season, large numbers of American Crows come together to roost at night. These roosts can consist of tens of thousands of individuals and can be quite annoying to nearby people.

American Crows damage some crops. It is legal to hunt and kill this species in some areas of the United States. However, evidence suggests that American Crows may benefit corn crops by eating pest insects that overwinter in the corn stubble.

Crows have an uncanny ability to recognize human faces and will distinguish good people from bad (see behavior video in the explore section).

Attracting Crows to Backyards

I don’t go out of my way to attract them, but they do show up infrequently to eat the bird seed mix I spread on the ground.

Description

A large, black bird with a large black beak, black feet, and black legs. Their feathers have a slight iridescent sheen. The body feathers of molting individuals take on a brown coloring. The Latin species name of the American Crow is brachyrhynchos. Brachyrhynchos is Latin for “short-beaked.” This name is confusing to me because many other members of the same genus, Corvus, have beaks that are as short as the American Crow’s. Compared with the Common Raven (same genus), there is no question that the crow’s beak is shorter. Perhaps this is the reason.

Notice the squared-off tail end of this American Crow. Photo by Vivek Khanzodé

Distribution

The American Crow is found throughout the year over much of the United States, along the west coast of North America, and west into the Aleutian Islands. They also occur across much of southern Canada in the breeding season. They will live almost anywhere there is a food source and some trees on which to nest and perch. They tend to avoid deserts.

Similar Species

The Common Raven and the American Crow are similar at first glance. Paying attention to a few differences can help determine which species you are viewing. In flight, Common Ravens exhibit long glides and can soar in thermals. American Crows exhibit short glides and flap their wings more than Common Ravens. They do not soar in thermals. You will often read that the Common Raven’s tail is wedge or diamond-shaped in flight and the American Crow’s tail lacks this diamond shape. Be careful with this difference because as crows land or fly in a slow, steep turn, they splay their tails, giving them a wedged-shaped appearance. 

American Crow in flight by John Scharpen. Note the shorter fan-shaped tail.

Common Raven in flight by John Scharpen. Note the diamond-shaped tail.

American Crows and Common Ravens make different sounds. Typically the adult Raven makes a guttural “gawk” sound, and the adult  American Crow usually makes its trademark “caw” sound. A roosting American Crow bobs its head down then up as it vocalizes and sometimes slightly opens its wings. A vocalizing Common Raven is relatively still. The throat and head of the Common Raven are often fluffed or ruffled; those of the American Crow are usually smooth. 

Common Raven with fluffed throat and head by Dave Zittin

The Fish Crow of the south and eastern parts of the United States looks very much like the American Crow. They can be told apart by sight and sound. 

Explore

To explore American Crows in more detail, I recommend the following videos:

• Crow “boing” sound from the Urban Nature Enthusiast. Note the strong bobbing when they vocalize.

• Excellent video on American Crow behavior from Lesley the Bird Nerd. Note bobbing while vocalizing at 3:11 and 8:53   

• Common Raven versus American Crow from the Raven Diaries

• All About Birds: American Crow

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Vivek Khanzodé

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

BY DAVE ZITTIN

GeneralIy I find it unsettling to watch a tiny Dark-eyed Junco feeding a much larger immature Brown-headed Cowbird. The junco in our backyard worked overtime feeding the voracious, constantly begging juvenile cowbird.

Brown-headed Cowbirds are brood parasites. Brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds of the same or a different species. Brown-headed Cowbirds do not build their own nests, so their eggs are always laid in nests of a different species. Bird biologists call this obligate nest parasitism. The bird receiving the nest parasite’s eggs is called a host.

Brown-headed Cowbird by Teresa Cheng.

The Brown-headed Cowbird is a member of the genus Molothrus which combines two ancient Greek words: “to struggle” and “to sire”. The Brown-head Cowbird is a member of the family Icteridae which includes, among others, blackbirds, orioles, and meadowlarks.

Female Brown-headed Cowbirds are stealthy and spy on the nests of host species. When the time is right, they sneak into the nest and lay their eggs. They sometimes destroy the host’s eggs. The cowbird eggshell is strong, and their eggs have an incubation period that is usually shorter than that of the host eggs. The young cowbird grows faster than the young of the host bird. Young cowbirds often push eggs and the young of the host species out of the nest to reduce competition for food.

Dark-eyed Junco feeding juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird by Sushanta Bhandakar

Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, Brown-headed Cowbirds were limited to the grasslands of central North America where they followed buffalo herds that stirred up insects. The diet of Brown-headed Cowbirds is about 70% grain and 30% insects. They parasitize nests on the edges of forests. Early settlers cleared trees which led to forest fragmentation that allowed them to expand their range by providing more open areas, more forest edges, and more potential host species. By the 1980s, the Brown-headed Cowbird had spread over the entire United States, northern Mexico, and southern Canada. They took advantage of new host species that had no experience with their aggressive nest parasitism, and today they are nest parasites of over 240 bird species.

Dark-eyed Junco feeding two juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds by Tom Grey

Some host species eject the eggs of nest parasites, bury them by constructing a new nest floor or damage the eggs by breaking their shells. However, some species accept the Brown-headed Cowbird eggs.  For some hosts, the situation is dire. A well-studied case is that of the endangered Kirtland's Warbler. Before 1900, Brown-headed Cowbirds had not occurred in the breeding areas of this warbler in Northern Michigan. In 1971, only 200 male Kirtland’s Warblers were known to exist and about 70% of the nests of this warbler were parasitized by cowbirds. Cowbird traps were employed and trapped cowbirds were killed. In 2018, the program was deemed successful, and the traps were removed. There are now estimated to be 2300 breeding Kirtland’s Warbler males and less than 1% of nests are estimated to be parasitized. Today the Cowbird population is greatly reduced in areas where this warbler nests. This is not so much because of trapping, but because forests have been managed to regrow, increasing the ratio of forest area to forest edge. It’s hard to fault the cowbird. It did what it does best and human activities opened the way for it to expand its range. Today it’s recognized that trapping cowbirds and habit restoration have to go hand in hand to rescue an endangered species impacted by nest parasitism from the Brown-headed Cowbird.

Attracting Brown-headed Cowbirds to Backyards

If there are nesting birds in and around your backyard, Brown-headed Cowbirds will likely appear during the breeding season, especially if you have grain feeders. In our backyard, the Brown-headed Cowbird seems to appear a few days per year during the onset of nesting.

Description

Brown-headed Cowbirds are stout blackbirds with a thick, conical bill. Adult males have brown heads and black bodies. Under poor light conditions, the head appears black. Females are light brown with a slightly lighter-colored head, a white throat, and fine streaking on the belly. Juveniles have heavy streaking on their underparts and their backs appear scaly.

Female Brown-headed Cowbird by Tom Grey

Distribution

Brown-headed Cowbirds occur over most of Mexico, the United States, and southern Canada. They are in Santa Clara County throughout the year.

Similar Species

The female Brewer’s Blackbird resembles a female Brown-headed Cowbird. The cowbird has a lighter-colored throat and a shorter, thicker conical bill compared to the longer, thinner bill of the female Brewer’s Blackbird. In general, the thick, conical bill separates the Brown-headed Cowbird from other similarly colored local icterid species. The eye color of the Brown-headed Cowbird is dark, never red or yellow.

Explore

Biology, ecology, and evolution of nest parasitism

• Evolutionary aspects of brood parasitism

• Evolution and ecology of brood parasitism

• Video showing an extreme size difference

Brown-headed Cowbirds

• Brown-headed Cowbirds and Kirtland’s Warbler

• History and some ecology of Brown-headed Cowbirds

• eBird animated abundance map

• Is it okay to remove Brown-headed Cowbird eggs from nests?

• Photo of adult female Brown-headed Cowbird

• Photo of adult male Brown-headed Cowbird

• Photo of juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird

• Songs and calls of the Brown-headed Cowbird

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Brown-headed Cowbird by Teresa Cheng

Bushtit

Bushtit

BY DAVE ZITTIN

Bushtits rarely show up in our backyard, but we have seen them a few times over the years. Bushtits are social. They live in flocks of 10 to 40 individuals. When it’s cold, they huddle at night to keep warm. They feed as a flock, gleaning insects and spiders from trees. When one decides to move to another tree, the others follow in an irregular single file line. They take on every imaginable position when feeding, frequently hanging upside down, much like Chestnut-backed Chickadees. 

Bushtit by Dave Zittin

Bushtits make a lot of noise, but it can be difficult to hear their ethereal calls on windy days. Their incessant calling keeps the group in touch with each other. The calls are low in volume and are high-pitched squeaky “tsips” and “pits”. To my ears, they sometimes sound like small crystals making a faint tinkling sound as if they are a living wind chime. 

Bushtits are the only members of the family Aegithalidae, the long-tailed tits, in North America. The family has 4 genera and 11 species and most occur in Eurasia. 

Bushtit by Treasa Hovorka

Bushtits have an unusual, well-camouflaged nest. It resembles a tube sock, about 1 foot in length, and hangs from live or dead branches. There is a hole near the top that allows entry into a narrow tube that widens near the base of the sock-like nest. The nest construction is constructed from vegetative matter, animal hair, and spider webs which give a nest a stretchy quality. It is well insulated and allows the parents to leave the young alone for longer periods than if the nest were open to the elements.

Bushtit and nestling in nest by Janna Pauser.

Bushtits are one of the first birds to be described as having nest helpers. Helpers are not the biological parents but will help the parents build a nest and later help feed the young. Evolutionists study species with helpers to promote understanding of the selective advantages that come to a non-parent in helping a mating pair to raise young. Observation shows that most Bushtit helpers are unmated males or males that have lost a nest. Helpers are not common among west coast Bushtit, but field research has shown almost 40% of active nests in the Chiricahua Mountains of Southeast Arizona have helpers.

Attracting Bushtits to Backyards

Bushtits are not attracted to feeders. They are foliage-gleaners and consume small arthropods found on leaves, petioles, and branches. A  brushy or treed yard is the best way to attract Bushtits.

Description

Bushtits are small, mostly gray birds about the size of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (3-4 inches in length). They have a large head, a rounded body, and a long tail. The beak is small and pointed. The sex of an adult is determined by the color of its iris. Females have irises which are a dull yellow to milky white color. Males have dark irises. Young Bushtits of both sexes have dark eyes. Bushtits in the Pacific region have upper parts that have a brownish wash; those in the interior have white upper parts.

Female Bushtit by Dave Zittin. Note the whitish eyes, rounded head, short beak and long tail.

Male Bushtit by Teresa Cheng. Note the dark iris.

Distribution

Bushtits are found in the western U.S. Their northern limit is in southern British Columbia, and they extend south into Central America. They are not known to migrate long distances, but are constantly in foraging mode, moving from tree to tree searching for food. They do come down from high-altitude areas to avoid the winter cold and during this time they may be found in brushy desert areas.

Similar Species

Nothing looks like a Bushtit in Santa Clara County. In the dry southwest, the young Verdin resembles a Bushtit, but their bills and other features are different. The uniform gray color of the Bushtit, its social nature, and chickadee-like behavior make for easy identification in Santa Clara County.

Explore

• Range map

• Sounds

• Brownish wash of the Pacific Bushtit subspecies

• Whitish color of an interior subspecies

• Photo of a Bushtit nest

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Bushtit by Vivek Khanzodé

American Robin

American Robin

by Dave Zittin

We used to see American Robins in our backyard when we had a green lawn. Due to drought conditions, there is no lawn and there are no American Robins.

Robins are members of the thrush family. This family occurs on every continent except Antarctica. Early colonists gave the American Robin its name because it vaguely looks like the unrelated European Robin. The American Robin is the largest thrush in North America. The Western Bluebird and the Hermit Thrush are two other common thrush relatives found in Santa Clara County.

American Robin by Dave Zittin.

Robins adapt well to humans. Their range has expanded due to human activities including parkland development, domestic planting of ornamentals, orchards, and other agricultural activities which tend to promote fruit or increased invertebrate activity at or near the ground.

Ornithologists once thought that American Robins used their auditory senses to find earthworms, but recent research indicates that they use visual cues. Robins stare at the ground with one eye for long periods to find earthworms emerging from the soil. Green lawns mean wet soil and wet soil means earthworms and other invertebrates.

Green lawns also often mean pesticides. Because the American Robin associates with humans, it has become an important indicator of toxic chemicals in the environment.

American Robin by Dave Zittin.

Locally, American Robins are probably the number one carrier of West Nile disease. News accounts give the impression that crows and jays are significant carriers, but research indicates that West Nile is more common in the American Robin. And while West Nile is almost always lethal to crows and jays, robins are able to carry the disease with fewer ill effects. A mosquito species spreads the disease to birds and humans. This mosquito takes blood meals from roosting American Robins and robins then serve as an amplification mechanism enabling more mosquitos to acquire the virus and eventually infect people. It’s not the robin’s fault: it’s the virus-mosquito combination that is the culprit. 

American Robins have a high mortality rate; only 25% of fledged American Robins make it through November of the year they were hatched. Even though there are records of Robins older than 12 years, research shows that nearly 100% of a year cohort dies in 6 years.

Attracting American Robins to Backyards

Fruiting plants provide an important early source of nutrition for immature robins, which are less experienced at foraging for invertebrates.

Cornell claims that American Robins are attracted to feeders, but I have yet to see one on either our suet feeder or grain feeder.

American Robin by Tom Grey.

Description

American Robins are easy to identify. The male has a black head, a yellow bill, a striped throat, a broken white eye ring, and a distinct rufous colored breast. The female looks similar but tends to have duller colors. Immature male American Robins resemble females. Juveniles are heavily spotted to a point of having a mottled appearance and are often confusing to beginning birders.

Juvenile American Robin by Brooke Miller. Note the mottled appearance.

Distribution

With a few exceptions, American Robins occur everywhere in the U.S. and northern Mexico. They are in Santa Clara County all year. Based on eBird frequency charts, they are least abundant in the county in the summer and fall.

Migration is complicated. Some individuals don’t wander far from their breeding territories. This is especially the case where climates are mild and food is available in the winter. Important factors that influence migration are the availability of ground invertebrates in the spring and edible fruit in the fall and winter. That said, many do migrate from Mexico and the southern United States to the Canadian-U.S. border and north to the Arctic Ocean during summer breeding season. 

During fall and winter, robins typically roost in large flocks and spend more time in trees where edible fruit occurs. A few years ago we were birding in Florida in the winter when we came across a large leafless tree in which there were more than 200 American Robins. To date, I have not seen anything like this in Santa Clara County.

Similar Species

Nothing in Santa Clara County looks like an American Robin. The Spotted Towhee has similar rufous coloration on its flanks, but its breast is white, not rufous, and this towhee lacks a white eye ring.

The American Robin’s song contains sounds that swing upward, often sounding like “cheer-up”. They have different calls, but a common one sounds like a high-pitched whinny.  The Black-headed Grosbeak’s song is similar but has segments that go down sounding like a child’s sliding whistle, and usually contains distinct short-bursts of trills that the robin lacks.

Explore

• Feeding American Robins in your backyard 

• Fun facts about the American Robin

• Animated map of American Robin Migration

• The cheer-up song of the American Robin

• The whinny call of the American Robin

• The song of the Black-headed Grosbeak - note pitch slides and trills

• American Robins and the West Nile virus

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: American Robin by Hita Bambhania-Modha

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch

Dave Zittin

Lesser Goldfinches are regular visitors to our backyard. Most of the time this tiny finch is seen in mixed flocks, shoulder-to-shoulder at the seed feeder with Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and their finch relatives, the Pine Siskin and House Finch.

Male Lesser Goldfinch. Note the black crown extending to the nape. The white rectangle on the wing shows most of the time, but not always. David Zittin

Lesser Goldfinch live almost entirely on seeds. Sunflower and niger seeds are among their favorites. In nature, they feed on flowering plants, especially those in the composite family, and are often seen eating on the common fiddleneck (Amsinckia spp.). Lesser Goldfinches are one of the few species in North America that rear their young exclusively on seeds.

Female Lesser Goldfinch. Note the prominent white rectangular area on the base of the outer primaries. Because there is no black crown, this is a female. Hita Bambhania-Modha

Lesser Goldfinches are acrobats and a lot of fun to watch when feeding in the wild. They are light enough to hang onto wispy flower stalks and can consume seeds upright, upside down, and in any other position you can imagine. When bullied by other birds at our seed feeder, it is not uncommon to see one go upside down on the feeder’s perch wires in order to yield to a more aggressive bird.

The Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria, is a member of the finch family, Fringillidae, which includes 49 genera and 229 species. In the genus Spinus there are 20 species, four of which occur in the United States: Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, and Lesser Goldfinch. A few species are Eurasian and the rest occur in Latin America.

Black-backed Lesser Goldfinch in Costa Rica. Note the white rectangle on the wings and yellow under tail coverts. Dave Zittin

The Lesser Goldfinch shows different colors over its distribution. In our area, they have yellow-greenish backs. Individuals east of the Rockies and south into Latin America have darker upperparts, with backs becoming blacker the further south one goes into Mexico. In Costa Rica once, I was sure I had a lifer until a local bird expert assured me I was looking at a Lesser Goldfinch. Unlike the American Goldfinch, the colors of the Lesser Goldfinch do not vary much seasonally.

Attracting Lesser Goldfinch to Backyards

The Lesser Goldfinch prefers hanging feeders, but I have observed them feeding off of the ground. They devour sunflower and niger seeds. Provide them with these oily seeds, and they will come.

Description

The Lesser Goldfinch is the smallest of the finches found in Santa Clara County. The male has a black crown that ranges from the upper beak and over the forehead and ends just above the nape (the back of the neck). Both sexes have a white patch at the base of their primaries. When perched, this white base regularly appears as a small white rectangle, but sometimes it is inconspicuous. The adult male also has a white patch at the base of its primaries. When perched, this white base often appears as a small white rectangle, but sometimes it is inconspicuous.

Distribution

Lesser Goldfinches are on the west coast of the U.S. all year. Their northern limit is southwest Washington. They occur in much of Mexico, Central America, and various areas in northern South America. During breeding season some migrate into Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico. The migrations of this species have not been well studied.

Similar Species

The two local species that look somewhat alike are the American Goldfinch and Lawrence’s Goldfinch. The Pine Siskin has a similar body and beak shape, but it has conspicuous streaking on its lower parts, something that the other three Spinus species lack.

The belly of Lawrence’s Goldfinch is gray. The belly of the male Lesser Goldfinch is yellow and pale yellow-green on females and juveniles. Lawrence's Goldfinch has yellow wing bars and the wing bars of the Lesser Goldfinch are white. Also, recall that Lesser Goldfinches have white outer primaries which usually form a visible, small white rectangle on the wing, a feature that the other Spinus species do not have.

Male American Goldfinch. Note that the black cap ends at the top of the head and the white under-tail coverts. Dave Zittin

The breeding American Goldfinch male has a bright yellow, not olive-yellow back and a black crown ends at the top of the head rather than extending over the head and down to the nape. The females of the Lesser Goldfinch and the American Goldfinch look similar, but the Lesser Goldfinch female has indistinct wing bars and the under-tail coverts are typically yellowish. The American Goldfinch female has darker colored wings with obvious wing bars and its under-tail coverts are white.

Explore

Photos of west coast Lesser Goldfinches:

• Male Lesser Goldfinch showing black crown extending onto nape. Note white rectangle on the primaries.

• Female Lesser Goldfinch. Note yellow under-tail coverts and white rectangle on the primaries.

Photos of American Goldfinch and Lawrence’s Goldfinch for comparison:

• Female American Goldfinch. Note white under-tail coverts, prominent white wing bars and brownish back.

• Female Lawrence’s Goldfinch. Note yellow-gray wing bars and yellow-edged primaries.

• Male Lawrence’s Goldfinch. Note black face, yellow wing bars, and yellow-edged primaries.

Sounds:

• The Lesser Goldfinch has various songs and calls, but here is one call I often hear in Santa Clara County. Note the plaintive whistle quality.

• Allaboutbirds.org has additional Lesser Goldfinch sounds.

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Lesser Goldfinch by Hita Bambhania-Modha

California Scrub-Jay

California Scrub-Jay

by Dave Zittin

California Scrub-Jays are noisy birds and their "weep" call is a common element of the local soundscape, especially in oak and scrub habitats.

California Scrub-Jays are bold and confident around humans. My first close encounter with the California Scrub-Jay occurred many years ago during lunch breaks when I worked in Palo Alto. When we ate outside, employees threw crumbs out to a “resident” California Scrub-Jay, and over time, I got the bird to come closer by reducing the toss distance. After a few weeks, I had the jay landing in my hand and feeding. The two of us saw eye-to-eye: he got food and I got really close looks. I later learned that hand-feeding can be detrimental to some species such as the friendly, but endangered Florida Scrub-Jay. Hand-feeding of this species can cause them to raise young too early in the season. Doing so can reduce the chances of supplying naturally available food during the growing period of the young. 

California Scrub-Jay with acorn. Steve Zamek

California Scrub-Jays are members of the New World genus Aphelocoma, of which there are seven species. The name translates to “simple hair” which reflects their feather colors that have no stripes or banding. California Scrub-Jays are a member of the family Corvidae, which also includes crows, ravens, magpies, and Clark’s Nutcracker. Frequently, people call the scrub jay a “blue jay”. This is incorrect because scrub jays are in a different genus than the Blue Jay, which is in the genus Cyanocitta. There are two species in this New World genus; the east coast Blue Jay and the Steller's Jay.

California Scrub-Jays are fairly common in my backyard, but they do not show up every day. They eat grain spread on the ground and when there is no feed on the ground, they eat suet from our hanging feeder. 

In nature, a primary food source for this species is acorns. California Scrub-Jays possess an outstanding ability to cache food and use spatial memory to find it later, much like their cousins, Clark’s Nutcracker. Of course, they don’t find it all, and there is some speculation that they are instrumental in facilitating the spread of various oak species. California Scrub-Jays also eats insects, reptiles, and small mammals. One time when driving near Loma Prieta Saddle we saw a California Scrub-Jay trying to kill a young rabbit in the middle of the road. Fortunately for the rabbit and to the detriment of the jay, I stopped, which kept the bird away until the bunny could make it across the road and into the brush while I got an earful from the jay.

California Scrub-Jay by Treasa Hovorka

California Scrub-Jays are aggressive and dangerous to smaller birds such as crowned sparrows, which keep a radius of a few yards when a jay is present.

Some jay species, for example, the Florida Scrub-Jay, are known for cooperative breeding, which is the rearing of young by individuals other than their parents. Western scrub jay species, including the California Scrub-Jay, do not demonstrate cooperative breeding.

The calls made by the California Scrub-Jay are varied, but a common call heard locally is a "weep" with an upswing in pitch.

California Scrub-Jays will vigorously mob bobcats, house cats, squirrels, owls, and anything else they think is a threat to them. The racket from this mobbing is noisy and can sometimes lead a birder to good views of a raptor such as an owl or a hawk.

California Scrub-Jays are excellent at recognizing and tossing the eggs of brood parasites (species that lay their eggs in the nests of non-related species) out of their nest. Researchers have experimentally added cowbird eggs to jay nests and observed they were tossed overboard in short order. This means that brood parasitism is virtually nonexistent for this species. 

Attracting California Scrub-Jays to Backyards

Spreading seed on the ground and suet feeders may draw California Scrub-Jays to your backyard. Sometimes they will also perch on our cylindrical, hanging seed feeder, but this is awkward for them and I don’t see this often.

Description

A medium-sized, crestless and long-tailed bird. Adults can be easily recognized by a gray-brown back with otherwise dull blue upper parts. The under parts are dull-whitish. Other features include dusky-colored ear coverts, a prominent whitish supercilium (eyebrow), and two bands of dark-bluish streaks extending onto the sides of the upper breast, almost forming a necklace. The beak, legs, and feet are black. The blue plumage tends to be duller blue in the Pacific Northwest, becoming darker and more purple towards southwestern California. Adults show no pronounced plumage differences between sexes. Juveniles have a lot of sooty gray color and lack the blue on top of their heads.

Scrub-Jay showing its gray back, blue wings and head, and conspicuous white eyebrow. Carter Gasiorowski

Distribution

California Scrub-Jays are a common year-round resident of the western coastal states, extending from Northern Washington to the tip of Southern Baja California. They are not migratory but tend to wander from their breeding range in the winter.

Similar Species

Nothing in our area looks like a California Scrub-Jay. Learning to tell their call from the Steller’s Jay takes a little practice. The flatter pitched call of Steller’s Jay often confuses beginning birders, but with a little experience, they are easy to tell apart.

Explore

• Juvenile California Scrub-Jay

• Typical “weep call” of California Scrub-Jay with pitch upswing

• Flatter, screechier call of Steller’s Jay for comparison

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: California Scrub-Jay by Brooke Miller

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

by Dave Zittin

We know it is winter at our place when flocks of Cedar Waxwings appear from time to time on our black walnut tree. Frequently we will see more than 25 Cedar Waxwings at a time high on the tree, doing their whistle call and looking very much like tree ornaments.

There are only three waxwing species in the world: The Cedar Waxwing, the Bohemian Waxwing, and the Japanese Waxwing. Waxwings are in the family Bombycillidae (bombux=silk). Their closest cousins are the silky flycatchers, in the family Ptilogonatidae which includes the Phainopepla. Both families are fruit eaters and have smooth outer feathers that give them a silky appearance.

Notice the black face surrounded by a thin white line, the yellow-tipped tail and the yellow belly. Photo by Erica Fleniken.

Cedar Waxwings and Bohemian Waxwings are the most prominent fruit-eating birds in North America. They have digestive system adaptations that enable them to thrive on sugary fruits.  Cedar Waxwings are the only species outside the tropics to feed fruit to their young. As an interesting aside, the young of the brood parasite (a brood parasite lays its eggs in other birds' nests), the Brown-headed Cowbird, often die in Cedar Waxwing nests because they are unable to survive on fruits fed to them by adult Cedar Waxwings.

Cedar Waxwings consume the berries from numerous plant species. The distribution of North American Cedar Waxwing populations have grown due to human activities that include planting berry-producing ornamentals, orchard expansion, and allowing farmlands to revert to natural states. Cedar Waxwings have a mutualistic role in contributing to the success of the plants whose berries they eat by spreading seeds in their excrement. 

Cedar Waxwings eat berries whole. Smooth outer feathers give these birds a silky appearance. Photo by Steve Patt.

Cedar Waxwings are especially susceptible to death from alcohol consumption that comes with eating fermented fruits. They are often killed from falls or flying into objects when intoxicated. The death of large portions of flocks from alcohol consumption has been noted in the literature.

Flocks of Cedar Waxwings raid fruit crops that are defended by other species. Species such as the Northern Mockingbird and the American Robin aggressively guard prized winter fruit crops. Robins can defend their fruit crop against fifteen or fewer Cedar Waxwings, but when the Cedar Waxwing flock exceeds 30 or more birds, the robin is helpless to stop the raid. In one case, Cedar Waxwings cleared a crab apple crop in 25 minutes when 36 birds descended on a tree defended by a robin. Although I have not encountered information on predation reduction due to flocking, I would not be surprised if this is also a factor. Raptors such as the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Merlins kill and eat Cedar Waxwings. Flocking tends to confuse predators, leading to reduced predation rates.

Cedar Waxwing and American Robin squabbling over a feeding territory by Erica Fleniken.

Cedar Waxwings rear their young in the late summer when the availability of ripe fruit is at a maximum. For the first few days, the brood receives a protein-rich diet of insects in their diet brought to them by the father, but this soon ends, and fruits become their primary food source. After the breeding season, when the young have fledged, Cedar Waxwings flock and feed on tree sap, cedar berries, fruits of mistletoe, toyon, madrone, cultivated berries, etc. Insects also supplement their diet.

Attracting Cedar Waxwings to Backyards

If you want to see more of this species in your backyard, consider planting shrubs that produce berries that they eat during the winter. See the “Birds And Blooms” link below for more information. Cedar Waxwings are susceptible to window collisions, so do whatever it takes to prevent this from occurring.

Cedar Waxwing flock bathing by Hita Bambhania-Modha.

Description

Cedar Waxwings can be identified by their striking black masks with a thin, white surrounding outline, a crested head, red wax-like endings of the secondary feathers, and the striking yellow ends of the tail feathers. The number of red-tipped secondary feathers increases with age, and some ornithologists have suggested that the higher the count of these red tips, the more attractive an individual is as a mate.

Cedar Waxwing showing 6 red-tipped secondaries, a yellow-tipped tail and its face mask by Dave Zittin.

Cedar Waxwings do not have a song, but they do have a very high-pitched whistle-like call.

Distribution

In the summer, breeding populations of the Cedar Waxwing occur across the most northern U.S. states and extend north, almost to the Arctic Circle.

In the winter, they migrate south and occur from the Canadian border south into northern Central America. During the winter, they form nomadic flocks, often seen in Santa Clara County. Their highest winter densities occur in the southeastern plains of Texas, where they feast on juniper berries.

Similar Species

The Bohemian Waxwing is the only bird on the North American Continent that looks similar to the Cedar Waxwing, but they have a more northern distribution and are rarely seen in California. Among other differences, Bohemian Waxwings have two white rectangles on their wings that Cedar Waxwings lack.

Explore

• An excellent video that pretty much says it all about this species: Cornell Lab of Ornithology Video on Cedar Waxwings

• Note how a pair of birds passes a food particle back and forth during courtship: Video of Cedar Waxwings courting

• Hints on attracting them to your backyard from “Birds and Blooms” https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/attract-waxwings-berries/

• Listen to the high-pitched “seee” call of the Cedar Waxwing: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/cedar-waxwing

• Distribution map: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/maps-range

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Cedar Waxwing by Brooke Miller

Black Phoebe

Black Phoebe

by Dave Zittin

Someone pointed out that more Santa Clara County eBird lists have Anna’s Hummingbird than any other species. I guess, but it would not surprise me if the Black Phoebe is as high on the list of frequently observed species. Examining my data, it occurs on about a third of my county eBird lists.

Black Phoebes are in the genus Sayornis with two other species: Say’s Phoebe and the Eastern Phoebe. The French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte, coined the genus name, Sayornis, which translates to Say+bird in honor of Thomas Say, an American entomologist, conchologist, and herpetologist. 

Black Phoebe by Dave Zittin.

Phoebes are tyrant flycatchers (family Tyrannidae) of which there are more than 400 species.

Black Phoebes are territorial, monogamous and pairing may last for up to five years.

Attracting Black Phoebes to Backyards

You cannot do much to attract the Black Phoebe to your backyard, although sometimes they are attracted to mealworms. They are wait-and-sally flycatchers, usually waiting on low perches for an insect to come into view and then flying out, grabbing it and returning to the same perch.

A few times a year, one perches in our backyard to forage for insects. Our neighbor used to have a green lawn with a lot of crane flies, and a resident Black Phoebe would swoop down from perches on posts and trees to capture insects on his lawn throughout the summer. 

Black Phoebes require a source of mud for nest building and a nearby source may attract them to nest on your property.

Description

No other bird in Santa Clara County looks like a Black Phoebe. This dapper flycatcher has mostly dark sooty-gray upperparts and a white belly ending at the upper breast with an inverted ‘V’ surrounded by a sooty-colored throat area. The under-tail coverts are also white. Black Phoebes have a large, squarish head that frequently shows a peak.

Adult Black Phoebe by Dave Zittin

Adult Black Phoebe feeding juvenile. Note the reddish-brown feather tips on the back of the young bird. Photo by Brooke Miller.

Juveniles have reddish-brown edges on various feathers on their backs, but the red-brown color is conspicuous on the edges of the wing coverts.

Black Phoebes pump their tails while roosting. This is characteristic of the genus Sayornis.

Distribution

Black Phoebes have an extensive range. Their northern breeding limit is Southern Oregon, and their range extends south for thousands of miles into Argentina. They occur along the entire length of California, from the coast and east to the western slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains and south into Baja California along with the coast range.

Black Phoebes in our area more or less stay in the same place throughout the year.

Local distribution is determined by the availability of suitable nesting conditions. As mentioned earlier, they require mud for nest building, and are therefore associated with wet or damp areas. They build their mud-plant fiber nests on vertical walls within a few inches of a protective ceiling to shield the young from sun and inclement weather, to reduce access by predators, and possibly reduce brood parasitism by other species. Nest areas include rock faces, bridges, and the eaves of buildings. Black Phoebes have a strong tendency to reuse old nests

Similar Species

Except for rare sightings of the Eastern Phoebe, there is nothing in Santa Clara County that looks like a Black Phoebe. The sooty-black upper parts, the peaked head, the white undertail coverts, and the white belly make this an easy-to-identify bird in our county throughout the year. Its congenator, the Say’s Phoebe, a winter bird in our county, has an orangish-cinnamon-colored breast and a brownish-colored back.

Explore

• The song of the Black Phoebe sounds like repeated tee-hee, tee-hee. With a little imagination, you may hear fee-bee, fee-bee. The Black Phoebe frequently pumps its tail and calls while roosting as it awaits a bug to come into view. Listen to and the typical song and call.

• Range Map for the Black Phoebe

• Photo of juvenile Black Phoebe with rusty-red-tipped feathers

• For a bonus, listen to the “fee-bee” song of the Eastern Phoebe. The sound of this song eventually became Phoebe, a woman’s name. Listen to the song of the Eastern Phoebe.

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Black Phoebe by Tom Grey

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird

by Dave Zittin

One reason to love Anna’s Hummingbirds is that they are attracted to bright colors, which they often investigate as potential food sources. I have had hummingbirds hover near my shirt pockets that contained bright-colored pens. And, when I was a university student living in Northern California, I kept a red-colored hummingbird feeder outside our living room window. As an experiment, I kept the window open and moved it into the living room short distances every day or two. After several days, our resident Anna’s Hummingbird flew through the window opening, across the living room, and into the dining area, where the feeder was hanging. I guess you can say we all ate together.

Male Anna's Hummingbird with some of its gorget feathers showing iridescence. Photo by John Richardson.

Hummingbirds allow people to get close. If you stand still next to a feeder, Anna’s will feed inches from you. Hummingbirds feed on nectar and insects. Insects provide protein, and nectar gives them the sugar energy they need for their high metabolic rate. Insects are an essential source of protein for their growing young.

Anna’s and other hummingbird species take advantage of sap wells made by sapsuckers. In addition to sap, these wells attract insects that both the sapsucker and hummingbirds consume. Interestingly, some hummingbird species follow sapsuckers during migration in order to use sap wells as a food source. Studies show that some hummingbirds are able to migrate into northern areas earlier than they would otherwise be able to because sap wells provide energy before their preferred plants bloom. Anna’s Hummingbirds are significant pollinators of many wild plants, including sticky monkey flower, gooseberry, currant, and the California fuchsia. 

Hummingbirds occur only in the New World. They fascinated early European explorers, who thought they were insects or the result of a bird-insect hybridization. Later, hummingbird feathers and their desiccated bodies became fashionable in Europe until the early 1900s when the Migratory Bird Act ended the taking of wild birds for such purposes.

Female Anna's Hummingbird showing red spots on the neck.  Photo by Brooke Miller.

Anna’s Hummingbird belongs to the large family Trochilidae (trochil=a small bird), which contains well over 300 species. Hummingbirds and swifts are members of the order Apodiformes, or “footless.” They have very small, skin-covered feet that are used for perching only; they move from place to place by flight. Anna’s Hummingbird is a member of the genus Calypte, which translates to approximately “veil” or “head-dress.” There are two species in the genus, Anna’s and Costa’s Hummingbirds.

In 1829, natural historian and surgeon René Lesson named Rivoli’s Hummingbird in honor of the second Duke of Rivoli (Italy), an avid amateur ornithologist. Dr. Lesson named Anna’s Hummingbird after the duke’s wife, Duchess Anna.

Attracting Anna’s Hummingbirds to Backyards

Attracting Anna’s Hummingbirds to a backyard is easy; purchase a hummingbird feeder. Mix a sugar-water solution according to the directions given in the “using feeders” link below. Be sure to clean the feeder regularly as the sugar solution promotes mold. I have a circular feeder with a red top and five holes. I use a stiff bottle brush and soapy water to clean the sugar trough and the holes in the top of the feeder prior to each refill. If you want to start a feeder, be sure to first read the feeding reference.

Female Anna's Hummingbird. Note the red spots on her throat. Also, note that there are no reddish-rust colors on her flanks. Photo by Brooke Miller.

Description

The color patterns of the two sexes are different (called sexual dimorphism). Anna’s female is relatively drab, which gives her a camouflage advantage when incubating eggs. The male is bright green with a brilliant pink-reddish gorget, the colorful patch found on the throats of hummingbirds. The gorget of the male Anna’s is unusual because it extends up and across the forehead. The brilliant iridescence of hummingbirds is due to refracted light coming from minute bubble structures located in their feathers, not from pigments. The gorget appears dark-colored until the angle of sunlight on the feathers and the angle of your eye to the feather surface interact to produce a visual gem.

Male Anna’s Hummingbird not showing iridescence, the light-source and view angles are important.  Photo by David Zittin.

Male Anna’s Hummingbird showing iridescence.  Photo by Dave Zittin.

Anna’s breeding season starts in November when rain promotes currant and gooseberries to flower and insects become abundant. The breeding display of the male is unique to this species. His courtship dive starts higher than any other hummingbird species, at about 115 feet above the ground. From there, he does a near-vertical dive, reaching descent rates of 90 feet/sec. He then turns up near his potential mate, yielding a “J”-shaped dive profile. He experiences about 8.5 Gs as he turns up at the bottom of the “J”. Most people subjected to 6 Gs for more than a few seconds will pass out. At the bottom of the “J”, air movements over his tail create a loud chirp or squeak sound. There is no pairing, the male courts and copulates, nothing more. The female does the nest building and rearing of the young.

Distribution

In the early part of the 19th century, Anna’s Hummingbird occurred across southwestern California and south into northwestern Baja California. Since the middle of the 20th century, human plantings have encouraged this species to spread northward. Eucalyptus, various ornamental flowers, and some fruit trees contributed to the spread of Anna’s. Of course, hummingbird feeders also contributed to their northward spread. Today Anna’s is found in Northern Baja California, west into Southern Arizona, and north along the coast into Southern British Columbia.

Anna’s Hummingbird can greatly slow its metabolism during cold periods to conserve energy. This metabolic slow-down is called torpor. Its average normal body temperature is 107 ℉ and its resting heartbeat rate is 400 beats/minute, but in torpor, its temperature falls to around 48 ℉ and its heartbeat rate drops to around 40 beats/minute. Being able to shift metabolic gears also aided in its northward range expansion. Anna’s Hummingbird is present in Santa Clara County throughout the year.

Similar Species

Three other hummingbird species occur in Santa Clara County, but not for the entire year. These species are the Rufous, the Allen's, and the Black-chinned Hummingbirds. The Calliope Hummingbird appears in the county infrequently. Male Anna’s are easy to identify. It’s the only hummingbird in the United States with a reddish-pink gorget that extends over its forehead, giving it an iridescent reddish-pink crown. Identifying the female is more problematic. Female Anna’s can be identified if you see red spotting on the throat. However, the red spotting is not always obvious. Female Anna’s Hummingbirds never have rufous or cinnamon coloring on their flanks, as do Allen’s and Rufous Hummingbird females. Without red spotting on the neck, the female Anna’s is similar to the female Black-Chinned Hummingbird and can be difficult to tell apart for the beginning birder.

Explore

General Information on Hummingbirds

• Trochilidae by Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan

Hummingbirds and Sapsuckers

• Why a Sapsucker may be a Hummingbird’s Best Friend from The Bird Guide

Color in Birds

• Iridescence Revealed in the Feathers of an Anna’s Hummingbird from All About Birds

• How Birds Make Colorful Feathers from All About Birds

• The Basics of Iridescence in Hummingbirds from Sibley Guides

Using Feeders

• Feeding Hummingbirds by All About Birds

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Anna’s Hummingbird by Tom Grey

Spotted Towhee

Spotted Towhee

by Dave Zittin

The Latin binomial of the Spotted Towhee is Pipilo maculatus. Pipilo means chirp or twitter, and maculatus means stained or spotted. The spotted twitter-er, perhaps? I will leave that for you to determine after you listen to its song.

Male Spotted Towhee singing. Note the conspicuous red eye. Photo by Curt Bianchi.

This well camouflaged bird is hard to spot, but it often gives away its location by sound. The common song of our local Spotted Towhees is a buzzy, rapid trill that starts with a very short chirp. Both sexes have a cat-like meow call. Their distinctive sounds alert us to their nearby presence.  I hear them most mornings in our neighborhood.

Like the California Towhee, the Spotted Towhee hops forward, then kicks both feet backward at the same time as they land, turning over leaves in search of food.

Attracting Spotted Towhees to Backyards

Spotted Towhees do not like being in open areas for more than a few seconds. In nature, they forage near or under brush. They eat off the ground. I have never seen one on my hanging feeders. 

Male in typical feeding habitat. Photo by Dave Zittin.

Spotted Towhees are omnivores, but in breeding season, they tend to eat arthropods. In the winter, they increase their intake of plant material and consume more seeds and small fruits. I use a patio mix on the ground, which attracts a pair throughout the year. They seem to be intimidated by almost any other bird species, and often wait until the other ground feeding species have left before exploring for food. I have been placing some seed closer to shrubs in hopes that our Spotted Towhees feel more comfortable feeding there. We shall see.

Description

The Spotted Towhee is a large, long-tailed sparrow. The beautiful jet-black head of the male and the black upper parts spotted with white are distinct. These features plus chestnut flanks, the red eye and pure white belly make for an easy identification. The female tends to be a little paler than the male and has a dark gray-brown head and back colors.

Female. Note the brownish head. Also note the white under tail wedges and the white edge to outer tail feathers. Photo by Dave Zittin.

There are distinct white areas on the under surface of the tail near the distal end. These spots often show as white tail corners when viewed from above. Sometimes when I get a partial view of one flying away from me in thick brush, the black head and white tail flash reminds me of a Dark-eyed Junco. 

Male showing white spotting on wings. Photo by Dave Zittin.

Juveniles show a lot of streaking and spotting and have reddish-brown color overall. 

Distribution

Breeding populations occur over Western North America from Southern British Columbia and south into Mexico, but they avoid the driest areas in this range. Some breed as far east as Montana and the Western parts of North and South Dakota and migrate out of these areas in the winter. Spotted Towhees in our area are present throughout the year. If you are interested in knowing more about their complicated distribution, see the general information link below.

Similar Species

In Santa Clara County, no other bird species looks like the Spotted Towhee. We recently encountered a beginning birder explaining that she had seen both the adult and juvenile Spotted Towhee feeding in her yard. Juveniles are not often in the open, so with further questioning, one of us determined that she was calling Dark-eyed Juncos juvenile Spotted Towhees. To her credit, she recognized the similarities between these two local sparrow species, especially the black heads and some white on the tail feathers.

Juvenile Spotted Towhee by Deanne Tucker.

Explore

• General information on the Spotted Towhee by All About Birds

• The following recording is the typical song of our local Spotted Towhee subspecies. Listen carefully for a leading chirp sound followed by a rapid trill: Recorded by William R. Fish | Macaulay Library

• This recording is a typical cat-like meow call: Recorded by Randolph Little | Macaulay Library

• Spotted Towhee sounds from All About Birds

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo Credit: Spotted Towhee by Deanne Tucker

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

by Dave Zittin

Do you like early morning serenades? If so, you will love the Northern Mockingbird, the avian Pavarotti of the neighborhood. An unmated male will sing throughout the night. Paired males start their serenading just before sunrise. Northern Mockingbirds are members of the family Mimidae, the mimics. Thrashers are also in this family.

Eating Toyon berries. Note two wing bars and a slightly decurved bill. Photo by DeAnne Tucker.

The Northern Mockingbird learns new songs throughout its life. The adult male sings about three quarters of the year, starting in February, finishing in August, then starts up again in late September, finishing in November. They learn songs from other members of their species, non-related species and non-biological sources, for example, car alarms and rusty gate hinges. A few months ago, I was thrilled to hear an Ash-throated Flycatcher in the neighborhood. I tracked it down, but found a Northern Mockingbird, doing a near perfect mimic of the flycatcher! 

Northern Mockingbirds have a few unique calls that can be used for identification. One in particular is the alarm or “churr” call that is used when predators or competitors are nearby. I hear this call daily in our backyard, especially when our local, pugnacious mockingbird attacks a crow that shows up to eat bird seed.

Two wing bars, black eye line and slightly decurved bill. Gray to blackish upper parts and buff under parts. Photo by Gena Zolotar.

The Northern Mockingbird’s persistent singing made them sought after as cage birds from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Captured adults were the best because of their naturally acquired song repertoire. Indeed, the Northern Mockingbird may have been one of the first White House pets. “Dick the Mockingbird”, as it was named, was adored by Thomas Jefferson.

Attracting Mockingbirds to Backyards

Grassy yards attract Northern Mockingbirds. Also, fruiting bushes are attractive. They normally avoid feeders, but this year (2021) was an exception for our backyard. A very territorial mockingbird decided that it likes grape jelly, which I use to attract Hooded Orioles. If an oriole lands on the jelly feeder it is immediately dive-bombed by the mockingbird, and we have not seen orioles for many weeks. It also eats from our suet feeder. These feeding activities are unusual, and I suspect are the result of a very dry year and perhaps a lack of preferred foods. Normally, Northern Mockingbirds are omnivorous, feeding on insects and worms during the spring and summer and then fruiting bodies later in the summer and autumn.

Description

The Northern Mockingbird has a narrow black eyeline, two white wing bars, gray upper parts and white lower parts. It flashes a conspicuous white wing patches in flight. 

The outer tail feathers are white and the central tail feathers are dark-colored. The black bill is fairly long and slightly decurved. When confronting an intruder, the Northern Mockingbird will raise its wings part way or raise them high, showing off the white patches. This likely makes the bird look larger and more threatening. This wing flashing might also be used to flush prey from hiding places.

Note bold white wing spots and white outer tail feathers. Photo by Sonny Mencher.

Distribution

Northern Mockingbirds are a New World species in the genus Mimus and can be found in all the states, Southern Canada, most of the Caribbean Islands and throughout most of Mexico including the Baja California Peninsula. There are fourteen Mimus species, all of which are New World species, found mostly in Latin America.

Similar Species

In Santa Clara County, the Loggerhead Shrike probably looks most similar to the Northern Mockingbird, The mockingbird lacks the conspicuous black mask, the jet-black wings, the clean gray back and the heavy hooked bill of the Loggerhead Shrike. The California Thrasher sounds somewhat like a mockingbird. Be careful using sound to make an identification. When singing, the mockingbird tends to repeat phrases several times. The thrasher rarely repeats a song phrase more than 2 times before moving onto the next phrase.

Explore

• General Information on the Northern Mockingbird

• Listen to Songs #1 and #3 for phrases that are repeated 3 or more times. The “churr” alarm call of the Northern Mocking bird can also be heard here.

• More on “Dick the Mockingbird”

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Northern Mockingbirds by Aaron Wippold

Oak Titmouse

Oak Titmouse

by Dave Zittin

The Oak Titmouse’s perky personality combined with a fairy-tale crest on its head make it one of our cuter birds. They favor dry oak forests, but also occur in mixed conifer-oak forests and are frequently seen in backyards. Oak Titmice pair for life starting in their first year. They seek natural cavities and abandoned woodpecker cavities as well as backyard nest boxes in which to construct their nests.

Oak Titmouse with a fairy-tale crest by Dave Zittin

I call them “seed bandits” because they fly to my feeder, immediately grab a seed and fly off to hide on a branch where the seed is pinned to the branch with their feet. At this point the beak is used to hammer off hulls if present, and break the seed into smaller pieces. Once a seed is consumed, it returns to the feeder for another. Like the White-breasted Nuthatch, the Oak Titmouse may cache seeds for later consumption. The short, stout beak makes them proficient at obtaining food on bark and in bark crevices. They also glean insects on foliage in a manner similar to Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

The Oak Titmouse “Seed-Bandit” at work by John Richardson

What they lack in color, they make up for in sound. The songs and the calls of the Oak Titmouse are very much a part of the soundscape of our oak forests.

The Oak Titmouse is in the family Paridae which includes the chickadees, tits and titmice. The family is widespread, but the titmouse genus, of which there are five species, occur only in North America.

Attracting Oak Titmice to Backyards

The Oak Titmouse is an omnivore. It readily consumes seeds from feeders. Nearby trees are an asset, providing a place where they can safely process food. They will feed from the ground, but prefer elevated feeders.

Oak Titmouse pair at bird bath by Hita Bambhania-Modha

Description

The upper parts of Oak Titmice are a dull olive-brownish, the under surface is gray-white. It is a small bird with a short, broad crest. The crest is usually elevated and is an identification giveaway, but sometimes it is lowered, presenting a rounded head to observers. This can sometimes lead to misidentification. In our area, the small size and uniform gray color over the lower body make it easy to identify. The short, stout gray-black beak and the prominent black eye in a field of gray are also helpful.

Oak Titmouse with its crest down. This can sometimes lead to mis-identification. Photo by Dave Zittin

Oak Titmice make a variety of different sounds. The most common call is “tsicka dee dee” used by mated pairs to keep in contact with each other. Songs vary and my favorite sounds like a frantic “Peter, Peter, Peter!”. 

Distribution

Oak Titmice range from southernmost coastal Oregon to Northwestern Baja California. In California, they occur west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A disjunct population occurs at the southern tip of Baja California. The Oak Titmouse is common in Santa Clara County.

They are declining in number, especially in California, as oak woodlands are removed for housing, agricultural uses and fuel-wood harvesting.

Similar Species

Juniper Titmouse by Brooke Miller

The Juniper Titmouse and the Oak Titmouse are similar and were once thought to be the same species. Fortunately, their distributions are different over much of their ranges. The two species overlap in only one area, near Lava Beds National Monument in North-central California, just south of the Oregon border. Otherwise, the Juniper Titmouse distribution occurs considerably east of that of the Oak Titmouse.

Explore

• All About Birds Oak Titmouse Overview

• Instructions on building a nest box for the Oak Titmouse

• Listen to the two common songs and a call in the Audubon Field Guide: Oak Titmouse

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Oak Titmouse by Steve Zamek

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

by Dave Zittin

If I had to rank local birds based on cuteness, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee would be near the top of the list. Not only is it a  beautiful bird, it is an amazing arboreal acrobat, moving with great agility through the canopy as it forages. It is often seen hanging upside down as it gleans insects from the bottom of twigs and leaves. When perched, they constantly look to their left and right.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee by Hita Bambhania-Modha

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee belongs to a genus (Poecile) of which there are 15 member species spread across the Northern Hemisphere. Six of these occur in North America. Chickadees are a member of the family Paridae which also includes tits and titmice.

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is a nuclear species. This means other species are drawn to the sound and sight of its foraging which can lead to the formation of mixed flocks. I’ve referenced an article on why mixed flocks might be advantageous below. 

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are cavity nesters and will readily use nest boxes. They are capable of doing some excavation if the wood is rotten, but usually use abandoned cavities of other species. They use fur in their nest construction and also make a fur blanket which is used  to cover the eggs to keep them warm when left unattended.

Attracting Chestnut-backed Chickadees to Backyards

Drawing the Chestnut-backed Chickadee to your yard is easy; use suet or seed. They cannot crack seed with their beaks like finches do, so you will see them come and take a seed from the feeder, fly to a branch, hold the seed with their feet and peck at it to break it into smaller pieces or perhaps to remove a seed shell.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee carrying seed from feeder. Dave Zittin

Description

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is a tiny bird with a big head and a round belly. Its back is colored with a rich chestnut-red and the black of its head and throat is separated by a white triangular patch. The flanks (the area just below the wings) are gray on Santa Clara County members of this species (subspecies barlowi). A different Chestnut-backed Chickadee subspecies (rufescens), is found in Marin County and north. It  has distinct chestnut-colored flanks.

Santa Clara County local subspecies (barlowi). Note the lack of chestnut coloring on its flanks. Dave Zittin

Chestnut-backed Chickadee subspecies (rufescens) with chestnut-colored flanks found in Marin County and further north. Brooke Miller

Distribution

This species generally prefers damp coastal conifer forests, but not exclusively. They range from the end of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska down to Point Conception, California. There are inland populations that span the southern border of British Columbia and Alberta and south into Northern Idaho.

In the past 6-7 decades this species has been moving to the East Bay where it is generally less forested and it's hotter and dryer.

Similar Species

There are no similar species in Santa Clara County. The chestnut-colored  back, the black cap and black throat make this species an easy one to identify. In fact, there are no other chickadee species in the U.S. with a chestnut-colored back.  You might think you have a different species if you encounter the chestnut-flanked subspecies north of San Francisco, but they are the same species.

The wide spread Black-capped Chickadee. Note the lack of chestnut coloring. Dave Zittin

Explore

To learn more about Chestnut-backed Chickadees, read

• All About Birds: Chestnut-backed Chickadee. As you cycle through the photos, note the chestnut sides of the northern subspecies.

To learn more about mixed species flocking, read

• Birds of Stanford: Mixed Species Flocking

• Birds and Blooms: Decoding Mixed Winter Flock Behavior by Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Chestnut-backed Chickadee by Brooke Miller

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

by Dave Zittin

The Mourning Dove is one of the most abundant bird species in the United States. The U.S. population of this species is estimated at about 350 million. It is the leading game bird of North America and over 20 million Mourning Doves are taken each year by hunters. It’s no wonder they are so shy around humans.

The Mourning Dove. Note dark smudge on the face and dark spots on the wings.

Mourning Doves are members of the family Columbidae which includes pigeons and doves. As an aside, there is no biological distinction between pigeons and doves. Usually, large columbids are called pigeons and small ones are often called doves.

In May, Mourning Doves are busy reproducing which means a lot of nest building activity. The nest is usually a platform of loosely woven twigs and conifer needles. Last year we had a Mourning Dove enter our garage and I had to shoo it out more than once. It did not occur to me that it was trying to establish a nest there until weeks later when I was looking for something on a high shelf and much to my surprise there was a dove’s nest. Fortunately there was no evidence of eggs, I am sure that the nest builder I disturbed resumed building elsewhere. Some of us are fortunate to have nests we can watch as young are raised. Mourning Doves have two nestlings at a time and like other columbids, produce “crop milk”, a nutritious fluid that is fed to the young. Watching this feeding is quite a sight (see the Explore section).

Mourning Doves by Julie McKinnon

This dove gets its name from the mournful song or cooing of unmated males. I have had people think they are hearing an owl when in fact it was a Mourning Dove. When Mourning Doves take off, a distinct whistling sound is produced by their wings. The adaptive reason for this sound isn’t clear, but it is thought to be either a warning of danger to others in the flock or a means of startling nearby predators.

Attracting Mourning Doves to Backyards

Mourning Doves are easy to attract by throwing seeds on the bare ground. They are granivourous and will eat almost any type of grain. They rarely consume insects. They have a well-developed crop, an enlargement of the esophagus, in which a large amount of food material is stored before moving on to the stomach. 

Mourning Dove by Steve Patt

Description

A bird with a full body, a small head and a long tail that tapers to a point. They are gray-brown or bluish-brown on top and buff-colored below.  Large black spots occur on the upper wings. The beak is black and the legs and feet are a dull red.

Mourning Dove by Tom Grey.

Distribution

Mourning Doves occur in every state in the United States, as well as in southern Canada, northern Mexico, and the Carribean. They are partially migratory. Most of the Mourning Doves in our area do not migrate at all or may migrate relatively short distances.

Similar Species

There are four columbid species commonly seen in Santa Clara County: the Mourning Dove, the Eurasian Collared-Dove, the Rock Pigeon and the Band-tailed Pigeon. The introduced Eurasian Collared-Dove looks somewhat similar to a Mourning Dove, although it is easy to tell the two apart. The Mourning Dove has black dots on its back and a black smudge on its cheek. The Eurasian Collared-Dove lacks both but has a conspicuous black crescent on the back of its neck. The end of the tail of the Mourning Dove is pointed whereas the end of the tail of the Eurasian Collared-Dove is squared. They are also easy to tell apart by their sounds. 

The Eurasian-collared Dove is larger than the Mourning Dove. Note the lack of dark smudging on the face, a black crescent collar at the back of the neck and the squared end of the tail. Photo by Edward Rooks.

The other two species, the Rock Pigeon (aka city pigeon) and the Band-tailed Pigeon have different colors, sizes and shapes and are easy to distinguish from the gray-brown Mourning Dove.

Band-tailed Pigeon by Tom Grey

Rock Pigeons by Curt Bianchi

Explore

• All About Birds: Mourning Dove

• Sounds

  • Listen to the California song and the wing sound recordings of the Mourning Dove

  • Listen to the song and calls of the Eurasian Collared-Dove

• Video: Female Mourning Dove feeding crop milk to young birds

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Mourning Dove by Suresh Thirumalai

Hooded Oriole

Hooded Oriole

by Dave Zittin

Spring is here and summer is around the corner. I know this when a high-speed brilliant yellow streak flies towards the jelly feeder and lands there. The Hooded Oriole has returned to our neighborhood and, if we are lucky, we will be treated to parents and offspring shortly.

Attracting Hooded Orioles to Backyards

Homemade jelly feeder filled with grape jelly.  Dave Zittin

There are various ways to attract this species. I have had success using a homemade jelly feeder filled with grape jelly. The feeder I am using now is an idea I copied from feeders I saw in Southeast Arizona.

Orioles will eat from orange halves and from feeders similar to those used for feeding hummingbirds, but with larger feeding ports to accommodate the large oriole bill. The feeding handbook at Feederwatch.org states that the sugar concentration for orioles should be 6:1 (water:sugar by volume). This is more dilute than that usually used for hummingbirds which is typically 4:1. I tried orange halves once, but they did not work for me. 

Warning, you may have troubles with ants. There are some effective inexpensive ant guards on the market.

Description

Hooded Orioles are so named because they have a yellow-orange hood. To me this name was a mystery for a long time because I had trouble visualizing the hood. Instead, I saw the black bib that covers the lower part of the face down to the upper breast and thought they should be called the “bibbed oriole”. However, once I let my brain invert what I was seeing, the yellow-orange hood became apparent. I have encountered others who had the same problem, so I know I am not alone.

Males of this species have a prominent white wing bar. Females have a smaller, less obvious wing bar. The belly on both sexes is a uniform yellow color. The top of the beak (culmen) has a distinct downward curve (decurved).

I often find them on neighborhood walks by listening for their distinct chatter call.

Male Hooded Oriole. Notice the decurved beak and the uniform yellow belly. Dave Zittin

Male Hooded Orioles have prominent white wing bars. Dave Zittin

Distribution

Orioles winter in Mexico. In the spring they make their way north to breeding grounds in the Southwest United States and as far north as Humboldt County, California. Orioles normally arrive in Santa Clara County in early April. The males arrive about a week before the females.

Historically, Hooded Orioles occurred in high densities in the lower Rio Grande Valley. In the early 1950s a freeze put an end to extensive citrus farming there and crops replaced citrus groves. Field crops are more agreeable to both the Brown-headed and the Bronzed Cowbirds who parasitize nests of various species including orioles. This has been especially devastating to Hooded Orioles and contributed to their decline in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Since this time Hooded Orioles have spread into New Mexico, Arizona and California. They favor palm trees on which to build  their nests. Palm planting in the northern parts of California have promoted a northward extension of the Hooded Oriole range. They are comfortable in and around populated suburban areas.

Similar Species

There are two common oriole species in Santa Clara County, the Hooded Oriole and Bullock’s Oriole. The males of the two species are easy to tell apart by examining color patterns of the head. Bullock’s Oriole has a black cap and a black eye line. The top of the Hooded Oriole’s head is an orange-yellow color and there is no eye line. Another striking difference is that Bullock’s Oriole has a very large white patch at the front of the folded wing compared to the bold, but smaller white wing bar of the Hooded Oriole.

Male Hooded Oriole. It has a yellow top of head and no eye-line.  Dave Zittin

Male Bullock’s Oriole with black cap and black eye-line. Tom Grey

Telling the females apart is a little more difficult. Noting the belly color is important. The belly of a Hooded Oriole female is a uniform yellow-orange color. The belly color of the Bullock’s Oriole female is conspicuously gray or white.

Female or Juvenile Hooded Oriole with a uniform yellow belly and decurved bill. Dave Zittin

Female Bullock’s Oriole with gray belly. Tom Grey

Explore

• All About Birds: Hooded Oriole

• FeederWatch Handbook & Instructions

• Listen to a common chatter or rattle call

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: Hooded Oriole by Hita Bambhania-Modha

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

by Dave Zittin

When Floy and I introduced our grandson to the White-breasted Nuthatch, he named it the “upside-down bird” because it descends trees headfirst. This small agile bird is constantly on the move either foraging or defending its territory. It is quite the arboreal acrobat. When it stops its descent, it often holds its head outward, away from the tree giving it an “L” shaped profile. It can also cling to the bottom of horizontal branches in its frantic search for food. This species prefers old deciduous or mixed deciduous forests, but if your backyard is close to trees, you will likely find it there.

White-breasted Nuthatch, the “upside-down bird”. Tom Grey

Most individuals of this species are non-migratory and occur in Santa Clara County throughout the year. Nuthatches cache seeds in the bark crevices of trees so keep an eye out for an individual going back and forth from a feeder to a tree where it pounds the food in a crevice then returns to gather another seed to add to its food cache. Nuthatches are monogamous cavity nesters. The male feeds the female when she is incubating the eggs. A male-female pair will inhabit a very large territory, which can be in excess of 25 acres and they will defend it throughout the year to prevent other White-breasted Nuthatches from raiding their cache.

Attracting White-breasted Nuthatches to Backyards

Like most of our birds, White-breasted Nuthatches are omnivorous and they will eat fruits, seeds and insects. Suet or seed feeders will attract them to backyards. I commonly see them on our seed feeder working their way upside down to the feeding holes. They are unable to crack seeds with their beaks like finches, so they grab a seed and pound it into bark crevices and either leave it there for future consumption or continue pounding it in order to crack open the seed and ingest the pieces.

White-breasted Nuthatch on suet feeder by Curt Bianchi

Description

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a compact bird with a short tail. The back is mostly a pretty blue-gray color and the under tail coverts are rusty-red. The sides are varying degrees of white and reddish. The narrow cap is black and the face is white.

White-breasted Nuthatch with hint of reddish sides. Brooke Miller.

Sounds

White-breasted Nuthatches can be very noisy and I think of them as sounding “boisterous”. It fascinates me that such a tiny bird can make so much noise, but it makes this racket to communicate with its mate, to let intruders  know that they are entering an occupied territory and for other purposes.

The most common sound I hear from the White-breasted Nuthatches in our backyard is the nasal “yank” or “quank” call. No other bird makes a sound like this in our county. You can hear their common sounds here by listening to the two recordings labelled with a parenthetical “(Pacific)”. 

White-breasted Nuthatches are found over much of the U.S. Their northern range extends into southern portions of Canada. Their southern distribution is over the mountains of Western Mexico south into the state of Oaxaca.

Similar Species

There are three species of nuthatches in Santa Clara County: White-breasted, Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch. They are easy to tell apart by looking at the eye and the facial patterns. The eye of the White-breasted Nuthatch is surrounded by white feathers. The Red-breasted Nuthatch has a conspicuous black stripe through the eye with white above and below. The dark-brown cap of the Pygmy Nuthatch extends to just below the eye and there is no white at all touching the eye.

White-breasted Nuthatch by John Richardson.

Pygmy Nuthatch by Tom Grey.

Red-breasted Nuthatch by Dave Zittin.

Explore

• All About Birds: White-breasted Nuthatch

• Audubon Field Guide: White-breasted Nuthatch

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo: White-breasted Nuthatch by Hita Bambhania-Modha

Bewick's Wren

Bewick’s Wren

by Dave Zittin

Bewick's Wren is a small, hyperactive bird with an attitude that suggests it is the king of your backyard. It is the most common backyard wren of Santa Clara County. John James Audubon named this wren in the 1820s after his friend Thomas Bewick, who was a British wood engraver and natural history author.

Backyard Bewick’s Wrens

Bewick's Wrens prefer shrubby areas and gravitate to backyards if food is present. Lawn furniture, picnic tables and wood fencing help attract this wren because spiders and insects inhabit these structures. This wren prefers to eat small arthropods and arthropod eggs, but it will feed on suet blocks and seeds, either in feeders or on the ground.  

In my backyard, our resident Bewick's Wren is out almost every morning scouting in and around a wood deck for insects, then traveling back and forth between our suet feeder and the seeds I throw on the ground.

Bewick's Wrens may use backyard nesting boxes. See Cornell's NestWatch website for more information.

Bewick’s Wren looking foraging along a rock wall. Photo by Brooke Miller.

Description

A wren is a wren and it's hard to mistake a local wren for a non-wren species based on appearances and behavior. Their perkiness and, for most species, a barred and uplifted tail suggest wren, enabling beginning birders to quickly and accurately realize they are viewing a wren. 

Most wrens, including Bewick's Wren, have long beaks that curve downward (decurved beak) and have subtle but beautiful color patterns. Bewick's Wrens have upper parts that are a rich, warm reddish-brown color. The throat and underparts are whitish and the flanks (sides) are gray. The tail has many regularly spaced dark brown cross stripes. The face shows a distinctive bold white eyebrow (supercilium).

Notice the decurved bill, thick white supercilium, and the barred uplifted tail of this Bewick’s Wren. Photo by Dave Zittin.

Sounds

The calls and the songs of the male Bewick's Wren is complex and highly variable. Just when I think I understand their sounds, they seem to invent a new one to throw me off. Only the males sing. They learn their songs from other males on neighboring territories from 60 to 90 days after they fledge, not from their fathers. Individuals can have as many as 22 different songs.

Bewick’s Wrens are just starting to sing in my backyard. A call I often hear is the one I’ve named “the electronic raspberry”, the wren version of a raspberry: bzzzzt. Click on the various calls link near the bottom of the Audubon: Bewick’s Wren page to hear the electronic raspberry. You can hear additional songs and calls on the All About Birds: Bewick’s Wren Sounds page. Our county Bewick's Wren belongs to the "spilurus group", so be sure to listen to the call and song from that group. Note the Geiger counter-like sound of the spilurus group call. This is one of many calls, but I commonly hear this one in my backyard. The spilurus song sample reminds me of a backwards Song Sparrow's song. It starts with a complex beginning with trills and tone changes then ends with 4-5 more or less clear whistle tones.

Singing Bewick’s Wren with plain gray flanks. Photo by Suresh Thirumalai.

Distribution

A century ago, Bewick's Wren was common in the Eastern U.S., but its numbers declined as the House Wren expanded its range.  Over the past few decades, once common Bewick's Wren sightings became a rare event east of the Mississippi River. Today this species has a complex distribution that is mostly limited to the west coast along most of Baja California, north to Southwestern British Columbia, and a separate portion of its range over several southwestern states and south into Central Western Mexico (range map).

Bewick’s Wrens have very upright tails which they wave about while giving scolding calls. Photo by Dave Zittin.

Similar Species

Santa Clara County has five common wren species; Bewick's, Marsh, House, Pacific and Rock Wren and a sixth uncommon species, the Canyon Wren.  When viewing a local wren, examine the face to see if a conspicuous white eyebrow (supercilium) is present. Besides the Bewick’s Wren, there are two other wren species in the county that have superciliums, the Pacific and the Marsh Wren. But neither of these birds will likely be found in suburban backyards because of their unique habitat preferences  and their eyebrows are pale and relatively inconspicuous compared to that of a Bewick’s Wren. 

Explore

• All About Birds: Bewick’s Wren 

• Other local wren species with eyebrows (superciliums)

  • All About Birds: Marsh Wren

  • All ABout Birds: Pacific Wren

• NestWatch Sites

  • All About Birdhouses

  • All About Birdhouses: Bewick's Wren

• Sounds and Calls

  • All About Birds: Bewick’s Wren Sounds

  • Audubon Field Guide: Bewick’s Wren

  More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo by Curt Bianchi

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

by Dave Zittin

The Cooper's Hawk is a member of the genus Accipiter, a group of hawks that have short, broad wings and long tails that are adapted for fast flight in wooded areas. They have fantastic maneuverability in high-speed flight pursuits of prey. They maneuver through trees, brush and around other obstacles with remarkable agility.  To protect themselves after capturing prey with their sharp, long talons they hold the captured prey away from their body until it dies. Sometimes these hawks will drown their prey.

Cooper’s Hawks are usually found in deciduous and mixed deciduous forest, but this species has proven to be adaptable to life in urban, suburban and agricultural environments. They are probably the most common backyard raptor in the United States.

This hawk was named by Charles Bonaparte after a friend and fellow ornithologist, William Cooper in 1828.

Cooper’s Hawk by Dave Zittin.

Backyard Cooper’s Hawks

Bird feeders attract Cooper's Hawks. If you have large numbers of birds feeding in your backyard you will likely attract this hawk which kills and eats Mourning Doves, Robins, Jays and more. Their preferred prey are birds of small to medium size, but they will capture and eat small mammals too. We have observed several Mourning Dove kills by Cooper's Hawks in our backyard. Birds will instantly leave a feeding area in rapid flight and disappear as if by magic if they sense a Cooper's Hawk is nearby. If you want to get rid of a Cooper's Hawk that has taken up residence in your backyard, remove your feeders for a few days and it will likely go elsewhere.

Cooper’s Hawk at bird bath. Photo by Myron Meier.

Description

Cooper's Hawks are crow-sized. This species is characterized by short, rounded wings and relatively long tail, which has a rounded end. Their legs are yellow. The adult has a beautiful barred, rufous-colored breast.

The male is smaller than the female. The length of the female ranges from 14.6 to 15.3 inches, about 10 – 20% longer than the male. The male weight range is 7.8 to 14.5 ounces. The heavier female has a weight range of 11.6 to 24.0 ounces. 

The young bird resembles the adult in shape, but the back is browner in color, often with white checkering that is absent in the adult and it has brown streaking on its breast. Some of the streaks have a distinctive teardrop shape. The color of the iris of a young bird is yellow and turns orange to red in color as the bird matures. 

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk with Mourning Dove.  Note the teardrop shape of the breast streaking and yellow iris. Photo by Dave Zittin]

Distribution

Cooper's Hawks are found across the entire continental United States and south into Central America throughout the year. In the breeding season some adults migrate north into Southern Canada. Non breeding populations occur across most of Mexico and south into Central America throughout the year.

Similar Species

The less common Accipiter species in Santa Clara County is the Sharp-shinned Hawk. Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks are very similar in appearance and present an identification challenge, but with experience, one can distinguish the two.  

Sharp-shinned Hawk by Dave Zittin

On roosting birds note the head shape. The Cooper's Hawk's head appears squared off with the top of the head flattened and a distinct almost 90 degree angle forming between the top of the head and back of the neck. The Sharp-shinned has a more rounded head with a continuous arc starting at the upper mandible (beak) continuing over the head and down the nape. The Sharp-shinned Hawk has a relatively smaller head and sometimes appears to lack a neck. The adult Cooper's Hawk has a very dark cap that ends at the angle between the top of the head and neck which presents a sharp color contrast between the top of the head and the lighter nape. While the color of the top of the head of the Sharp-shinned Hawk's head is dark, it continues down onto the nape with no change in color.

Cooper’s Hawk with flat head and sharp angle from top of head onto nape. Photo by Dave Zittin.

Sharp-shinned Hawk with curved head, short neck and dark cap extending onto nape. Photo by Dave Zittin.

In flight the head of a Sharp-shinned Hawk rarely extends beyond an imaginary line from wrist-tip to wrist-tip, but the head of the Cooper's Hawk extends well beyond the leading edges of the wings. 

If you see a squared tail end, it's probably a Sharp-shinned Hawk. If you see a rounded tail end it might be a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned Hawk as the Sharp-shinned Hawk's tail end can become rounded with wear.

Explore

• Photo of Cooper’s Hawk carrying Cattle Egret

• All About Birds: Cooper’s Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk

More Backyard Bird Information

• View more common Santa Clara County Backyard Birds

• Visit our Backyard Birding page

• Read our Notes and Tips from a Backyard Birder series

• Tell us what you’re seeing in your yard! Send your notes, photos, and sound clips to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature your submittals on our website.

Banner Photo by Binu John