Category: backyard birds

Sound the Alarm

February 4th, 2020

The song of the northern cardinal sounds like a car alarm to my ear – so much so that if I didn’t know their song so well, I might think the sounds were coming from a mockingbird who was imitating a car alarm. I have never come across another description of the northern cardinal’s song that matches my own and so I must conclude that I am alone in my opinion, but if you have the chance, dear reader, to listen to a northern cardinal sing, do let me know if you agree with me!

Northern cardinals are territorial birds who rigorously defend their territories during the breeding season. That said, I often see many cardinals in the same area getting along just fine. I saw two bright-red male cardinals on a lawn with only about 24 inches between them when I was out walking today. They seemed to be on friendly terms, though I could hear the car-alarm song of another northern cardinal somewhere nearby. Perhaps that unseen, third bird was not at all cool with the situation.

XOXO,
Bernice
Familiar Faces

January 14th, 2020

I have not yet discussed house sparrows in this blog, which strikes me as an obscene oversight because house sparrows are the most common bird on earth!

I am sure that you, dear reader, are familiar with house sparrows already, but did you know that these birds are not native to North America? House sparrows were brought to this continent by humans close to 170 years ago. These small songbirds thrived here and can now be found from coast to coast.

House sparrows are often derided: they are an invasive species that compete with native birds for resources. That said, being brought here was hardly the fault of the birds, and it is just plain old unfair to hate them for something so beyond their control.

House sparrows live wherever humans live. If you keep your eyes open, you will notice house sparrow nests in all kinds of urban nooks and crannies like traffic lights, the eaves of houses, and vents. Or you may encounter house sparrows the way I did earlier today. I was just about to enjoy my last slice of acacia pizza when I was distracted by the sight of a raptor perched in a tree in the distance. I walked away from my pizza for just a few minutes to try to get a better look at the bird and when I returned, house sparrows were busy nibbling my pizza! Even though I had really been looking forward to eating that last slice of my vegan pizza, I decided I had better leave it to the birds – the tapioca cheese had little sparrow footprints in it and I found that quite unappetizing.

XOXO,
Bernice

PS: I have three more fabulous links about house sparrows for you today. The first is an article from Smithsonian Magazine entitled The Story of the Most Common Bird in the World. The second is an article from the Audubon Society called How the House Sparrow Conquered the World Is Encoded in Its Genes. Finally, I found a marvelous video from National Geographic called You’re a Sparrow. Here’s How to Survive New York. Enjoy!
Wintering Juncos

January 7th, 2020

Hector and I saw a bunch of dark-eyed juncos flitting around on the ground yesterday. I don’t know what startled them, but they suddenly moved as a group and flew up into the branches of a nearby eastern hemlock.

Here in the east, we have slate-colored dark-eyed juncos, but these common-in-winter sparrows come in a wide variety of colors. One might not realize that, for example, the brown dark-eyed juncos in Oregon are the same species as the pink-sided dark-eyed juncos of the southwest – they look like totally different birds. That said, dark-eyed juncos do have a few things in common when it comes to their appearance: they all have dark eyes, pale beaks and white outer-tail feathers.

Have you seen any dark-eyed juncos this winter? What do they look like in your neck of the woods?

XOXO,
Bernice
Meow?

June 25th, 2019

“Meow? Meow?”

I looked over my shoulder and saw my dear friend, Hector, with his neck stretched way down, nose to the ground, face-to-face with a grey catbird. My funny friend was meowing at the bird.

“What are you doing, you nut?” I don’t know why I asked. I could see clearly what Hector was doing.

“I am hoping to hear this grey catbird say meow, Bernice,” Hector answered in a whisper. He then continued to do his cat impression. “This catbird is not cooperating!” Hector whispered, exasperated, after a while of uninterrupted meowing.

“I imagine the bird was stunned speechless when he found himself face-to-face with a meowing giraffe!” I giggled. “The sound isn’t really a meow anyway. It’s more of a short, squawky, mew sound. I don’t think grey catbirds sound like cats at all, though I seem to be alone in that opinion.”

“Well, I would like to hear for myself and make up my own mind about it,” Hector huffed.

“I’ll keep my ears open and let you know if we hear one, Hector.”

“Thanks, Bernice. You’re the best.”

We resumed our walk.
What’s in a Name?

March 12th, 2019

I like American Crows and am lucky enough to see them all the time. Why just today, I saw a crow perched on a lamppost outside the market and then I saw two crows in an oak tree I passed on my way to NuNu’s house.

Did you know that crows are very smart? They are thought to be some of the smartest birds in the world. I like the way crows say “Caw! Caw! Caw!” and I like how big they are. Crows are much easier to spot than a teeny bird like a house finch.

When I see a crow, I stop to admire it. Before this past weekend I had never seen a large group of crows, even though I know they often gather in sizeable flocks. So when Hector and I came upon a murder of crows, I was very excited.

“Hector! Look at all these crows! I think this qualifies as a murder, don’t you?” I asked my best friend when we saw what seemed like 500 crows gathered in neighboring trees.

“Um. What?” Hector gasped. “A murder? Where? How?” He looked quite spooked all of a sudden.

“A group of crows is called a murder of crows, silly. No one has been killed,” I replied. “It’s a special name like a pride of lions, a conspiracy of lemurs, a bevy of swans, a swarm of bees, or a prickle of porcupines. It’s pretty old-fashioned to use those words but I like to. I think they’re both wacky and charming.”

“Nothing called a murder is charming, Bernice! I want to go home now,” Hector shivered with the creeps.

“Okay, Hector,” I said. “Let’s go home and have some tea.”

We headed back the way we had come, and soon I could not see the crows any longer. But I could hear their caw-caw-cawing for quite a long time and I found the sounds delightful.
Bird’s Got Skills

March 5th, 2019

“What kind of bird is that?” Louisa asked. Hector and I stopped walking and joined Louisa to inspect the river birch tree.

“What bird? I don’t see anything,” my eyes roved over the tree but I saw no bird.

“It’s right in front of you, Bernice,” Hector said. “Do you need glasses? I have a great eye doctor if you do.”

“I don’t think so,” I replied, understanding that I could not really know. Hector didn’t know he needed glasses for a long time before he got them. It was only after he started wearing them that Hector realized everything had been blurry before.

“Where is the bird? I just don’t see it,” I said, wondering if I really did need to visit the optometrist. But then I saw the bird and I don’t think it looked blurry at all. The colors of the white-breasted nuthatch were simply blending into the bark of the tree. Furthermore, the tree bark had a lot of texture, making the bird difficult to see among all the shapes the bark itself made.

“Ah, I see it now! It’s a white-breasted nuthatch! It is searching the bark for insects to eat.”

The bird walked all over the bark as though it were nothing. First it walked down the trunk of the tree, facedown, tail pointed to the sky. Then it changed direction and walked straight up the tree. It searched for bugs to eat the whole time and seemed not to notice we were watching.

“That looks scary” Louisa commented. “But I would like to be able to scale surfaces like that. Would you? It’s like Spiderman!”

Hector and I both thought it would be useful to be able to climb like a white-breasted nuthatch and told Louisa we would like to be able to, yes.

How about you? Would you like to be able to walk up and down the sides of things like a white-breasted nuthatch?
Immigrants Just Like You and Me

February 12th, 2019

My great-great-grandparents moved here from Africa. If you live in the United States, chances are your ancestors moved here from another land just like mine did.

The European Starling, which one sees with great frequency here, was brought to this continent by a Shakespeare enthusiast in 1890. Shakespeare was a human who wrote plays a long, long time ago. English-speaking humans revere him and apparently Shakespeare mentioned starlings in one of his plays.

European Starlings have flourished here and they now live from sea to shining sea. You have probably seen one yourself: they are about the size of an American Robin, but are a glossy black with a metallic sheen that, depending on the light, looks green or blue or purple to my eye.

The other day, just as the sun was going down, I passed a massive flock of European Starlings settling down for the night in the branches of neighboring oak trees. What a cacophony they made! I rarely hear such a ruckus. They seemed to be having quite the party and they sure did look like they were having fun.

Their camaraderie put me in the mood to go have fun with my own friends and family and so I asked Hector if he wanted to go to my parents’ place for dinner, which is just what we did.
Appearances Can Be Deceiving

January 15th, 2019

Hector and I were out for a walk, noshing appetizing leaves we saw along the way. We moseyed with no particular destination in mind, as is our wont.

After a while we came upon a tree that was covered in berries even though it had lost all its leaves for winter. There were something like one hundred American Robins perched in the branches, busily eating the fruit.

“How huge they are!” Hector said to me, admiring the robins’ portly physiques. “I’ve never seen such obese birds. These robins must have fattened up for winter, don’t you think, Bernice?”

The robins did indeed appear quite heavy, but appearances can be deceiving. I explained to Hector that the birds were not fat at all – they had puffed out their feathers to keep warm. Did you know that birds do that? Birds use the heat from their bodies to warm the air between their feathers. Isn’t that interesting?

It seems like such small creatures would not be able to stay warm when it is very cold outside, doesn’t it? However, air is an excellent insulator and those of our feathered friends who choose not to travel south for the winter are indeed able to keep themselves warm.

Hector and I stayed by the tree for a while and admired the robins’ rust-colored chests. Then we decided we had better get back to fattening ourselves up for winter!

It sure is cold here in D.C.! Is it cold where you are?
Giraffe’s Eye View

January 8th, 2019

I am sure it will come as a huge surprise that I find baby birds absolutely adorable. I know… I know… kittens, puppies, hatchlings: it’s so unusual to find these creatures cute! I am a real outlier here, folks!

I am sixteen feet tall, did you know that? My height gives me a big advantage when it comes to finding and observing baby birds. I am often able to see right into nests. Some birds build their homes way too far up in the treetops for me to see into, but an awful lot of birds build at or below my line of sight.

The other day I stopped by a pine tree some blue jays nested in last year. The nest is still there, though it is not occupied at the moment. I wonder if the blue jays will return in the Spring? I’ll keep you posted!

Last year the mama blue jay laid four speckled eggs in early May. I stopped by every day for almost three weeks to see if the chicks had pecked their way out of their shells yet and then one day they finally did! There were four naked, shaky, teensy baby birds huddled together where the eggs had been.

The mama and papa brought food to the nest many times a day to feed the hatchlings. Blue jays love nuts and insects. I watched the papa feed his chicks a few fat caterpillars one day.

Blue Jays grow quickly. After a few weeks their feathers grew in and the hatchlings were easily recognizable as the blue jays they were. They all left the nest three short weeks after they hatched. But what a glorious three weeks those were! I was lucky enough to be able to watch them grow into strong birds who were ready to spread their wings and fly.