eBird tutorial: finding Pinyon Jays

Pinyon Jay, Best Western Ponderosa Lodge, Sisters, Oregon, 27 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Throughout most of its range, the Pinyon Jay is found in pinyon pine and juniper woodlands. Thus, this species reaches its northern limit in southern Idaho where a few pinyon pine exist. However, there is an isolated pocket of Pinyon Jays in central Oregon, found in juniper and ponderosa pine. Why it is found only here, when this habitat is widespread in the Great Basin, is unknown. These jays occur in large noisy flocks throughout the year, and are highly nomadic.

This post will serve as a tutorial of how to use eBird to create sightings maps.



First, point your web browser to ebird.org.

The eBird Welcome page appears as follows (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



Next, choose the "View and Explore Data" tab to bring up the following screen (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



To create species maps and abundance bar charts limited to a certain area, choose "Bar Charts." Then you are asked to choose your location. We want the Pacific Northwest, so we choose Idaho, and then, holding down the CTRL key, select Oregon and Washington too! Then select "continue" at the bottom of the page (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



What this has done is create a monthly bar chart of annual bird abundance for the combined three states (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



Scroll down to Pinyon Jay and click it to bring up that species' information. Here you can change the date range and location, down to a specific county within a state. Looking at the bar chart, you can see that Pinyon Jay is present all year in the chosen range (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), but harder to find early in the year (click on the image below to bring up a larger view).



Now click on the map button or tab to bring up the map below (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



The map shows Pinyon Jay abundance in latitude-longitude blocks in two areas of southern Idaho, and central Oregon, with a smattering of sightings in the Klamath Basin of south-central Oregon. As you zoom in closer, these blocks are resolved into the individual sightings markers.

If you zoom in on the Central Oregon sightings, you'll notice a bunch of sightings near Sisters, Oregon. If you click on the sightings marker, the specific information comes up: date, number of individuals seen, location name and observer. Sightings within the last 30 days are shown with orange markers, older sightings are blue. Let's look at what I've selected (click on the image below to bring up a larger view):



I switched the Google map from Terrain view to the Satellite view, and zoomed in to an area of town. Then I clicked on one of the markers, whereupon the information about that sighting location is revealed. Here it is, then. This marker is located at a place called "Best Western Ponderosa Lodge" in Deschutes County, Oregon. The date was 4/4/10 and 21 Pinyon Jays were reported here. The observer? Why, Best Western Ponderosa Lodge! What?!!! Why not? Yes, someone at the Lodge signed up to eBird perhaps simply to "advertise" the birds you can find at their motel!

Is this "legal"? Of course! While eBird would like each observer to contribute more than just one checklist, one is better than nothing. Remember, eBird includes sightings not just from scientists and fanatical birders, but also elementary school science classes, backyard birders and, yes, even motels! Now that's what I call Citizen Science!

Can you really find Pinyon Jays at this motel? Well, I did! See the caption for the Pinyon Jay photo above. Also note that another visitor to the motel recorded Pinyon Jays there in June 2011.

A recent new addition to eBird is the ability to click on the word "checklist" next to the sighting report to see all the other birds seen at that location that day! So, for instance, also found were ponderosa pine specialists like White-headed Woodpecker and Pygmy Nuthatch. And, yes, Eurasian Collared-Dove has invaded there, too.

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler, Gearhart, Oregon, 6 August 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Here's a bit of color that I wanted to share with you. This bird was hiding in a stunted Sitka spruce near the edge of the beach dunes. It's already migration time and several of these birds were seen on the extreme outer coast, where they likely do not nest.

This species was featured in a previous post: Wilson's Amazing Green Black-capped Flycatching-Warbler

In the backyard... Western Wood-Pewee

Western Wood-Pewee, Trout Creek, Deschutes Co., Oregon, 5 August 2005 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Western Wood-Pewee is widespread throughout the West.

As with most flycatchers, it sits upright and motionless on an exposed twig. When an insect flies by, the bird sallies out and chases it, often clicking its bill several times during the chase. Once it catches its prey, it often returns back to the same or nearby perch.

It has the prototypical flycatcher shape--the head is large and slightly crested. The bill is quite wide and flat, but this is only obvious when viewed from directly below.

On a perched pewee the primaries are very long and pointed. The tail also looks quite long. This flycatcher has wide buffy wing bars, but lacks an eye ring. Smaller Empidonax flycatchers (Willow, Dusky, etc.) have both eye rings and wing bars. Even though larger than these other flycatchers, it is only 6-1/4 inches long--the length of a junco. It is much smaller than than some other flycatchers, such as Say's Phoebes and Western Kingbirds, for instance.

These birds arrive in the Pacific NW in mid-May, after there are many larger flying insects to eat. They remain into late September before migrating south. They winter farther south than most Neotropical migrants in the West, to Colombia and Venezuela.

These flycatchers are found in open woods, preferably deciduous trees, thus most likely to be found in mature trees in residential areas. They avoid breeding in sage, grasslands, and dense conifers.

Their voice is loud: a plaintive, drawn out, slightly buzzy descending pee-year and a similarly burry rising weep.

In the woods: Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon, 19 March 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Tiny little balls of fluff, moving nervously through the forest branches.

Sibilant, soft, high-pitched notes from birds unseen in the tree-tops.

Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Was that a haiku? It wasn't meant to be. Just some brief notes I put down to include in my post, to be finished later. But those sentence fragments capture the impression of these common, yet unfamiliar (to many) birds.

I feel privileged that my "over 50" ears can still hear the high frequency songs and calls of Golden-crowned Kinglets. The National Geographic field guide describes the song as an "almost inaudibly high... series of tsee notes accelerating into a trill."

And they are truly tiny. At only 4 inches long, they are the same length, bill tip to tail tip, as Anna's Hummingbird, though the kinglet has a larger body and shorter bill and is about 50% heavier, overall. Still, it is 1-1/2 inches shorter than a Black-capped Chickadee.

These little sprites are tough little birds, though, living on bark beetles, scale insects, aphids and their eggs, year-round in the conifer-covered mountains of the West. Some birds move into the lowland woods in winter. Eastern birds breed in the taiga forests across Canada and barely into northern US, including northern Appalachians, and winter throughout the US.

 

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon, 26 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Sexes are similar, though the male has a bit of orange on the crown that is best seen when the crown feathers are raised in agitation.

Those long claws and strong feet are perfect for gleaning insects from the tips of branches. They often hang upside down from branch tips as they search for insects. They may hover-glean, flying in place as they pick at insects.

Constantly on the move in small flocks, they are handsome little birds--a fact only appreciated in these larger-than-life-sized photos of frozen time.

How did Townsend get away with it?

Townsend's Warbler, Beaverton, Oregon, 22 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Townsend's Warbler Dendroica townsendi (Townsend, 1837)

The above reference is the scientific listing of Townsend's Warbler. Let's analyse this further.

Townsend's Warbler is the common English name as established by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU).

The binomial is a Latinized set of words, the genus name first and species name second (always non-capitalized). The person who describes a new species to science (by being the first to publish the description in a scientific journal) gets to choose this name. This bird is named townsendi, for John Kirk Townsend.

The final part (in parentheses) is the person who described the bird to science and the year of publication. Seems simple enough. It was John Kirk Townsend in 1837 in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Now wait just a minute!

There aren't too many rules about naming a species. But I do know that you can't name a species after yourself!

How did Townsend get away with it?

John Kirk Townsend was born 200 years ago, in 1809. As a young man he distinguished himself in medicine and natural history, especially bird collecting (shooting and stuffing). He was asked by botanist Thomas Nuttall to join him on Nathaniel Wyeth's second expedition to the Oregon Territory from 1835-1837. The expedition was a failed business venture on Wyeth's part, but was scientifically rewarding.

Townsend wrote about his adventures in the 1839 book: "Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains."

It turns out, though, that the article in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was actually written by Thomas Nuttall in Townsend's name.

Thus, Nuttall named Townsend's Warbler in a journal using Townsend's name as author. Confusing? Yes. Sneaky? Perhaps. But certainly interesting!

This new species of warbler wasn't the only new bird described to science that Townsend collected. He also collected Mountain Plover, Vaux's Swift, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Sage Thrasher, and Black-throated Gray Warbler.

Several birds and mammals are named after Townsend, including Townsend's Solitaire, Townsend's Chipmunk, etc. [The Townsend's Shearwater was named after Charles Haskins Townsend (1859-1944) an ornithologist and ichthyologist.]

Being a doctor, you'd think Townsend would have been more careful. But he died of arsenic poisoning in 1851 when only 41 years old. Arsenic was the main preservative in bird specimens. So birding was the direct cause of his death!

More images and history of Townsend's Warbler:

Audubon's Birds of America

Columbia River Images

Hermit Thrush in winter

Hermit Thrush, Hagg Lake, Washington Co., Oregon on 17 December, 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Hermit Thrush is the only spotted thrush expected in the Pacific NW in winter. They are one of the winter birds termed "half-hardy," such as the Lesser Goldfinch discussed a few weeks ago. They don't survive well if water stays frozen for more than a couple of days. Thus, their winter range in the Pacific NW is primarily west of the Cascades from southern British Columbia southward.

Hermit Thrushes in winter can be found in dense shrubbery in backyards and, especially, foothills. In this, they are found in similar winter habitats to Varied Thrushes. Both are shy birds, generally sticking to the shadows and brushy cover of conifer saplings.

The spotted thrushes are all very similar in appearance, with only slight differences.

In contrast to their plain plumage, most spotted thrushes (genus Catharis) have very complex and beautiful breeding songs. The name, Catharis, means "pure" and refers to the lovely melodius songs of this group. In fact, the Hermit Thrush is arguably the most beautiful singer of all North American birds. In winter, however, Hermit Thrushes are very quiet, giving only a blackbird-like "chuck" note that belies their extensive spring repertoire.

The difference between the calls of Hermit Thrushes and Varied Thrushes is slight. As mentioned, Hermit Thrush gives a "chuck" or "djuck" call. The call of Varied Thrush is slightly more mellow, "tchook" (with a long U sound, like "duke," not "book"). These soft calls are often the only indication that these birds are hiding nearby as you walk along the trail through the woods.

I am not the only one to have photographed and written about Hermit Thushes this winter. See the article by Dave Ingram on his Nature Island blog: Hello Hermit!.

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow, Lost Lake, Linn Co., Oregon on 23 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Chipping Sparrow breeds throughout the Pacific NW, but requires drier, open, park-like woodlands. Thus, it is usually rare along the wet coast and Coast Range forests, and on the more humid west slope of the Cascades.

It has the odd distinction of being found in the lower western valleys of Oregon and Washington, but not in the mid-elevation Douglas-fir and hemlock forests of the west slope of the Cascades, but then again very common high in the Cascades in the open lodgepole pine forests (as in the photo above). [See the species account in the Washington Breeding Bird Atlas.]

Most Chipping Sparrows winter south of the Pacific NW, though rarely some are found in winter in filbert (hazelnut) groves in the Willamette Valley. In spring, some may arrive in western Oregon as early as March, but the peak of migration is mid to late April through much of the Pacific NW.

In autumn, many birds form large flocks in open grassy clearings in the mountains. Few birds remain beyond early October.

In winter plumage they lose the chestnut crown and can appear similar to the rare winter vagrant Clay-colored Sparrow.

The song is a long (4-6 seconds), dry trill on one pitch. Dark-eyed Juncos can sometimes give a similar trill, but usually the junco is more musical and of shorter duration.

This species has declined in numbers over the past century, especially in towns. Loss of small farms and orchards, closing canopies in oak woodlands due to fire suppression, and increase of Brown-headed Cowbird nest parasitism are all likely causes.

In the past they lined their nests extensively with horse hair, and were even called "horse-hair birds." Having trouble locating Chipping Sparrows in your local area? Try finding a horse stable or one of the "gentleman ranchettes" that are popular today.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-headed Grosbeak, Forest Grove, Oregon on 15 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Black-headed Grosbeaks are common migrants and summer residents throughout the Pacific NW. They arrive in May and are quite common in towns at bird feeders and in riparian areas and deciduous and mixed woods through September.

The male, pictured above, is rusty-orange on the breast and rump, yellow on the body, black on the back. It has a black head and black wings and tail with large white patches and spots. Males sing a clear, rapid, robin-like warble. Both sexes give a sharp pik call.

Females and young during the first year are duller overall (brownish and pale orange) with striped head ("chipmunk bird").

These songbirds take 2 years to reach full adult plumage. The immature male plumages have a more striped head and back than adults.

Wilson's Amazing Green Black-capped Flycatching-Warbler

Wilson's Warbler, Timber, Washington Co., Oregon on 17 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Wilson's Warbler is a rather common migrant throughout the Pacific NW. It also breeds in dense riparian edges. These birds are especially common near the ground in dense wet Coast Range understory edges, and regenerating red alder clear-cuts, of the Pacific NW.

Birds arrive in spring in early May and remain into mid September.

It is a bright yellow bird, greener above, especially on the tail. Males have black caps, females often show a trace. The beady black eye really stands out in the middle of the yellow face. Birds west of the Cascades are more golden yellow (as photographed above).

The song is a rapid trill that drops in pitch at the end: chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chet-chet. The call note is similar to a Winter Wren call, a sharp chip.

The naming of this bird has an interesting history. Peter Simon Pallas, in Russia, described a new species of bird brought back by Joseph Billings from Kodiak Island, Alaska in 1790, then a Russian territory. Pallas named it "pileolata," meaning a skullcap. From this root we have pileolated or pileated, meaning a cap or crest, and referring specifically to the pileum, the top of a bird's head from bill to nape. The description was published in September 1811, after Pallas' death. The bird became known as the Pileolated Warbler.

However, earlier in February of that same year, 1811, Alexander Wilson published a record of a "new" species found in New Jersey. He named it the "Green Black-capped Flycatcher." Even though the record from Alaska was 17 years earlier, Wilson published a few months earlier than Pallas. Thus we have today Wilson's Warbler and not Pileolated Warbler. [Read The Pileolated Warbler in the Spring 1992 American Birds article by John Ferrand, Jr.]

The name has been changed several times, apparently in about this order: Green Black-capped Flycatcher, Wilson's Black-capped Flycatching-Warbler, Wilson's Black-capped Warbler, Wilson's Warbler.

The yellower birds of the West have long gone by the name Pileolated Warbler, but subspecies names were dropped in the 1950's. If you were to look in the 1940 book Birds of Oregon by Gabrielson and Jewett, or the 1953 book Birds of Washington State by Jewett, Taylor, Shaw, and Alrich, you would find that the bird I photographed above is called the Golden Pileolated Warbler.

After doing this research I'll never look at a Wilson's Warbler the same way again....

Vaux's Swifts: amazing aerialists

Vaux's Swift, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 22 September 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Vaux's Swift might be thought of as a Pacific NW breeding specialty, occurring from SE Alaska across southern British Columbia and northern Idaho, south in the wooded mountains into central California. They winter mostly from southern Mexico to Panama.

However, there are also non-migratory Vaux's Swifts in Mexico, Panama, and northern Venezuela. These are sometimes considered a separate species, Dusky-backed Swift, Chaetura richmondi.

Vaux's Swifts arrive in the latter half of April in the Pacific NW and form large migratory flocks in September as they head south. Large migratory flocks of swifts roost at night in brick chimneys. One famous roost is in downtown Portland at the Chapman Elementary School. By mid-September 10-35,000 swifts may use this roost. This has become quite the local spectacle, and problem, with some 400-2000 people visiting each night to watch, according to the Audubon Society of Portland.

These swifts may choose to nest in chimneys in towns, but often use hollow snags in the forest. They build their nests of saliva and small twigs. During the day they forage over woods, waters, and towns with high, buzzy twittering calls.

Though they may look superficially like swallows, there are many differences. Swifts have weak feet and cannot perch on tree branches or wires. They cling to the inside of hollow snags or chimneys at night, but spend most of the day in speedy flight. They are dusky gray with paler throat and rump. The wings have the wrist joint very near the body, thus they have twinkling flight and brief soaring. Their tail feathers are short and bristle-like.

This swift was named in honor of American minerologist William Vaux (1811-1882). Since he pronounced his name as "vawks," that is the pronunciation of the name of the swift, not "voze" as it might be pronounced if French.

Band-tailed Pigeon

Band-tailed Pigeon visiting a favored mineral spring at Hagg Lake, Oregon on 3 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The large Band-tailed Pigeon can be found nearly anywhere in the Pacific Northwest (for instance, stragglers have occurred throughout Idaho). However, this handsome bird breeds in mature conifer forests primarily west of the Cascades and Sierra-Nevada Mountains from western British Columbia south through California. It forages in more open oak and pine-oak woodlands throughout its range.

Another population breeds from Utah and Colorado south to western Texas, Arizona, and through the mountains of western Mexico. Additional populations breed southward into South America.

There are some birds that spend the winter visiting feeders in wooded neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, and more do so in the oak woodlands of SW Oregon and northern California. But the majority of breeding birds withdraw from the Pacific NW to winter in central California and southward as far as northern Baja.

In March, the first returning flocks of Band-tailed Pigeons arrive in the Pacific NW. They are most common in the Coast Range. But they are not evenly distributed. They concentrate near a mineral site where they can obtain sodium and potasium for their diets. Obviously, they can obtain sodium from salt near the Pacific coast. Another main source of minerals come from mineral springs. Birds may travel over 30 miles from their nest to get minerals (Birds of Oregon: A General Reference, 2003).

They eat buds, flowers, and fruit of oaks, elderberries, cascara, madrone, and huckleberries. You may feed them cracked corn to attract them to your feeders. However, some people stop feeding birds in early summer as large flocks of Band-tailed Pigeons come in and wipe out the feeding station quickly.

Their cooing is very deep and owl-like: oo-hoo.

In the backyard... Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin, Hillsboro, Oregon on 4 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

If you feature a thistle feeder with Niger seeds at your bird feeding station, you will likely get flocks of Pine Siskins occasionally, often in winter and spring. Highly, nomadic, their movements and numbers are unpredictable at any time of year.

Pine Siskins are superficially similar in coloration to female House Finches, though they are the size and shape of the smaller goldfinches to which they are closely related. Like goldfinches, their bills are small and thin and tails deeply forked. You may note a yellow wing stripe and yellow base to the tail--especially visible in flight (see photo above). The darkness of the plumage and the intensity of yellow is highly variable between individuals.

They nest fairly commonly in conifer forests throughout the mountainous regions of the Pacific Northwest. They can be hard to see high in the canopy, but easily detected by their buzzy rising calls.

In winter they often irrupt into the lowlands, following changing food resources. John Rakestraw has been seeing them recently at his feeder in Portland, Oregon and writes a bit about them on his blog.

Besides small cones of conifers, Pine Siskins also feed in winter upon the cone-like fruit of the deciduous red alder.

In the woods... Purple Finch

Purple Finch, Washington County, Oregon on 16 May 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

There are three look-a-like finches in the Pacific NW: House Finch, Cassin's Finch, and Purple Finch. In general they are found in different habitats.

House Finches, as we previously discussed, are primarily found in residential settings, drier ranchlands in the Great Basin, and even coastal dune grass.

Cassin's Finches favor primarily the ponderosa pine forests east of the Cascades.

In the Pacific NW, Purple Finches prefer lower forests and wooded openings from the Cascade and Sierra-Nevada mountains westward to the coast and southward through California. On the east slope of the Cascades they are found above the ponderosa pine forest and below the true fir. East of the Cascades there are also some breeding in the Naches Velley of Yakima County, Washington, the Blue Mts of ne Oregon and the Klamath Basin. Purple Finches breed in sw British Columbia and across the forests of central B.C. They are rare winter transients in Idaho and the remainder of the eastern portions of the Great Basin desert in the Pacific NW.

They do occur in wooded lowlands, parks, and towns, as well as some riparian areas, but are generally out-competed by House Finches. The more trees in these areas, the more likely there will be Purple Finches.

They will eat some insects, but seeds are their main diet. Flower buds from fruit trees are popular, as are seeds of conifers and maples, as well as weed seeds. As most other finches, and unlike sparrows, they feed primarily regurgitated seeds (and not insects) to their nestlings. If you live within their range, you may attract them to your feeder with black oil sunflower seeds.

Here are some ID hints to separate House and Purple Finches.

Male Purple Finches differ from male House Finches in the following ways. The red of House Finch is more orangish, rarely yellowish-orange. The brightest red on House Finch is on the forehead, upper breast, and rump. The crown of the head and back are usually brown, not red. In contrast, the red on Purple Finch is more evenly and widely distributed. It covers all of the head feathers, including the crown, and red edges continue on the feathers of the back and upper wings (see photo above).

In shape, Purple Finches are larger headed and shorter tailed than House Finches. The tail is more notched in Purple Finch. The brown coloration of Purple Finches is slightly greenish, described as an olive-brown (see lower neck, wings, and tail in above photo). The brown of House Finches is paler gray-brown. This applies to both males and females.

Pay particular attention to the pattern on the head of these female finches. The head of female House Finches is relatively plain, evenly streaked, without any particular pattern. The head pattern of female Purple Finches shows a contrasting paler eyebrow that wraps around the dark brown ear coverts and merges into another wide pale malar stripe--originating at the closure of the bill and wrapping back under the brown ear coverts. This same pattern is evident on the males.

The song of Purple Finch is a rapid, clear, bubbly warble. I think it has the pattern similar to: hurry-litte, hurry-little, hurry-litte, Hup! Hup! In contrast, House Finches have a long unpatterned warble, often starting with buzzy notes, going into clear high notes, then ending in a grating note, veeerrr. Calling overhead, House Finches chirp like House Sparrows, while Purple Finches give a hard crossbill-like plik call.

In the woods... Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker, Forest Grove, Oregon on 2 January 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Four noisy birds emerged from the hole in the old oak tree, pictured above. These birds are resident at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. This woodpecker colony, west of Portland, is the most well-known location of these birds in the Pacific Northwest. This fact is perhaps surprising as this location is nearly as far north as these striking woodpeckers live.

A small colony is along the Columbia River near Lyle, Washington, across from The Dalles, Oregon. Otherwise, in the Pacific NW, this species can only be found in western Oregon and NW California. From there it occurs south through California. Other populations occur from southern Utah, southern Colorado, and Texas, south through Mexico, to northern South America.

Each colony of these woodpeckers is an extended family. They work together to care for their stash of acorns, wedged into the bark or dead limb of their granary trees. The acorns are inserted while green and shrink as they dry. Thus the woodpeckers are constantly tending their larder, testing whether the nuts are still tight. If not, squirrels will steal them. So they must fit every loose acorn to a new hole.

Throughout most of their range in North America these birds rely on having several species of oak trees available. Oak species tend to fluctuate in acorn productivity from year to year. So having more than one species of oak increases the chance that one or both will be productive. In the Willamette Valley of western Oregon, however, the only oak available is the white oak. Somehow these woodpeckers are thriving after extending their range here in the second half of the 20th century.

With white wing and rump patches, and a clown face and loud whack-up, whack-up call, they are unlikely to be mistaken for any other woodpecker.

In the woods... Northern Pygmy-Owl

Northern Pygmy-Owl, Timber, Oregon on 22 November 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

When someone mentions "owl" your thoughts may jump to the "Tiger of the Night," the powerful hunter that is the Great Horned Owl.

The Northern Pygmy-Owl is probably not the first bird one associates with the word "owl." After all, at 6 and 3/4 inches in length, this cute little gnome (scientific name is Glaucidium gnoma) is much shorter than a Starling, and weighs about the same. It has a toy-like whistled "toot" call. It is active during the day.

But don't let it fool you. It is a ferocious little predator. It eats insects, mammals, and birds, often up to twice its own size. It tends to sit on a perch (often quite conspicuously in the open) and then drop down on its prey. These small owls, in turn, may be hunted by larger owls--it is not a kind world out there.

The whistled call is easily imitated. This may attract these owls to you in more mature dense woods (as with the bird photographed above). More often, though, a whistled imitation attracts a flock of chickadees, nuthatches, crossbills, tanagers and other forest birds to mob the "owl" and drive it away. On many occasions I have heard a flock of Red Crossbills flying high over the forest and whistled a pygmy-owl imitation and brought them in for a landing near me. Sometimes I get a whistled reply back from my imitation. While it may be a pygmy-owl responding, it may just as likely be a Gray Jay, who does a good job of imitating the Northern Pygmy-Owl.

Pygmy-owls nest in old woodpecker holes, often flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, and sapsucker holes, the woodpeckers typical of the dense forest stands where this owl lives. They are found in conifer forests in Western mountains, from SE Alaska through western Mexico.

In the backyard... Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 8 September 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

If you have a suet feeder as part of your backyard feeding station, you are likely to add several birds that you may not otherwise. One of these is the smallest North American woodpecker, the black-and-white Downy Woodpecker.

If I was to pick a "typical" habitat for Downy Woodpeckers it would be willow-lined streams. In the Pacific Northwest these can occur anywhere in the region. They also occur in oak woodlots, mixed deciduous and conifer woods, orchards, aspen groves, and town parks or backyards with deciduous trees.

Downy Woodpeckers eat primarily insects, which they often glean more from the branches than the main trunk.

They bore their own nest hole in a dead or dying tree.

In winter these woodpeckers often join mixed feeding flocks of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, and other species.

The photo above shows a typical bird from humid climes west of the Cascades with the dusky underparts. Downy Woodpecker populations from the arid areas east of the Cascades are a strikingly clean black-and-white. This follows Gloger's rule.

Many beginning birders have difficulty separating Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. These look-a-like species differ in size. The bill of the Hairy Woodpecker is stout and strong. As someone told me in my youth, the tiny bill of the Downy Woodpecker looks like it could only tap through soggy cardboard. The outer tail feathers of Downy Woodpeckers often show black bars, as in the photo above. This is not foolproof, though. Hairy Woodpeckers primarily live in dense conifer woods in the mountains.

In the mountains... Mountain Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee in a lodgepole pine, Lost Lake, Linn Co., Oregon on 23 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Several groups of Pacific NW birds show altitudinal habitat preferences. This is most clearly seen on the Cascade Mountains. The chickadees show this, with Black-capped Chickadees most common in lowlands and oak woods west of the Cascades. Higher up the Cascade slope, in the damp Douglas-fir and western hemlock habitat zone is the domain of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. In the highest forests of lodgepole and over the Cascade crest to the drier east side ponderosa pine forests are found the Mountain Chickadees (sometimes in lower juniper).

Instantly recognized by the white eyebrow stripe, Mountain Chickadees are pale gray, white, and black. They lack the chestnut backs (and sides of all but the San Francisco area populations) of Chestnut-backed Chickadees. They lack the buffy sides of the Black-capped Chickadees west of the Cascades. [In the Rocky Mountains are some rather plain sided Black-capped Chickadees and some rather buffy-sided Mountain Chickadess.]

The common call is a husky chick-dzee-dzee-dzee. The song is similar to Black-capped Chickadee, a whistled descending fee-bee-bay.

These birds are very common in mountain forests. In fact, Farner in 1952 wrote that these birds are the most common resident species at Crater Lake National Park.

Mountain Chickadees nest in old woodpecker holes, nest boxes, or other opportunistic crannies.

Like all chickadees, these birds are attracted to backyard bird feeders in the towns in the pines on the eastern edge of the Cascades and other higher mountains. They also occur in the Klamath Mountains nearer the coast in NW California.

Butter-butt

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Newport, Oregon on 2 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Now that fall is here and winter on the way, most neo-tropical migrants are either rushing south, or have done so already.

That includes the warblers. By mid-October only a few Common Yellowthroats can be scoured out of the marsh grasses. They'll be gone within days. Townsend's Warblers move out of the northern mountain pines to winter in lowlands in the Pacific NW, primarily west of the Cascades.

Right now, though, the Yellow-rumped Warblers are making their way south. Some will go to Mexico. Some will winter here in the Pacific NW. They will spend the winter in a location where insects remain in unfrozen areas. They also change their insectivorous diet to eat more fruit and berries.

In breeding plumage these are striking birds with blue-gray bodies with white wingbars and either white ("Myrtle" form) or yellow ("Audubon's" form) throats. In all plumages and in both forms, the tell-tale field mark is the obvious yellow rump patch.

The bird above is in a very dull non-breeding plumage. It is probably a first fall female Myrtle form of Yellow-rumped Warbler. I photographed it in an alder grove a couple of weeks ago on a trip to the coast.

In the woods... Winter Wren

Winter Wren on frost-covered log, Timber, Washington Co., Oregon on 22 November 2007 by Greg Gillson.

 

When I think of Winter Wrens I always think of dark, closed forests with a tangle of fallen trees and limbs and a thick layer of sword ferns. In this dark, damp, quiet setting, the sweet, musical, and surprisingly loud song of the tiny Winter Wren is a ray of golden light piercing the gloom.

The Winter Wren breeds in conifer forests across North America, and is one of only a few land birds that is holarctic in distribution, nesting widely in both the Nearctic and the Palearctic.

The diet of Winter Wrens includes beetles, spiders, caterpillars and the like that are gleaned as the birds crawl over the forest floor and downed wood. Likewise, the nests are placed on logs and the intersections of large downed branches. Root wads of tipped over trees are favorite nesting sites.

Though tiny and secretive in habits, it is easy to find Winter Wrens in the forest shadows, as they sing year-round. There seems to be some movement of birds in winter into red alder woods, but they remain common in the fir forests throughout the year.

Winter Wrens in the West (as pictured above) are darker and redder, with more complex songs than birds in the East. Eastern birds show more of a paler eyebrow and have white spotting on the wings. In fact, there is a proposal under consideration by the American Ornithologists' Union to split the Pacific Winter Wren from the Winter Wren as a separate species.

The tiny size, dark brown coloration, and stubby tail identify this wren. You are unlikely to mistake this bird for any other.

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk, Beaverton, Oregon on 9 September 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

On a recent outing I spotted this bird fly into a tree in Beaverton's Greenway Park.

Many birders, including many experienced birders, have trouble separating the two regular lowland Accipiters, or "bird hawks." Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks are notoriously difficult, as there are very few differences in plumage and structure. The small male Sharp-shinned Hawk (10 inches) is shorter than a jay (11 inches). The large female Cooper's Hawk (20 inches) is longer than a crow (17 inches). The female Sharp-shinned Hawk and male Cooper's Hawk are the same size--about like that of a Band-tailed Pigeon (14 inches). Obviously, estimating size of lone birds has its pitfalls.

Adult Accipiters have red-barred chests, while the juveniles show brown streaks. In the autumn, there are many juvenile birds, doubling the population. Accipiters migrate in September and October, bringing view of them circling in the sky over head, or to your backyard feeders where they prey upon your seed eating birds.

With short, broad wings and a long tail, these birds fly deftly through the woods at high speed. They eat smaller birds and squirrels.

So, what ID marks are present on this bird? The eye is in the center of the head, good for Sharp-shinned Hawk. On the Cooper's Hawk the eye is more toward the front of the head. And the tip of the tail on this bird is obviously squared or notched, not rounded, also a tell-tale mark for Sharp-shinned Hawk.