In the backyard... Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 1 February 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Black-capped Chickadee is a familiar backyard bird to those living in the northern United States and southern Canada. It is found from coast to coast at these mid-latitudes.

Chickadees are the North American name for the birds that are simply called tits (old German for something small) in the rest of Europe, Asia, and Africa where the other members of this family of birds live. The chickadee name is onomatopoeic. That is, the name describes the chick-a-dee-dee call sound the bird makes. The more upset and alarmed the chickadee is, the more dee-dee's are in this call. Other birds named for their calls or songs include killdeer, flicker, sora, phoebe, cuckoo, whip-poor-will and others.

Most chickadees are the same general pattern of black cap, white face, black bib, pale underparts, and darker back. There are, however, Blue Tits in Eurasia that are colored blue (of course), green, and yellow, in addition to black and white. All these birds are small, plump-bodied, with a long tail, and small, round head, universally described as "cute." Combined with their curious nature, pleasant chattering calls, lack of fear around people, and ready acceptance of bird feeders, bird baths, and bird houses, their habits make them a favorite backyard bird.

Black-capped Chickadees are found in lowland deciduous and mixed woods and willow stream sides throughout the Pacific Northwest. They generally avoid dense conifer forests, sage and juniper flats, and mountains. About 80% of the food of chickadees is animal matter, insects, caterpillars, and the like. The rest is seeds. The seed component goes up considerably during the winter.

In the Pacific Northwest Black-capped Chickadees are most similar to Mountain and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. The gray back of Black-capped Chickadee is quite different from the rusty brown back of Chestnut-backed Chickadee. The Mountain Chickadee has a white eyebrow stripe and pale gray sides. The sides of Black-capped Chickadee are buffy (as in the photo above), but not rich chestnut as in the northern populations of Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

From Alaska to Maine the song of Black-capped Chickadee is an invariable, whistled, fee-bee-ee, also transcribed as hey, sweetie, the second notes slightly lower than the first. However, the songs of birds on islands off Massachusetts are different (sweetie-hey or sweetie-sweetie). The songs of Black-capped Chickadees in Oregon and Washington are also different from birds elsewhere. There are variations, but songs usually are longer in the Pacific Northwest, fee-bee-bee-bee, or even bee-bee-bee-bee-bee all on one pitch, as I just heard outside my window.

Chickadees may be the first bird to discover your backyard feeder or bird bath. They are fond of black oil sunflower seeds. They take these from the feeder, one seed at a time, and fly away to a tree branch. There, they hold the seed with their feet and pound it open with their stout bills. They may also steal the seeds away and hide them in a cache for later retrieval.

Young Black-headed Grosbeak at the feeder

Black-headed Grosbeak, Forest Grove, Oregon on 16 August 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

We have several feeders in the yard, including one right up on the deck next to our back window. There is a group of four young Black-headed Grosbeaks that are present nearly all day long now at our feeders. They are irresistable to photograph--even through the window, as this bird.

To reduce reflections off both inner and outer surfaces I shoot perpendicular to the window at the same level as the bird. That also gives the low perspective that many bird photography critiques desire. I also make sure that the inside of the house was as dark as possible to reduce reflections of inside objects. Due to the dark background and sun on the bird, it was impossible not to over-expose the highlights on the breast and neck, but I brought them down as much as I could with Photoshop Elements. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. 1/40s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso200, hand held.

Anyway, no time to really watch birds today, but I took 20 minutes out to take this photo to upload and share.

At the pond... Belted Kingfisher

Female Belted Kingfisher, Sawyer Park, Bend, Oregon on 13 June 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

It hovers for a moment over the quiet pond. Then, wings closed, it plummets head first into the water with a resounding splash. It emerges, shaking off the water--a fish squirming in its bill--and flies off to a favorite tree to finish its meal.

Another time, as you walk along a tree-lined stream, a shadow bursts from the trees overhead and a loud rattling call follows the bird to a new hideout downstream.

Driving along coastal roads near an estuary, you spy a large-headed dark bluish bird perched on a wire overlooking the wetlands.

These are the usual impressions one gets of the Belted Kingfisher.

Kingfishers are chunky, short-legged birds with large dagger-like bills. The Belted Kingfisher has a shaggy crest and a blue belt across the upper chest. The female has an added rusty belt below the blue one.

This bird nests near water across Canada and the United States. In winter it retreats from most of Canada and some birds move south into Mexico and Central America.

The nest of the Belted Kingfisher is a tunnel dug deep into a sandy bank. At the end of the tunnel, perhaps 8 feet long, they lay 5-8 eggs in a small chamber.

The next time you are at your local pond, pay special attention and see if this interesting bird is present.

Backyard birds of... Fresno, California

Northern Mockingbirds are common backyard birds of the Fresno area, though this one was photographed in San Diego, California on 7 March 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

The following common yardbirds are found in Fresno, California.

The seasons listed are those when most common, though some individuals may occur at other seasons.

Rock Pigeon, year round
Mourning Dove, year round
Rufous Hummingbird, summer, fall
Black-chinned Hummingbird, summer, fall
Anna's Hummingbird, year round
Acorn Woodpecker, year round
Red-breasted Sapsucker, winter
Hairy Woodpecker, winter
Downy Woodpecker, winter
Nuttall's Woodpecker, winter
Northern Flicker, year round
American Crow, year round
Western Scrub-Jay, year round
Bushtit, year round
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, winter
American Robin, year round
Northern Mockingbird, year round
Cedar Waxwing, winter
Western Tanager, spring, fall
Black-headed Grosbeak, spring, fall
Spotted Towhee, spring, fall
White-crowned Sparrow, winter
Golden-crowned Sparrow, winter
Dark-eyed Junco, winter
Lincoln's Sparrow, spring, fall
Song Sparrow, winter
Bullock's Oriole, summer
Hooded Oriole, summer
Brown-headed Cowbird, spring
American Goldfinch, fall, winter, spring
Lesser Goldfinch, winter
Pine Siskin, winter
House Finch, year round
House Sparrow, year round

This checklist is based on information provided in the
Bird feeding guide for the city of Fresno as provided by the Fresno Audubon Society.

Coming to a backyard near you... Eurasian Collared-Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove, Dilley, Oregon on 28 February 2009 by Greg Gillson. Note the square tail, dark undertail coverts, brownish primaries, and black hind-neck mark.

 

Introduced to the Bahamas in about 1974, this species made it on its own to Florida about 1980 and spread across the North American continent. The first Oregon record was in 1998 and first Washington state record was in 2000 (Birds of Oregon: a general reference. 2003. Marshall, Hunter, and Contreras).

In my home area of Washington County, in NW Oregon, the first birds were found in July 2006. In a recent day of traveling around the county doing errands (not birding), I spotted 12 birds in 8 different areas around Forest Grove, Oregon.

Eurasian Collared-Doves are larger and paler than Mourning Doves. They are quite similar to the cage birds, Ringed Turtle-Doves (domesticated African Collared-Doves), escapees of which may be found in the wild, occasionally. Ringed Turtle-Doves are smaller than Mourning Doves, thus Eurasian Collared-Doves are huge compared to any escaped Ringed Turtle-Doves.

Three years after the first bird was found in the county, Eurasian Collared-Doves are now daily feeder birds in my yard in Forest Grove, Oregon, as seen in this photo from 19 July 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Eurasian Collared-Doves are very pale cream. In fact, some birders have begun to call them "Sky-Rat Lattes." This is in reference to another invasive species, the European Starlings ("Sky-Rats"), and this dove's pale coffee-and-cream coloration. I'm not sure that the link to starlings is all that fair, though. Eurasian Collared-Doves have shown no signs that they will displace Mourning Doves or any other species as the European Starlings have done to native North American cavity nesting birds.

The undertail base of the Eurasian Collared-Dove is dark slate and the tail is square with pale corners. This is in contrast to the long pointed tail with white tail sides of Mourning Dove. There is a black crescent on the back of the neck of the Eurasian Collared-Dove.

As do Mourning Doves, Eurasian Collared-Doves like agricultural areas, and can be found in residential and urban area feeders. Often they seem to choose nest sites in dense conifers (non-native blue spruce) in yards in small communities on the edge of agricultural areas. They frequently perch on telephone wires--looking like Mourning Doves bulked-up on steroids. They have a loud, unique cooing coo-COO-cook.