Backyard Bird Blog — Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance

Eve Meier

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.

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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.

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More Backyard Bird Information

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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.

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Photos of west coast Lesser Goldfinches:

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

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

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.

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  • 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

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.

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More Backyard Bird Information

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.

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More Backyard Bird Information

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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General Information on Hummingbirds

  • Trochilidae by Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan

Hummingbirds and Sapsuckers

Color in Birds

Using Feeders

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Juvenile Spotted Towhee by Deanne Tucker.

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More Backyard Bird Information

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Banner Photo: Northern Mockingbirds by Aaron Wippold