Category Archives: Birds

American Goldfinch

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The brightly colored male American goldfinch is especially recognizable. In breeding season they are bright yellow with black and white markings. In the Winter, the males lose their bright yellow feathers and become dull brown.

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Females are of dull coloration year-round.

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American Goldfinches live in brushy thickets, weedy fields, gardens and roadsides. Since they eat mostly seeds from grasses and wildflowers, they tend to stay where there are a lot of these food sources available.

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They are interesting to observe while they eat, because they have great balance and can perch on any stem while twisting their bodies to get to seeds or fruit.

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American Goldfinches are very sociable, and you will often see several pairs together at the same time. You can hear them communicating with each other as they forage for food in flocks along roadsides and in brushy fields in on their quest for thistle and sunflower seeds.

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Some of their other foods include ragweed, dandelions, mullein, American Elm, Eastern Redcedar, grasses and Evening Primrose. They also eat some types of insects, including caterpillars.

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People tend to like these colorful birds and specific feeders are available for thistle seeds, to attract them; though at my house they seen to enjoy taking apart the Zinnias.

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Red-headed Woodpecker

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Can a bird be inspirational? Adult Red-headed Woodpeckers are so striking that the sight of one motivated Alexander Wilson, the author and illustrator of the early 1800s, nine-volume work American Ornithology, to become an ornithologist.

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The gorgeous Red-headed Woodpecker is so boldly patterned it’s been called a “flying checkerboard,” with its entirely crimson head, a snow-white body, and half white, half inky black wings.

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Adult males and females are impossible to tell apart in the field. Immature birds have a buff-brown or “dusky” head and back.

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These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers. Red-headed Woodpeckers are less likely to drill for food than other species. Instead, they fly down to the ground to capture insects or they catch prey from the air.

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They also eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later. They have been known to wedge live beetles or grasshoppers into cracks in wood to store them for future use.

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The Red-headed Woodpecker has declined severely in the past half-century because of habitat loss and changes to its food supply. It can be found open woodlands and forest edges and clearings, river bottoms and wooded swamps. It especially likes areas with dead or dying trees.

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This year was my first year to have seen these magnificant birds and I’ve been lucky enough to find them several different times throughout the year in different locations.

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Baltimore Oriole

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The Baltimore Oriole is Maryland’s official state bird. It has also been the namesake of the state’s professional baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, since the late 19th century. Baltimore Orioles inhabit Maryland and the rest of the eastern United States only in the Summer months. In Winter, some of these migrating birds live in the southeastern United States, but most fly further south in search of warmer climates.

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Male orioles are a bold orange hue with black wings and a black head. Females are not as brightly colored.

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These attractive birds frequent woodlands and mainly eat caterpillars and insects. They supplement their diet with fruits and berries. The Baltimore Oriole’s appetite for caterpillars may help protect forests from some destructive pests.

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The nest of the Baltimore Oriole is one of the most distinctive bird nests. Females weave remarkable, sock-like hanging structures from slender fibers. The nest are suspended from small tree limbs. Along with natural materials, string or yarn is usually incoporated into the nest.

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The Baltimore Oriole is named for Lord Baltimore, an early leader of the British colony of Maryland. His coat-of-arms was orange and black, like the male oriole. You can sometimes hear the male’s loud, flutelike whistle from the tree tops. It may take some time, but catching sight of one of these brilliant black-and-orange birds is worth the effort.

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Phainopepla

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The Phainopepla is a striking bird, with a noticeable crest and a long tail; it is slender and has an upright posture when it perches. It is particularly notable for its mysterious pattern of breeding twice each year, in two different habitats. It is primarily found in washes, riparian areas and other habitats that support arid scrublands.

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This bird belongs to a small group of birds known as the silky flycatchers, but they are not related to true flycatchers. The male is shiny and black with a crest and bright red eyes, while the female is gray.

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The Phainopepla has a unique relationship with its main food source, mistletoe berries. Mistletoe berries are dependent on the bird to plant them on the branch of a tree. It does this by eating the berry and digesting the seeds, yet not harming them. The bird’s droppings, which contain the seeds, will hit a branch and then the seed will start to germinate. When there is an abundance of mistletoe berries, Phainopeplas will congregate in the hundreds; otherwise, they are hard to find.

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An individual Phainopepla eats at least 1,100 mistletoe berries per day, when they are available. The Phainopepla rarely drinks water, even though research indicates that it loses about 95 percent of its body mass in water per day. Instead, it gets the water it needs from its diet of mistletoe.

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The name “Phainopepla” (pronounced fay-no-PEP-la) comes from the Greek for “shining robe,” a fitting characterization of the shiny, jet-black plumage of the adult male. This one one of several really interesting birds that I observed on my Vegas trip.

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Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a medium-sized, stocky songbird with beautiful, bold plumage. It can be a tricky bird to find, as it often calls from treetops, but lately I’ve been spotting them.

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Its beak is large, thick and cone-shaped. It serves the bird by enabling it to eat wide varity of food items. The diet of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak varies between seasons, with a higher percentage of insects being taken warm weather. In the Winter, more seeds, fruits and buds are consumed.

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At the beginning of the breeding season the female grosbeak approaches a singing male, who in turn performs a courtship display involving flight and song. The pair is monogamous and builds a nest between May and June, with egg laying generally occurring between mid-May and July.

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Like many birds, the females aren’t as brightly colored as the males. They are not the best nest builders; Rose-breasted Grosbeaks build such flimsy nests that the eggs are often visible from below through the nest bottom.

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The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is relatively common throughout much of eastern and central North America and lives in forests and thickets, as well as alongside humans in parks and gardens.

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They are long-distance migrants. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks fly from North American breeding grounds to Central and northern South America in the Winter.

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Although often difficult to locate visually, its vocal abilities can often be heard. This bird’s sweet, robin-like song has inspired many a bird watcher to pay tribute to it. A couple of early twentieth-century naturalists said its call is “so entrancingly beautiful that words cannot describe it.”

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Common Raven

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The Common Raven has accompanied people around the Northern Hemisphere for centuries, following their wagons and hunting parties in hopes of a quick meal.

These birds are surprisingly large. They aren’t as social as crows; they tend to be seen alone or in pairs. Their throat is covered by thick and shaggy feathers and they have a thick, heavy bill.

Common Ravens prefer open landscapes, such as tundra, seacoasts, open riverbanks, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains, deserts, and scrubby woodlands. They store foods of all kinds, including nuts, bones, eggs, and meat.

These birds are very important in native cultures throughout their range. They an important mythic creature in western Native American traditions. In many cultures they are viewed as a symbol of wisdom, fertility and creation.

Unlike crows, Common Ravens typically soar and glide. On this windy day near the ocean, they would often hover on wind currents, remaining suspended in the air. They are acrobatic fliers and have been observed flying upside down for as far as one kilometer.

Common Ravens engage in seemingly playful acts such as yanking the tails of cats and dogs. They are among the smartest of all birds and are capable of learning innovative solutions to newly encountered problems.

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Black-capped Chickadee

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Black-capped Chickadees are one of the most easily recognized birds in Northern Ohio. Their inquisitive behavior and friendly demeanor make them a regular visitor to birdfeeders.

They are small, with a solid black “cap” and “bib.” Males and females look alike. Their vocalizations are of one of the most complex in the animal kingdom.

Depending on slight variations in the phrases, their call can convey separate, unique messages: in addition to acting as a contact call or as an alarm call, chickadees also use their voice to relay information about an individual’s identity or to indicate that they recognize a particular flock.

These birds spend most of their day searching for food. They move along stems and branches of trees and shrubs, searching crevices for insects. In Winter, insect and spider eggs make up half their diet while seeds, berries and other plant matter account for the other half.

When food is plentiful, Black-capped Chickadees store it away. They stash food under bark or in patches of lichen. A single chickadee may stockpile hundreds of food items in a day, placing each item in a different spot. Not only can they remember thousands of their food hiding places, but they can also remember where they have hidden their stored foods for up to a month.

On cold winter nights, Black-capped Chickadees conserve energy by lowering their body temperature by 10 to 15 degrees F.  While this may seem counterproductive, “nocturnal hypothermia” probably reduces energy expenditure by as much as ten percent.

A compact, cheerfully sociable bird, the energetic Black-capped Chickadee does not migrate – allowing us to enjoy it all year long.

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Pileated Woodpecker

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Sometimes the best way to find cool wildlife is not by watching, but rather by listening. As I walked through the woods, I heard a noise that got my attention. The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent.

Males can be differentiated from females by their red “mustache” and red crest extending from the forehead, rather than starting at the crown of the head.

This crow-sized bird is quite secretive and more often seen than heard. Its call is often described as a maniacal jungle animal sound, somewhat like a monkey.

Pileated Woodpeckers excavate holes in trees for food storage and nests. The cavities are also utilized by other animals, such as ducks, owls, snakes and squirrels. Unlike  the cavities created by other woodpeckers, the holes they create are rectangular, rather than circular in shape.

Pileated Woodpeckers stay with the same mate for life. Pairs of these birds establish forest territories of 150 acres or larger in woodlands where many large trees are present. They drum on trees with their beaks to attract mates and to announce the boundaries of their territories.

This one is using its powerful, chisel-like beak to pry off tree bark in search of its main food, Carpenter Ants. It uses its long, sticky tongue to poke into holes and drag out the ants. They also eat wood-boring beetles, as well as wild fruits and nuts.

Seeing one of these birds is always a noteworthy experience. I have a pair that live in my neighborhood and sometimes they visit my backyard.

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Northern Mockingbird

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Northern Mockingbirds are highly skilled mimics that can imitate many calls of other bird species so well that even experienced birders can be fooled. They don’t limit their abilities to just bird calls – human whistles, truck backup beeps and sirens are all in their range of sound reproduction.

Its Latin species name, polyglottos translates to meaning “many tongues.” Mockingbirds establish territories and drive off invaders including Red-tailed Hawks and cats. Ohio is the northern edge of this essentially southern bird’s range and though usually found in the southern two-thirds of the state, I’ve been seeing them regularly in Cuyahoga County lately.

These not particularly flashy, slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their “color” into their personalities. They sing almost endlessly, sometimes even at night. The Northern Mockingbird is a relatively unremarkable bird to look at but a spectacular one to listen to.

It enjoys making its presence known by usually sitting conspicuously on high vegetation, fences, eaves, or telephone wires. This one was in the uppermost reaches of a tree.

This bird is featured in the title and as a central metaphor of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In the story, mockingbirds are portrayed as innocent and generous, and two of the main characters say it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because, “they don’t do one thing for us but make music for us to enjoy…they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.”

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Cedar Waxwing

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I never really notice Cedar Waxwings until autumn, when shrubs are full of ripe berries. It is at this time that the birds can congregate in large numbers on a readily available food source.

Cedar Waxwings have a rather regal appearance, they strike a commanding pose with their erect profile. But their “unapproachable” image belies their gregarious, highly social nature. Groups of them evoke a party-like atmosphere. Several Cedar Waxwings sitting in a row will pass a berry or insect from one to another up and down the row until finally one bird decides to swallow it.

These birds do not appear to establish territories and are almost always encountered in groups. Their diet of cyclically available fruit probably causes the “safety in numbers” lifestyle they have due to their nomadic wanderings in search of food.

Thier “proper image” contrasts sharply with this bird’s propensity toward over-eating and constant chatter. Cedar Waxwings have been reported to devour an entire fruit crop of Red Cedars over a two-day period. Such feats have earned it an alternative name, the “Cedar Bird.” It is probably an important seed disperser of Red Cedar (as well as other fruit-bearing trees and shrubs).

Though fruit is its mainstay, insects are consumed during summer.  While they will eat a wide range of bugs, they are particularly fond of caterpillars. They are excellent flycatchers, too.

The Cedar Waxwing prefers forest “edges” or open woodlands as a general habitat.

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