Tag Archives: nuthatch

Winter Tree Birds

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After spring and summer, the majority of birds in Michigan leave for the south. Their instincts pull them to return to wherever they have a full diet of insects and fruits. Those winter birds that stay for the colder months are marvels at finding food. What can they possibly eat? How do they find food?

Black-capped Chickadee

Chickadees: The Flock Masters

Whenever I hear the calls of Chickadees in winter, their “dee dees” catching my attention, I know to look for them if I want to locate other winter birds. The Chickadees are what I call the “Flock Masters”. Very hardy and inquisitive, they are usually the first to locate a food source, whether natural foods or those found at feeders. Other birds are keen to the Chickadees’ ability to find food.

Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers make up the companion group that follow Black-capped Chickadees as they forage for food. Even those birds that come to our feeders for sunflower, suet and peanuts will continue to forage for natural foods. They eat what protein they can find, including insect eggs and cocoons, in addition to the insects hidden within the trees. They perform a great service as they keep our trees healthy and strong.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Working on the tiny twigs of the trees is the smallest of the team, the Black-capped Chickadee. The ability to hang upside down and investigate with their sharp eyesight and small, probing beaks enables them to find the eggs and hiding insects on the smallest of twigs.

 

Tufted Titmice: The Cousins

The Tufted Titmouse, a cousin to the Black-capped Chickadee, is a little larger and can focus its energy on the larger twigs. They work more slowly and usually move around in mated pairs. Their comparatively louder calls ring out clearly in the winter time, as “Peter, Peter” or “Cheer, Cheer, Cheer.” Titmice are also adept at hanging on to branches in an acrobatic manner. Sometimes when they are very intent on their food gathering, their head crest will remain down. At other times, the feathers of their crest become erect as a warning. Perhaps they feel a hawk is in the area or a squirrel is getting too close to their food source and they do not want to share.

Tufted Titmouse (Photo by John Graffius)

Downy Woodpeckers: The Listeners

The Downy Woodpecker is an even larger bird in the team of Winter Tree Birds. They work on the limbs and larger branches of the tree. Not only do they look for insects, eggs and cocoons on the branches of the trees, they listen for the sound of insects moving inside the trees. This is why you may watch a Downy Woodpecker clinging to the side of the tree, moving its head from side to side – it is listening for the insects. Once it locates them, it uses its small beak to chisel a hole and extract the insects inside. A woodpecker has special tools for this function, a barbed tongue with sticky saliva that is excellent for extracting the insects it finds.

Downy Woodpecker

Nuthatches & Creepers: The Bark Bandits

The deep cracks in the bark of some trees are a perfect place to find cocoons, insects, and eggs, sheltered from rain and snow. This is where the White-breasted Nuthatch and Brown Creeper are very adept – their beaks well-suited to the job. White-breasted Nuthatches have a thin dagger-like bill that is slightly upturned on the bottom edge to create an angle, perfect for the type of feeding it does. When seeking food, the Nuthatch travels upside down and from top to bottom on the tree trunks. This allows them to find the food the right-side-up birds do not see.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Brown Creeper, who can be identified by its behaviors. Flying from one tree to another, the Brown Creeper lands at the base of the tree and work its way up, searching along the bark for food, and circling the tree as it climbs. Its long, needle-like bill allows for deep probing within the nooks and crannies of trees. This bird eats only insects in the winter – an admirable accomplishment.

Brown Creeper (Photo by Jerry Jourdan)

Brown Creeper

The Black-capped Chickadee takes care of the tiny twigs, the Tufted Titmouse gleans from the larger twigs, the Downy Woodpecker from limbs and branches and the White-breasted Nuthatch and Brown Creeper take from the trunks and larger branches of the trees, travelling in opposite directions. By working as a team, these five species of birds help to keep our trees healthy and strong.

Enjoy your birds!!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

 

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Red-breasted Nuthatch, A Predicted Winter Visitor

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Red-breasted Nuthatch on Squirrel-proof Feeder (photo by  Glen Noyer)

Have you noticed Red-breasted Nuthatches in your yard or at your feeders this year?  I have a pair that have been visiting since the fall and they are such a Joy to watch and to listen to, sounding like little squeak toys.

Irruption

This movement of Red-breasted Nuthatches to our area is called an irruption, a movement of a bird species from their usual wintering grounds, predicted based upon lack of food supply in Ontario forests.  Listen for their nasal “toot, toot, toot” and check out the cones of evergreens.   You may be rewarded with a look at these 4.5” birds, their striking eye line running from their beak to their nape, with a distinct white supercilium (“eye brow”) above that.  Red-breasted Nuthatches have slaty blue-gray backs and wings and, true to their name, a wash of brick red color on their breast. Check out the tail length – it is only slightly longer than their wings.

Red-breasted Nuthatches have a distinctive flight pattern, with an undulating movement as a result of quick bursts of the wings, followed by a glide. Watch them in flight and notice the shortness of the tail.

                 Red-breasted Nuthatch with a Bark Butter Bit (photo by Bob Martinka)

Feeding

These birds are fairly tame and can be watched very closely as they forage for food. In fact, I have had them land on my feeder pole, waiting patiently for me to fill the feeder. Offer them sunflower in or out of the shell, suet loaded with peanuts, and peanuts out of the shell to keep them coming back for the fats and protein they will need this winter. Now is the perfect time to try Bark Butter Bits, a small suet nugget that works well in the squirrel-proof feeder shown in the photo below. Spreadable Bark Butter also works well, either spread onto a tree trunk or a bark butter feeder.

Red-breasted Nuthatch on Squirrel-proof Feeder (photo by Bill Rapai)

Behavior

When feeding in trees, Red-breasted Nuthatches stay preoccupied with cones, extracting the seeds with their long, chisel-shaped beaks. They tend to place seeds in the cracks of tree trunks, using their beaks to chisel the shells away. This motion is responsible for the British-derived name, “Nuthatch” as “hatch” was a term used instead of “hack” back when the bird was named. Perhaps the most unique aspect of Red-breasted Nuthatches is their habit of walking down the trunks of trees as well as under the limbs of the tree, in search of insects to consume.  The toes of Nuthatches are perfect to accomplish this bark climbing – very long with sharp, long claws for gripping.

 

Shelter

During winter, it is not uncommon for groups of these birds to shelter together in a tree cavity or nest box to maintain warmth. Remember to keep your nest boxes up after cleaning them, for you may be visited by this little sprite (and a friend or two).

Enjoy your birds!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

 

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The Joy of Listening

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Working in the garden in the summer can be a delightful experience when we pay attention to the sounds of the birds. It’s educational and entertaining to concentrate on birds sounds and look for the stories behind them. You’ll be surprised at what you can learn just by listening, finding joy in the process.

A Morning In the Garden: The Birdsong Begins!

Blue Jay (Photo by John Graffius)

This morning I heard a conversation between a family of Blue Jays, murmuring to each other with a tone that reminded me of an interplay between The Three Stooges. They seemed to be comparing notes about where they would go to find food. Later, I heard the familiar “Jay! Jay!”  Were they sounding the “jay alarm” for the good of the group, because of a threat of some kind? Or was this practice just a “fire drill”?

House Wrens are singing less compared to the constant song which announced their arrival back in May. It seems my neighborhood wren gives an earnest song just once or twice these days, and nothing more. Done nesting, there is no need to advertise territory.

House Wren (Photo by Jerry Jourdan)

Afternoon Sounds

At this moment, the Robins are the most vocal. Two spot-breasted youngsters are incessantly reminding mom they are hungry. The young can be easily located by their shrill “peek” calls. Mom is quite silent as she searches continuously for food. This is very different from her morning routine. At daybreak, I hear her frantically repeating, “peek, peek, tut, tut.” She does not stop until both youngsters respond, a way to let her know they made it through the night.

Heard but not easily seen are my neighborhood Northern Flickers, White-breasted Nuthatches and Chickadees. All of them are making contact calls between adults and fledglings, giving clues as to where they are feeding. The nuthatches seem to be in the most constant contact – soft and repeated many times. Maybe this serves as encouragement to the young, that they are doing well finding the bugs they need.

The Northern Cardinal definitely has a second brood of young. How do I know? His song is constant in the neighborhood. He sings from perches in the yards that surround mine, as well as from two places in my yard. These singing points define his territory. When he is closest to the nest site, I can hear the female sing back to him from her place on the nest. Cardinals are one of the few bird species that engage in counter-singing between the pair.

Male & Female Cardinals (Photo by Christopher Goodhue)

Song & Dance

American Goldfinches are in full-on breeding mode. A male makes his presence known, taking flight from the neighbors’ birch trees, singing “per chicory” over and over as he flies. His flight is undulating, a gentle loop up and down, singing continuously. I watch him define his territory, cutting diagonally across my yard, then over two yards, then across towards the fringe of Ferry Elementary property and back to the birch trees. This display is gently repeated about every fifteen minutes.

American Goldfinch (Photo by Rodney Campbell)

 

Bird Sounds at Dusk

High-pitched calls in the trees overhead give away the presence of Cedar Waxwings. If I watch the area where they are calling long enough, I will eventually see the family group leave in flight together, off to another feeding stop.

As evening approaches, I hear the familiar chatter of Chimney Swifts. Gladly, I take a break from the garden and look up, admiring the family group of six that are flying in unison. Soon after, I know I will hear the Common Nighthawk’s raspy display call, a sound I will dearly miss once they have migrated this fall.

Make your next venture into the yard an auditory experience – you may be amazed at the Joy that listening brings!

 

Enjoy your Birds!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited

Grosse Pointe Woods

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