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White-Breasted Nuthatch
Have you seen the white-breasted nuthatch crawling up, down, and around a tree? They are searching for insects, larvae, and seeds hidden in the bark. These birds visit our backyard and feeders often.
Scientific Name: Sitta carolinensis.
Family: Nuthatch.
Length: 5-3/4 inches.
Wingspan: 11 inches.
Distinctive Markings: Males and females look similar, with a short tail, bluish-gray back and wings, black cap and white breast.
Nest: Hair, fur and shredded bark built in natural cavities and birdhouses. Lays five to 10 white eggs with multicolored markings.
Song: Nasal “yank-yank-yank” call.
Habitat: Area with plentiful trees.
Diet: Insects and larvae; pine, fir and maple seeds; mountain ash and juniper berries; oak, beech and hickory nuts.
Backyard Favorites: Sunflower seeds, unsalted peanuts, birdseed mix and suet.
One of the Sequoia trees in our backyard has become the favorite spotting perch for several local birds of prey. Everyday a hawk or other bird of prey sits at the top of this tree for several minutes, looking for a meal I suppose.
I believe this bird is a Black-Shouldered Kite. I was thrilled to get a photo of this bird in flight.
Kites are graceful birds of prey. They are falcon-shaped, with pointed wings. Their diet consists of large insects, reptiles, and rodents.
One of my blog readers, Ellis Myers, commented that “Your bird is a White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus). It was formerly known as Black-shouldered Kite, but the name was changed to avoid confusion with the Black-shouldered Kite of Australia.”
Thanks for the information, Ellis.
I was using my Western Birds – Peterson Field Guide, copyright 1990 to identify the bird. Your information is more up to date. The White-tailed Kite designation is in my Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America but the images show the kite as a pale gray bird. My bird had sparkling white plumage.
Cooper’s Hawk is the light-colored bird at the top of the tree
Closer look at the hawk. You can see the long tail.
Yesterday and today there was another Cooper’s Hawk perched up at the top of the Sequoia tree in our backyard. The tree is about 50 to 60 feet tall so I had to use binoculars to identify the bird. This hawk appeared to be smaller than the bird I described previously (that looked like a paper bag up in the tree).
This hawk gave a repeated call that sounded like a low wheezing caw. The call was not the high pitched screech you often hear from birds of prey. Several Black-Headed Grosbeaks have visited our backyard bird feeders this spring and I thought the wheezing caw sound was coming from the grosbeaks. I usually hear this call when the grosbeaks are around so I attributed the low wheezing caw to them.
Back to the Cooper’s Hawk. The bird sat at the top of the tree for several minutes and then opened its wings slightly and dropped down into our neighbor’s yard as if using a parachute. These hawks are long-tailed woodland raptors with rounded wings adapted for hunting among the trees.
The little Oak Titmice have been very active now that spring has arrived. Their call is the loudest bird sound in our backyard. It amazes me that such a tiny bird can make so much noise. It is mating and nest building season. I saw one emerging from the titmouse nest box in our backyard this week. They dart to the tube bird feeder, grab a seed, and then fly to a nearby tree branch where they hold the sunflower seed with a foot as they eat. They are very quick and I was pleased to get a photo.
I put out peanuts in the shell for the squirrels, the Western Scrub Jays, and the Steller’s Jays. One day a little titmouse pecked at the shell of a peanut with its tiny bill. Then, with its bill stuck in the peanut it flew away. The peanut was almost as big as the bird! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture.
An Oak titmouse is a small gray bird with small a tuft on its head.
- Size: 5 3/4 inches long
- Weight: 10-21 g (0.35-0.74 ounces)
- Sexes look alike
- Cool Facts
- The Oak Titmouse sleeps in cavities, nest boxes, or in dense foliage. When roosting in foliage, the titmouse chooses a twig surrounded by dense foliage or an accumulation of dead pine needles, simulating a roost in a cavity.
- The Oak Titmouse mates for life, and pairs defend year-round territories. Most titmice find a mate in their first fall. Those that do not are excluded from territories and must live in marginal habitat until they find a vacancy.
- The Oak Titmouse, unlike other members of the family, does not form flocks in winter.
Can you find the two titmice in this picture?
Thursday, April 2 we had a large Cooper’s Hawk fly through our backyard and land in a tree. I was amazed at how large the bird was. It landed on a tree branch with its back to me and then turned around so that I could see the streaks on its breast side. These hawks fly through our yard preying on feeder birds.
Here is more detailed information about the Cooper’s Hawk.
A medium-sized hawk of the forest, the Cooper’s Hawk specializes in eating birds and small mammals. It is built for fast flight through the obstacle course of trees and limbs.
Description
- Size: 39-50 cm (15-20 in)
- Wingspan: 62-90 cm (24-35 in)
- Weight: 250-597 g (8.83-21.07 ounces)
- Medium-sized hawk.
- Tail long, rounded, and barred.
- Wings short and rounded.
- Back dark gray or gray-brown.
- Underparts barred reddish and white.
- Dark crown contrasts with nape.
- Legs yellow.
- Eyes orange or red.
- Tail ends in white tail band.
Sex Differences
Sexes similar in plumage; female larger.
The Cooper’s Hawk is found year round across the United States.
Reproduction
Nest Type
Open bowl of sticks lined with bark flakes and occasionally rimmed with green vegetation. Placed in main crotch or against the trunk of a live tree. Often placed on top of old crow, squirrel, or other hawk nest.
Egg Description
White to bluish white.
Clutch Size
Usually 3-5 eggs. Range: 1-7.
Condition at Hatching
Helpless and covered in white down.
Cool Facts
Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a rather dangerous lifestyle. A recent study found that 23 percent of all Cooper’s Hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula or wishbone.
A Cooper’s Hawk captures a bird with its feet, and will squeeze it repeatedly to kill it. It does not bite the prey to kill it in the fashion of falcons, but holds it away from its body until it dies. It has been known to drown its prey, holding a bird under water until it stops moving.
Large numbers of Cooper’s Hawks can be seen on migration, especially at hawk watches such as Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania; Cape May, New Jersey, Goshute Mountain Range, Nevada, or Braddock Bay, New York. Autumn movements generally begin in late August and continue through early November. Young Cooper’s Hawks tend to migrate about a week earlier than adults, and females tend to go earlier than males by a few days.
| Weather and Effort: April 1 and 2, 2009 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low Over 20° C (over 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 2 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 3 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 3 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 1 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| Spotted Towhee | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 7 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 2 |
| House Finch | 8 (0 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 1 (0 with eye disease) |
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
| Weather and Effort: March 25 and 26, 2009 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 1 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 4 |
| Steller’s Jay | 1 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 3 |
| American Crow | 1 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 1 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 9 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 3 |
| House Finch | 4 (0 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 2 (0 with eye disease) |
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pheucticus melanocephalus L 8 ¼” (21cm)
Photo by Lang Elliott
An adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak
The rose-breasted grosbeak is a songbird of the eastern deciduous woodlands. Spending much of its time in the treetops, the beautiful male rosebreast is often heard before it is seen. The rich melodic warbling song of the rose-breasted grosbeak is often described as sounding like a robin that’s had singing lessons. When not singing, rosebreasts often utter a call that sounds like a squeaky eeek! In flight, male rosebreasts flash a pinwheel of black and white, and if you look carefully, you’ll see that both sexes have salmon-pink in the “armpit” region under their wings.
Above information from BirdWatchersDigest.com
In the past five years we have had two sightings of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (an eastern bird) at our backyard feeders. A maturing male bird visited our feeders during late winter, spring, and summer about four years ago. This winter a juvenile male was sighted once at our feeders and a few times by our neighbor.
The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak is easily identified. It is black and white, with a large triangle of rose-red on the breast and a thick pale bill. The female shows little resemblance to the male bird with the exception of the large thick bill. The female is streaked like a large sparrow and recognized by the large “grosbeak” bill.
As the male bird matures the pale rose-red triangle on the breast becomes a very distinct bright rose-red triangle.
Route 44 eagles on the Caltrans Eagle Cam at Turtle Bay
The powerful bald eagle is magnificent. It isn’t surprising that we chose it as our nation’s symbol.
Most of us will never get close to an eagle’s nest. That’s OK, though. Their sharp talons and beak are intimidating!
Thanks to technology, though, we can safely see inside an eagle’s nest. This site features a Webcam trained on an eagle’s nest.
This particular pair of eagles has three eggs in its nest. Two hatched last week. The remaining egg should hatch soon.
It is interesting to see the eagles take turns incubating the eggs. And the size of the nest is impressive, too. Of course, the eagles have worked on the nest for several years.
This is a great site to share with your children. They will love the eagles. And there is plenty of information about the big birds.
The Webcam is only available during daylight. So, if you don’t see anything at first, come back to the site a little later!
This pair of eagles first moved in and began to nest in the fall of 2004, but were not successful hatching any eaglets during the spring of 2005. They returned the following year, added to their nest and successfully hatched, raised and fledged one eaglet in 2006! In 2007 they returned yet again fledging one eaglet.
Most Bald Eagles return from their wintering sites in February and begin nesting behaviors in March or April. This pair of Bald Eagles has been returning to their nest around December to begin their additions to the nest. Normally, they’re sitting on the nest in January and incubating eggs in early February. They’re early this year, arriving the first week of November, and have been sighted in and about the nest.
During the 2008 breeding season, construction began on the State Route 44 bridge replacement project. Historically, Bald Eagles have needed quiet, undisturbed areas to successfully breed. As human development has increased and encroached on their territories, Bald Eagles are becoming more tolerant of the human environment. Despite construction activities, they successfully fledged two eaglets in 2008!!
The Caltrans Eagle Cam
• Watch the eagles as they move around the nest. When they are maneuvering around the eggs and eaglets, they will ball up their feet so that they don’t damage them with their talons.
• Note that there is always one eagle in the nest while incubating the egg. They will take turns incubating and will even bring food back to one another.
Eagles of the World
There are 59 eagle species found through out the world. Eagle species are divided into 4 groups: True or Booted Eagles (Golden Eagle), Serpent or Snake Eagles (Bateleur Eagle), Forest Eagles (Harpy Eagle), and the Fish Eagles (Bald Eagle). There are only 2 eagle species found in the US: the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagle.
The Bald Eagle is exclusive to North America. Bald Eagles range in size from 6-16 pounds with wingspans ranging from 6-8 feet. Females are 1/3 larger than males. Bald Eagles are smaller in the southern range and larger up north. Alaska has the largest Bald Eagles and Florida the smallest. Bald Eagles can be found in every state except Hawaii.
Bald Eagles mainly eat fish. About 90% of their diet consists of live or dead fish. The rest of their diet consists of any small animals they can catch along the shores including; snakes, ground squirrels, goslings, ducks and coots.
| Weather and Effort: March 18 and 19, 2009 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) low Over 20° C (over 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 2 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 |
| Steller’s Jay | 1 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 4 |
| American Crow | 2 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 1 |
| Oak Titmouse | 2 |
| California Towhee | 1 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 5 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 6 |
| House Finch | 11 (3 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 1 (0 with eye disease) |
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
