Pine Siskins
One of the exciting moments of backyard bird feeding is the appearance of unexpected guests.
Such is the case with pine siskins. They may not be the most beautiful birds at your feeder, but surely they are one of the most acrobatic and entertaining. Smallest of winter finches, 4 1/2 to 5 1/4 inches long and heavily streaked, they can be amazingly loud as they fight one another for a perch on a feeder.
Known as the gypsies of the bird world, siskins wander from fall through early spring in noisy flocks that may include goldfinches, redpolls and crossbills. These roving flocks may contain 50 to 1,000 birds. It's wishful thinking to expect pine siskins to be in any given area at any certain time of year. You may have several dozen at your feeder this winter and not one next year.
While pine siskins are considered to be permanent residents in their northern and mountainous habitat, some migrate south or to lower elevations every year. When they migrate in great numbers throughout the United States it is called an irruption. They can include flocks numbering in the thousands. It is believed that a poor seed crop in their home areas causes irruptions.
If they show up in the fall, they generally arrive in a crowd. If one or two come alone, you may hardly notice them. Their unremarkable appearance helps them blend in with house finches and their sharply notched tail looks like a goldfinch. Upon close examination, however, you should be able to make the distinction between them, female house finches or purple finches. Siskins have a touch of yellow near the center of the wings (centered at the base of the primaries) and on the rump. Males and females are very similar, but males are thought to have more yellow. The bills of siskins are most unfinchlike, being long, slim, and pointed, rather than conical. Siskins fly with an undulating flight pattern, similar to other finches. While they're flying, siskins frequently call tit-i-tit and their song is a long buzzy shreeee or zzhreeee.
Pine siskins begin courting in January and February while still in their winter flocks. After an irruption year, many will nest in regions far south of their normal range in Alaska, Canada and the northern tier of the US. Look for them in coniferous forests or mixed woodlands.
Siskin nests are shallow, consisting of twigs, grasses and strips of bark and are built primarily, or entirely, by females. The clutch consists of three to four bluish-green eggs with darker speckles. The incubation period is about two weeks, and nestlings spend another two weeks in the nest before fledging. Adults will continue to feed the fledglings for two to three weeks after they leave the nest.
Perhaps the best way to attract siskins to your feeders is to offer Nyjer™; sunflower hearts are a close second. These versatile birds will eat from tube, tray or globe feeders, thistle sacks and off the ground. They may also eat suet. Foraging in the wild, they prefer seeds produced by grasses, herbaceous flowers, including thistle, chickweed and ragweed, shrubs and a variety of trees such as alder, birch, spruce, pine, hemlock and cedar. Siskins feed also on small prey, especially insects and spiders.
American Tree Sparrow
Where They Live: Tree sparrows winter across the U.S. as far south as Texas. Winter habitat includes forest edges, old fields, wetlands and overgrown backyards. They are among the most northern nesting sparrows, traveling in the spring as far as Alaska to breed. Contrary to their name, tree sparrows prefer the stark barren tundra north of the tree line. In this setting tree sparrows seek out willow thickets, brushy areas, stunted spruce forests and open tundra with scattered shrubs. The female builds her nest out of grasses, bark and mosses lined with feathers, fur or dog hair.
What They Eat: Tree sparrows eat much the same things as chipping sparrows. Warm weather foods include any insects and invertebrates available. In the winter they subsist on seeds of grasses and weeds. Millets, cracked corn, black-oil sunflower seeds and sunflower chips are favorite feeder foods.
Appearance: Like chipping sparrows, tree sparrows have distinctive rusty caps. The eyebrow, however, is gray, the narrow eye line is rusty and the bill is bicolored. The upper mandible is dark; the lower is yellow. The breast is gray and marked by a prominent dark central spot and rufous sides.
Voice: The song of the tree sparrow is two or three sweet, high-pitched notes followed by a rapid series of musical notes. The call note is a high-pitched "tseet" that sometimes is drawn out to three syllables, "Tseedle-cet."
Chipping Sparrow
Where They Live: Chipping sparrows are among the most common and widely distributed songbirds in North America. Though historically found in open pinewoods and edges, chipping sparrows have adapted well to suburban backyards. Even meticulously groomed lawns attract chippers if evergreen trees or shrubs are part of the landscape. Nests usually are placed less than 12 feet above the ground in evergreen cover. Chipping sparrows winter along the southern tier of states south to Nicaragua.
What They Eat: Chipping sparrow diets vary seasonally. From late spring through early fall, invertebrates comprise most of their diet. Caterpillars, beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers and spiders are among the most common prey. In the fall and winter, they turn to seeds of grasses and weeds. Throughout the year, chipping sparrows visit feeders stocked with white millet, cracked corn and sunflower chips.
Appearance: The bright rusty cap of adult chipping sparrows is distinctive. Combine it with a white-eye brow, black eye line that extends to the black bill and an unmarked gray breast and identification is easy. One of the smallest sparrows, 5- to 5 3/4"- long chippers are monomorphic; that is, adult males and females are identical.
Voice: Chipping sparrows sing in a simple monotone trill. The pace and pitch vary a bit, and chippers can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from dark-eyed juncos and pine warblers. The call note is a high-pitched "tseep."
Fox Sparrow
Where They Live: Fox sparrows summer in northern Canada and Alaska, preferring forested areas of deciduous or coniferous trees for their nesting sites. During the winter they are found across the southern United States and throughout the Rocky Mountains, most often along forest edges. For backyard birdwatchers located between the winter and summer ranges, the opportunity to be visited by migrating fox sparrows occurs twice a year. Fox sparrows are, in fact, fairly frequent visitors to feeders while they are on the move.
What They Eat: Fox sparrows are primarily vegetarians, feeding on seeds and in-season fruits. Gardeners appreciate the prodigious numbers of weed seeds these sparrows consume. They hunt for food by foraging on the ground in the manner of towhees, noisily scraping away leaves and debris with a vigorous leap forward and dragging their toes backward across the ground. Fox sparrows visit the area beneath birdfeeders, readily consuming white proso millet seeds, oil sunflower seeds and cracked corn.
Appearance: Because it is obviously longer and stockier than other sparrows, size probably will be the first clue that you are seeing a fox sparrow. Confirm the sighting by checking for orange-brown color on the rump and tail and a light cream-colored breast, heavily streaked with brown. Note that the tail is long and ends bluntly. It is the mottling of rusty-colored feathers with gray patches around the neck and shoulders that suggest a fox-like appearance. Males and females look the same; however there are regional variations in plumage. Eastern fox sparrows show more of the rusty-brown tones; western ones show more of the gray colors.
Voice: Fox sparrows are one of the most accomplished sparrow singers. Their clear and melodious song is characterized by rich whistles and buzzy trills.
House Sparrow
Member of the Old World family Passeridae, this infamous bird is not a sparrow but a weaver finch. Brought to New York from England in the 1850s specifically to reduce insect pests (a plan that didn't succeed), by 1900 they were the most common bird in North America.
House sparrows often are considered undesirable visitors at bird feeders because their abundant populations compete with native species. They vie for nest holes with native songbirds and regularly eject birds' eggs, kill the parents and the young.
It is typical of house sparrows to form communal roosts in the fall and winter. These large gatherings occur about sundown, although smaller groups congregate in mid-day, chirping noisily and hopping around in dense brush for short periods.
To discourage house sparrows from coming to your feeders, limit your food offerings to Nyjer, sunflower and suet. Because they prefer to eat on the ground, it's important to keep the area under your feeders debris-free.
Sparrows Are Not Just 'Birds of a Feather'
Of all the birds that visit backyards in search of food during the fall and winter, native sparrows -- as opposed to the ubiquitous house or English sparrow -- often are overlooked or ignored. That's unfortunate. Though they may lack the brilliance of a cardinal or the personality of a chickadee, these sparrows are among the most loyal feeder birds.
Many native sparrows eat black-oil sunflower seeds, millet and cracked corn. Unlike many birds, however, they prefer to take their meals at ground level or on low platform feeders. This makes sparrows nice to have around because they help clean up the seeds other birds leave beneath hanging or pole-mounted feeders.
At first glance, sparrows all seem to look alike. Trying to identify them can make you dizzy. But if you concentrate on their individual markings, it's fun and not too difficult. Song sparrows exemplify the classic LBJ (little brown job). Careful study, however, will reveal several distinctive markings, such as their pink legs and feet. They have a long, rounded tail, which they pump up and down when they fly. Their white throat is bordered by long, dark stripes that suggest a mustache. And the white belly and chest are marked by heavy brown streaks that often converge into a central breast spot. They're not so nondescript, after all.
Dark-eyed juncos often are called "snowbirds" because, when you see them in winter, they resemble their surroundings: gray above and white below. A junco's charcoal gray body contrasts with its white belly, white outer tail feathers which flash in flight, and the bright pink bill. The body of a female junco is a duller brownish-gray.
Just seeing their heads can identify some sparrows. Handsome white-throated sparrows, as the name suggests, have a prominent white throat. Their head is marked with bold black and white stripes. The broad eyebrow stripe is yellow in front of the eye and white or tan behind it. White-crowned sparrows look as though they are wearing a bicycle helmet because of the black and white stripes on their heads.
The aptly named golden-crowned sparrow, a bird of the Pacific coast, has an orange-yellow stripe through the center of its crown and a broad, black border along the sides. Both male and female Harris sparrows are strikingly marked with a black crown, face, throat and upper breast. Tree sparrows are easy to recognize. Look first for a dark spot in the middle of an otherwise plain breast. Then note the rusty crown, a fine rusty stripe behind the eye, two white wing bars and a streaked back.
If you've had trouble identifying the ground feeders in your yard, or perhaps never even tried, knowing what to look for will make it easier. Use a field guide and a pair of binoculars, and you'll become a sparrow specialist in no time.
Is there a way to slow down sparrows at my feeders?
Feeders designed within a cage work well to accommodate smaller birds, but in some cases that also will include sparrows. Try using black oil sunflower seed. While some sparrows will eat it, it's not as popular with sparrows as millet. Also try using suet. Keep in mind that you don't always have to keep full feeders available 24 hours a day. Put out just a small amount of seed in the early morning and again just before sundown. If the sparrows don't find rations at all times of the day, perhaps they will go elsewhere.
How we can eliminate male sparrows from our property?
If you have English house sparrows, which are not a protected species in this country, the law permits you to remove any nests they build and even destroy eggs or babies. But you must understand that wildlife live by their own rules and are not governed by human sense of right and wrong. When one species attacks another, it's all part of territory defense and survival.
Song Sparrow
Where They Live: Song sparrows, one of the most abundant and widespread bird species across the North American continent, like brushy areas with nearby water. Thickets, streamsides, gardens and roadsides are typical habitat for these cosmopolitan sparrows. Song sparrows are partially migratory. Most of those found in Canada withdraw southward into the United States during winter months. In the central and southern parts of the continent, song sparrows remain as resident birds throughout the year. Because they are so dispersed, song sparrows have regionally distinct plumage and songs. Thirty-one subspecies are recognized.
What They Eat: Various insects, seeds, grains and berries comprise the song sparrow's diet. They will regularly come to backyard feeding stations and forage on the ground for spilled seed. Because so much of their natural diet is weed and grass seeds, they seem to prefer white proso millet, yellow finch millet, and canary seeds but may also eat oil sunflower seeds. A great way to welcome song sparrows to your yard is to offer these seeds in a platform feeder just above ground level.
Appearance: When distinguishing between sparrow species, one of the best marks to look for initially is whether the bird in view has a clear or streaked breast. The song sparrow fits in the streaked group. What makes it distinct from similar species is that the streaks seem to converge in a central dark spot. Add the fact that song sparrows also have a dark whisker pattern below each cheek and you have a streak-breasted bird with three prominent dark spots. The overall appearance is brown upper parts streaked with dark brown and white or creamy under parts streaked with brown stripes. If you catch sight of the bird in flight, the song sparrow is known for pumping its tail as it flies.
Voice: Song sparrows are aptly named. Males sing extensively on their territories and not just during breeding season, but also throughout the year. The scientific name also refers to this sparrow's vocal skills - - Melospiza melodia. The cadence of the male's song is three-parted. Sharp introductory notes begin the song, followed by mid-song whistles. The song ends with a jumble of trills. Henry Thoreau rendered the song as "Maids, maids, maids, tend to your teakettle-ettle-ettle." Other listeners are sure the first three notes sound like the first three notes of Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony."
Song Sparrow
Geographic Distribution: Song sparrows exhibit tremendous geographic variation in their appearance. Southwestern populations, for example, are pale while west coast populations are dark. Generally song sparrows are boldly streaked with a strong mustache or whisker mark that angles down from the corner of the bill. The streaks on the breast usually converge to form a dark central spot. In flight, song sparrows pump their tail.
Voice: Song sparrow songs begin with several loud notes, followed by a musical jumble of notes and a trill. I like the word representation, "Maids! Maids! Maids! Pick up the tea kettle, ettle, ettle!"
Where They Live: From Alaska to Nova Scotia and Florida to Baja California, song sparrows are the most widely distributed sparrow in North America. Look for them in dense shrubby cover, thickets and forest edges.
White-crowned Sparrow
Appearance: White-crowns are similar to white-throated sparrows, but lack the yellow lores. Their pink or yellow bills, combined with the black and white stripes on the head, are diagnostic.
Voice: Song begins with several loud clear notes like a white-throat's, followed by a series of buzzes or trills on different pitches.
Where They Live: White-crowns nest along the edges of the boreal forest across northern Canada and Alaska and at higher elevations along the Rockies. In the winter they move south and can be found from Oregon to the mid-Atlantic states. Winter habitat includes forest edges, old fields, roadsides and fencerows.
White-throated Sparrow
Appearance: White-throated sparrows are large sparrows characterized by a bright white throat, black and white stripes on the top of the head and yellow lores (the area between the bill and eye). Two color morphs occur: some individuals have a tan stripe on the head instead of white stripes.
Voice: The white-throat's song is one of the most beautiful and easiest to learn. Even in January on its winter range it can be heard -- "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!" Or your ears may hear, "Oh, Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada!"
Where They Live: White-throats nest in the coniferous and mixed woods of the northeast U.S. In the winter, they move south into the Midwest, southeast and southern plains as far west as Arizona, where they can be found in dense vegetation along forest edges and parks.
The White-Throated Sparrow
By Eleanore Myers Jewette
(Reprinted from the June 1922 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine)
When willow wands are yellowing
Beneath an April sky,
When sodden fields are mellowing
And violets are nigh
Wood violets are nigh,
The mating birds on every side
Fling out their carols glad and wide,
And there's a sweeter, clearer note
That bubbles from a feathered throat,
A dreamy, questing lay -
"Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away!
Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away."
A troubadouring sparrow, he.
Unlike the common herd
Who seek their lovers noisily
With flashing wing and word,
With flaunting wing and word,
He sits upon a twig apart
And sings a vision in his heart,
A lady-love unseen and far
And not as other sparrows are-
('T is thus he seems to say'):
"Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away!
Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away."
When all the other mating birds
Are intimate and shrill,
The white-throat sparrow's dreamy words
Sound sweeter, farther still,
More vision-haunted still;
"Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away,"
From dawn till closing day,
The little feathered troubadour
Is calling, calling evermore
His princess-far-away,
"Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away,
Sweet-Sweet-and-far-away!"
The Squirrel Management Challenge
Feeding birds is a most enjoyable backyard activity, but there is one aspect that can fill even the most mild-mannered person with concern: squirrels! If you're ready to pull out all the stops, there are plenty of new feeders on the market.
Thanks to technology and some inspired inventors, feeders are specifically designed to (perhaps) stop squirrels in their tracks. The arsenal includes weight-balanced feeders, cage-guarded feeders and mild shock treatment feeders.
A venerable member of the squirrel resistant feeders, The Absolute, is a classic hopper style turned squirrel barrier. The all-steel body is impervious to squirrels, and the counter-balanced perch determines who will eat there. Adjustable settings let people select, according to weight, the birds they hope will come; the perching platform drops down when anything heavier lands, generally tipping the intruder to the ground.
An entertaining feeder is Droll Yankees’ Flipper feeder which spins squirrels off a circular perch, powered by a small battery.
Squirrels Be Warned
Electric shock may sound extreme, but some feeders are "wired" just enough to deter squirrels. Wild Bill's Electric Squirrel Proof hanging bird feeder works by giving intruders a mild shock from a 9-volt battery.
Other Options: For those who aren't ready to give up their existing feeders, adding stovepipe baffles and metal shields will help protect your old favorites. Of course, some people say if you can't beat the pesky critters, join 'em!
I'm a Starling, Darling
The Haughty Nature of an American Import
Everyone has heard the bad news about starlings. They travel in noisy crowds. They scarf down birdseed and suet. They compete with native cavity nesters such as purple martins and flickers.
But the good news is that starlings are useful in controlling a different kind of non-native pest, the Japanese beetle. The birds eat both the larvae and adult beetle and also work at the destruction of weevils, cutworms and other garden scourges.
They are neither native American birds nor "blackbirds." Originally from Eurasia, they belong to the myna family. They were introduced in Central Park, New York, in the late 19th century, quickly adapted to living close to humans and now are familiar, rambunctious residents of cities, suburban yards, farms and roadsides.
The starling is a short-tailed, stocky bird given to musical song and mimicry. In summer, breeding adults have an iridescent purple-black gloss, but as winter approaches their plumage loses its sheen and becomes spangled overall with white. The starling's bill changes also with the season, from bright yellow in the spring and summer to dusky black in winter.