Austin Bird Bingo: Meet the Flock

The Blue Gray Gnatcatcher feeds on small insects and spiders, however gnats are surprisingly not a main part of their diet. They flip their tail from side to side when they seek prey. They are also VERY territorial and have been known to chase rivals up to 70 feet! You don't want to get on the bad side of these small feisty fellows!

Grackles are one of the species of birds that participate in a practice known as "anting". This is where grackles will spread their wings on the ground and hunch over to let ants crawl on them. Ants secrete formic acid which is thought to help get rid of parasites. Grackles have also been seen to use walnut juice, lemon/limes, and marigold blossoms to do this!

Blue Jays are very sociable and intelligent birds. Some studies out there have also found that they are able to recognize human faces similar to ravens and crows. In captivity they have even been seen to mimic human voices, meowing like cats, as well as using tools! Talk about adaptability!

Chipping Sparrows typically build their nests low in a shrub or tree, but every once in a while they get creative. People have found their nests among hanging strands of chili peppers, on an old-fashioned mower inside a tool shed, and on a hanging basket filled with moss. The nest of the Chipping Sparrow is of such flimsy construction that light can be seen through it. 

Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, selecting an entirely vegetable diet and only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect. Whenever they fly south in winter they follow a pattern that seems to coincide with regions where the minimum January temperature is no colder than 0 degrees Fahrenheit on average. Now that's some impressive planning!

In Florida, scientists found a 400,000-year-old wing bone from a White-eyed Vireo from the late Pleistocene. It is North America’s only fossil record for the whole vireo family. Another fun fact is that both the male and the female White-eyed Vireo sing on the wintering grounds, but only the male sings on the breeding grounds. Curiouser and curiouser!

Monk Parakeets sometimes adopt old nests of other species. Some ornithologists have suggested that this behavior may have been the first step, evolutionarily speaking, to transitioning from nesting in tree cavities to constructing stick nests. They are the only member of the parrot family to build stick nests and to nest colonially. How cool!

Northern Mockingbirds continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life. They sing all through the day, and often into the night. Most nocturnal singers are unmated males, which sing more than mated males during the day, too. 

In spring and early summer male and female northern cardinals are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping).

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a tiny bird that lays a very large clutch of eggs—there can be up to 12 in a single nest. Although the eggs themselves weigh only about a fiftieth of an ounce, an entire clutch can weigh as much as the female herself. Metabolic studies on Ruby-crowned Kinglets suggest that these tiny birds use only about 10 calories (technically, kilocalories) per day. They may be small but they are mighty indeed!

The western population of Painted Buntings begins its fall migration before molting, molts in staging areas in northern Mexico, then continues to migrate further south. This migration-molt pattern is common among waterfowl but very rare among songbirds. In contrast to the western population, the eastern population of Painted Buntings molts on its breeding grounds before migration.

The nests of the Yellow Warbler are frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird. The warbler often builds a new nest directly on top of the parasitized one, sometimes resulting in nests with up to six tiers. These little birds deal with a lot. Yellow Warblers have also occasionally been found caught in the strands of an orb weaver spider’s web.

Unlike robins and many other fruit-eating birds, Baltimore Orioles seem to prefer only ripe, dark-colored fruit. Orioles seek out the darkest mulberries, the reddest cherries, and the deepest-purple grapes, and will ignore green grapes and yellow cherries even if they are ripe.

Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.

Purple Martins roost together by the thousands in late summer, as soon as the chicks leave the nest. They form such dense gatherings that you can easily see them on weather radar. It’s particularly noticeable in the early morning as the birds leave their roosts for the day, and looks like an expanding donut on the radar map.

The Golden-cheeked Warbler is the only bird species whose population nests entirely in the state of Texas. They first became known to science in 1860, from specimens collected on its winter range, in Guatemala. The nesting grounds were not discovered in central Texas for another four years.

Tufted and Black-crested Titmice are closely related, but they sound different. Black-crested’s calls are more nasal than Tufted’s, and its song is typically higher in pitch and faster. Studies have found that Black-crested Titmice often sing a single-syllabled peer in the main song, while Tufted Titmice more often sing a two-syllabled peter.

All the European Starlings in North America descended from 100 birds set loose in New York's Central Park in the early 1890s. The birds were intentionally released by a group who wanted America to have all the birds that Shakespeare ever mentioned. It took several tries, but eventually the population took off. Today, more than 200 million European Starlings range from Alaska to Mexico, and many people consider them pests.

Early in the breeding season, male Spotted Towhees spend their mornings singing their hearts out, trying to attract a mate. Male towhees have been recorded spending 70 percent to 90 percent of their mornings singing. Almost as soon as they attract a mate, their attention shifts to other things, and they spend only about 5 percent of their time singing.

Most members of a winter flock stay in the same flock all season, but some birds are “flock switchers.” Some of these belong to one flock and then switch, joining another flock permanently and exclusively for the rest of the season. Other flock switchers regularly move between flocks. These flock-switchers may have different rankings in the hierarchy of each flock.

The severe declines of Bewick's Wren in the eastern United States coincided with range expansion in the House Wren. It is suspected that the House Wren, which frequently removes eggs from nests in cavities, was directly responsible for the decline. The increased availability of nest boxes may have helped the spread of the House Wren, and therefore the decline of the Bewick's Wren.

The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colors directly). So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. This is why people sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings.

Great Horned Owls are covered in extremely soft feathers that insulate them against the cold winter weather and help them fly very quietly in pursuit of prey. Their short, wide wings allow them to maneuver among the trees of the forest. Even though the female Great Horned Owl is larger than her mate, the male has a larger voice box and a deeper voice. Pairs often call together, with audible differences in pitch.

The Song Sparrow is found throughout most of North America, but the birds of different areas can look surprisingly different. Song Sparrows of the Desert Southwest are pale, while those in the Pacific Northwest are dark and heavily streaked. Song Sparrows of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain are even darker, and they’re huge: one-third longer than the eastern birds, and weighing twice as much.