Bird Biographies

Part Two

BIRD BIOGRAPHIES

WINTER BIRDS Permanent Residents and Winter Visitors

Most people are surprised to learn that about sixty species of birds may be seen in the north-central part of Eastern North America during the winter months. Many of us, if questioned, would affirm that sparrows, crows, and jays are the only winter birds to be found. If some one opens for us the door which leads out into the great bird-world, we may say, as did the writer of the old couplet:

"I hearing get, who had but ears, And sight, who had but eyes before,"

and we may then find, even during the winter season, a surprising wealth of bird-life to enrich our own.

In spite of wings that will bear them immeasurable distances, birds seem to have unusual loyalty to their native haunts, and they stay in the North until hunger impels them to seek friendlier climes. Those that remain may be grouped according to the kind of food upon which they subsist during the winter: first, birds that eat animal food; second, birds that eat vegetable food; and third, those that eat the eggs or young of insects on tree-trunks and branches, or chisel them from the wood.

To the first group belong six species of owls and eight species of hawks, eagles, crows, gulls, shrikes, and about eight species of ducks. They feed on mice and other small rodents, on smaller birds and poultry, and on seafood such as fish, clams, mussels, and scallops.

The birds that live on vegetable food during the winter are numerous. Throughout the spring and summer months they may be useful destroyers of insects; but in winter they are able to subsist on what the woods and fields yield in the way of nuts, acorns, berries, and the seeds of grasses and weeds. Such are jays, red-headed woodpeckers, quail, grouse, and the following members of the finch or sparrow family: cardinals, pine grosbeaks, crossbills, goldfinches, snow buntings, juncos, tree sparrows, white-throated sparrows, redpolls, and pine siskins. Many of these are permanent residents, but juncos, snow buntings, tree sparrows, crossbills, pine grosbeaks, and a few others leave their homes in the far North when deep snows bury their food supply and resort to less severe climates. Winter wrens are found in some localities. A few robins, bluebirds, meadowlarks, and flickers, remain North during open winters.

The third group of winter birds consists of downy and hairy woodpeckers, chickadees, tufted titmice, brown creepers, nuthatches, and golden-crowned kinglets. They glean insect-eggs from the bark of trees as a large part of their winter food-supply and form an exceedingly important group. The enormous number of insect-eggs eaten by them every year is almost incalculable. Every part of a tree--the trunk, the large branches, and small twigs--is scrutinized by these industrious members of the Life-Saving Army of our forests.

Dr. Frank Chapman recommends beginning the study of birds in the winter, while the trees are leafless and the birds comparatively few in number. People who spread tables for them are frequently surprised at the number of species they attract and at the pleasure they experience in the companionship of their interesting winter visitors.

BIRDS SEEN DURING THE WINTER NEAR NEW YORK CITY

The class of birds called PERMANENT RESIDENTS includes species which are to be found throughout the year. Dr. Chapman states that comparatively few species of this group are permanent residents in the strictest use of the term. "The Bob-white, Ruffed Grouse, and several of the owls are doubtless literally permanent residents, but it is not probable that the Bluebirds, for example, found here during the winter are the same birds which nested with us in the summer. Doubtless our winter Bluebirds pass the summer farther north, while our summer Bluebirds winter farther south, but as a species, the Bluebird is a permanent resident."

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

Bob-white Ruffed Grouse 8 species of Hawks Bald Eagle 5 species of Owls Hairy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Red-headed Woodpecker Flicker Meadowlark Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow House Sparrow Purple Finch American Goldfinch Song Sparrow Cardinal Cedar Waxwing Carolina Wren White-breasted Nuthatch Tufted Titmouse Chickadee Robin Bluebird Starling

WINTER RESIDENTS or WINTER VISITANTS are birds that breed farther north and move southward during the winter months to obtain food. They may arrive in the fall and remain until spring.

WINTER RESIDENTS AND VISITORS

Horned Lark American or Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Redpoll Tree Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Shrike Myrtle Warbler Winter Wren Brown Creeper Snowflake Junco Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet

A few in winter.

Rare or irregular in winter.

Grebes, Loons, Auks, Cormorants, Snowy Owls, and several species of Gulls and Ducks may also be found during the winter months in the vicinity of New York City.

DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES

THE BLUE JAY Crow Family--Corvidæ

Length: About 11½ inches; 1½ inch longer than the robin; tail, over 5 inches long.

General Appearance: A crested grayish-blue bird, with bright blue wings and tail, barred and tipped with black and white. In flight, the long tail is conspicuous; it resembles a pointed fan.

Male and Female: Grayish-blue above, grayish-white below, lighter on throat and belly. Head with a conspicuous crest; forehead black; bill long, strong, and black. A black band that extends back of the crest and encircles the throat is widest across the breast. Wings bright blue, barred with black; the white tips of some of the feathers form bands and patches of white.

Note: A harsh yah, yah, yah, or jay, jay, jay, which Thoreau says is "a true winter sound, wholly without sentiment."

Song: A pleasant, flute-like strain: Pedunkle, pedunkle, parlez-vous. There is a sort of jerkiness about his love-song, as though his throat was unaccustomed to make agreeable sounds. Jays are able to produce many strange noises, and appear to enjoy using their power.

Habitat: Woodlands; those containing oaks and other nut-bearing trees preferred.

Nest: A rough basket of twigs, with a soft lining of root-fibers.

Range: Eastern North America. A permanent resident of south-central Canada and eastern United States, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and central Texas.

This brilliant, handsome blue-coat never "hides his light under a bushel"; his noisy jay-jay always proclaims his presence. He would at times be unendurable, except that he never remains long in one place; he is on the leap constantly, with a dash and an impudent assurance that is amusing.

He is the "bad boy" of the bird neighborhood, the terror of the small birds. They seem to have the same fear of him that children have of a great bully. He swoops down upon them, worries and frightens them, robs their nests, and brings to his own spoiled fledglings eggs and young as tidbits.

He is a devoted husband and father, who shows his best traits in his family circle. He reminds one of certain human beings who take excellent care of their own, but who are neither good neighbors nor desirable citizens. Occasionally, however, he has family differences. My sister tells of watching a jay bring twig after twig for nest-building to his mate, who was evidently in a bad mood. She would have none of them; she seized each twig and threw it away with a disagreeable yah, yah. After repeated attempts, he gave it up and both flew away. My sister never learned what occurred later.

The jay is an inveterate tease. He delights in annoying poor half-blind owls in the day-time, by pecking at them from unexpected quarters. An owl has been known to seize the Tormentor and speedily put an end to his existence.

The blue jay is a member of the same family to which the crow belongs, and while totally different in appearance, resembles him in his cleverness, his fearlessness, and his audacious insolence. Dr. Henshaw, formerly of the Biological Survey in Washington, brings the following accusation against this bird:

"The blue jay is of a dual nature. Cautious and silent in the vicinity of its nest, away from it, it is bold and noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready to scream 'thief' at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases, its remarks are applicable to none more than itself, a fact neighboring nest-holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding season the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and young of other birds, and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficial than itself."

Mr. E. R. Kalmbach, also of the Biological Survey, says that in winter jays eat the eggs of the tent caterpillar, and the larvæ of the brown-tail moth, besides waste grain, and "mast,"--the name given to vegetable food such as acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, etc. It likes pecans and cultivated fruit in their season--two other points against the bird. The wild fruits it selects are of no economic value.

Mr. Kalmbach concludes: "The blue jay probably renders its best service to man in destroying grasshoppers late in the season and in feeding on hibernating insects and their eggs, as they do in the case of the tent caterpillar and brown-tail moth. Beetles and weevils of various kinds also fall as their prey. The severest criticism against the species is the destruction of other birds and their eggs. Where we wish to attract the latter in large numbers about our dooryards, in our parks, and in game preserves, it will be well not to allow the jay to become too abundant."

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