Category Archives: Bryan Stevens Feathered Friends

Joyas voladoras: Hummingbirds welcomed back to region

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Michele Spark • Female ruby-throated hummingbirds lack the red throat patch, known as a gorget, that is present on adult males.

Readers continue to welcome back hummingbirds and share their first spring sightings of these tiny birds.

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“My husband Marvin and I saw our first hummingbird March 31 in Rogersville, Tennessee,” Mary Powers wrote in an email.

“We’ve been seeing them most days since then,” she added.

Mary said she put the feeder up a week before her sighting.

“Of course I change the syrup every week and clean it,” she noted.

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Kenneth Oakes commented on my Facebook page about his first sighting.

“I’ve just seen my first this year about 30 minutes ago on April 6 in an area near Sunshine, North Carolina,” Kenneth wrote.

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Dianne Rebmann emailed me to share her first spring hummingbird sighting.

“I saw my first hummingbird April 8,” she wrote. “There were actually two of them, and I caught them on Trailcam.”

Dianne lives in the Willowbrook community in Kingsport near the Meadowview Convention Center.

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Annie Morton and Pete Fredrick emailed me information about their first spring sighting.

“We wanted to share the news that we saw our first ruby-throated hummingbird (male) at home on April 9,” they wrote. “We live off Dry Creek Road in Unicoi County.”

They added that they hung a feeder last week after reading my article in The Erwin Record about the pending arrival time for hummingbirds.

“What a thrill to see the first one at the feeder while eating our breakfast yesterday morning,” they added to the end of their email.

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Diane Graham, a Jonesborough resident, spotted her first little one Wednesday morning (April 9) at her feeder.

“I think he was passing through,” she wrote in her email.

Diane also recorded two other visiting hummingbirds, one each on April 10 and April 11.

“None are yet making multiple visits during the day,” she added.

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April Kerns Fain commented on my Facebook page about her first sighting. “I saw the first one on April 9,” commented April, who lives in Unicoi.

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Sue Schreiner posted on my Facebook page about her first spring sighting.

“Just spotted my first hummingbird today (April 11) in Bluff City. Yay!” Sue wrote.

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Felicia Mitchell in Meadowview, Virginia, shared her first spring hummingbird sighing via a Facebook message. Felicia saw her first hummingbird on Sunday, April 13.

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In a Facebook comment on April 13, Flag Pond resident Regina Ray reported that she has seen her first spring hummingbird.

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Paula Elam Booher commented on my Facebook page that she saw her first hummingbird of spring in Bristol on April 13.

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Gina Kinney emailed to let me know that her mom Ginger Brackins saw her first hummingbird on April 14 at 6:25 p.m. in Erwin.

“She wanted me to email you right away,” Gina wrote.

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“I’ve had my hummingbird feeders up for a few weeks, but finally this afternoon (April 14) at 4 p.m. a female hummer had one all to herself,” Michelle Sparks, a resident of Bluff City, wrote to me by email.

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“Yesterday (April 14) I saw a hummingbird check out our feeder,” Donald Beck emailed me.

“It did not drink and I have not seen it any time since,” Donald, a resident of Bray Road in Stanley Valley in Rogersville, reported.

“Was it just on its way north?” Donald also asked.

It’s true, I noted in my response to his question, that many of these first hummingbird sightings are not the birds that will spend the summer months with us. Many of these “early” hummingbirds will continue migrating farther north, but others will arrive, like what they see and decide to stick around.

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Diane Hensley Silvers posted on April 16 in a Facebook comment that hummingbird numbers have only increased since the first one arrived.

“I have several now,” Diane wrote. “They arrived at my house in Washington County about 10 days ago.”

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Ruby-throated hummingbirds such as this male are returning to the region.

Tennessee’s Watchable Wildlife offers an online profile for the ruby-throated hummingbird, including interesting information about how such a tiny bird makes its phenomenal crossing of the Gulf of Mexico each spring to return to the eastern United States.

To accomplish this tremendous migratory crossing, a hummingbird will double its body mass by fattening on nectar and insects in the weeks prior to departure.

No hummingbird species other than ruby-throated hummingbird breeds in Tennessee, but several Western species have been found in the state during the non-breeding season. They arrive anytime after late August and usually depart in April. At least seven western species of hummingbird has been recorded in the Volunteer State, including rufous, black-chinned, Allen’s, Anna’s, calliope and broad-tailed hummingbirds.

There’s also a couple of reports of a green violet-ear, a species that is usually found in forested regions of Mexico and Nicaragua. The species has ventured into Tennessee twice, being documented in Memphis in September of 2007 and in Montgomery County in July of 2020.

I’ve seen several of these western “visitors” throughout the years, but my greatest affection is still attached to the ruby-throated hummingbird.

Most hummingbirds impress with their size, or rather the lack of it. It’s that tiny size that has prompted people to describe them as “miracles” from the time the first European explorers sailed to the New World in the late 1400s. When Spanish explorers first encountered them, they had no equivalent birds in Europe to use as a reference. They referred to hummingbirds as “joyas voladoras,” or flying jewels.

If your yard offers some trees and shrubs, necessary for perching, you can attract ruby-throated hummingbirds. It pays to have a feeder available with a fresh mixture of one part sugar to four parts water. This is the formula that closely matches the sweetness of nectar available from flowers. In warm conditions, you’ll need to change out the mixture every few days. Give the feeders a scrubbing and rinse while changing out the sugar water. Then sit back and enjoy the antics of these pint-sized delights.

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To share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Despite a perceived disadvantage of size, ruby-throated hummingbirds are quite capable of thriving in a giant world.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds stage their spring return to region

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Bryan Stevens • A male ruby-throated hummingbird perches on a sugar water feeder.

In an article posted on March 27, Journey North, an organization and website that tracks migrating hummingbirds, announced that so far this spring, bird-watchers in 12 states had reported ruby-throated hummingbirds, but it’s still early in the season.

“So far, we have one sighting each in Kentucky and Tennessee and two in Arkansas, but we’re expecting more in the coming weeks,” noted the blog post by Journey North.

One week later, hummingbirds arrived in locations in Unicoi County, Carter County and Washington County in Northeast Tennessee.

Journey North is a citizen science project that engages citizen scientists in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. It’s a fun way to track the migration of everything from hummingbirds to butterflies like monarchs.

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“Hummingbirds are here!” Beverly King, a resident on Marbleton Road in Unicoi, wrote in an email. “We saw our first hummingbird today, Saturday, April 5.”

Beverly noted that she was excited to see hummingbirds slightly early this year.

“We usually see them about the 15th of the month,” she added. “Well, my feeders are now up. We could not tell if it was a female or a male.”

Bryan Stevens • A female ruby-throated hummingbird perches on a feeder.

 

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Erwin resident Amy Tipton sent me a Facebook message announcing that her parents had enjoyed a visit from a returning hummingbird.

“My parents, Edison and Emma Jean Wallin, had their first hummingbird of the season visit today, Saturday, April 5 at 4:30,” Amy wrote. “They live about a mile up Limestone Cove in Unicoi.”

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Dianne Draper in Jonesborough shared on my Facebook page about her first hummingbirds of the season.

“Our first ones showed up on April 5,” she noted. “We had two.”

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I’ve already seen my first hummingbird, as well. I have a bed of tulips blooming at my home. I planted them last fall and have been thrilled with their performance. I was outdoors admiring the tulips when I heard a brief but tantalizing buzzing noise. Although I scanned all around me, I failed to confirm that I’d heard a hummingbird.

A half hour later, however, while reading on my front porch, I saw my first hummingbird of 2025 when a male zipped up to one of my sugar water feeders. He returned twice while I stayed outdoors reading on a misty afternoon. He arrived at 4:14 p.m. on Sunday, April 6.

In 2024, I saw my first hummingbird on April 17 at 7:15 p.m. This year’s bird is certainly arriving earlier than is typical, but I was thrilled to see him.

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Gayle Riddervold, who lives only a few miles from my home on Simerly Creek Road in Hampton, reported that she and Becky Kinder saw their first spring hummingbird on April 8.

“We just saw our first hummingbird today,” Gayle wrote in a Facebook message. “Yesterday we saw a belted kingfisher on our road.”

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Brookie and Jean Potter, residents at Wilbur Lake in Elizabethton, sent me a text about the arrival of their first spring hummingbird on Wednesday, April 9, at 5:45 p.m.

They added, “It came back to feed again around 7 p.m.”

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Technically, TD, a follower of my “Our Fine Feathered Friends” blog, provided the earliest report of a hummingbird this spring. Of course, TD has the benefit of living in Texas, close to the Gulf of Mexico that these tiny birds must cross to return to the United States each spring.

The bird TD spotted arrived on Wednesday March 26, at 2:34 p.m. central time.

“A ruby-throated hummingbird male stopped at my feeder on my front porch a mile from Corpus Christi Bay after an hour of a rain shower,” TD wrote in a comment.

TD also reported that Corpus Christi has been in a drought so severe that residents have not been allowed to water outside since last fall.

TD’s hummingbird arrived with the first rainfall in more than two months.

“So I was watching the lovely rain when this hummingbird perched onto my hummingbird feeder,” TD wrote. “I have a very large window and hang four hummingbird feeders along the front porch.”

TD noted that the male’s iridescent ruby red around his neck resembled a scarf. “I named him Texas Tuxedo,” TD shared.

TD also saw a female hummingbird on Wednesday, April 2, at 7:15 a.m.

TD said the female hummer acted shy and fluttered around the feeder before feeling safe to perch for feeding.

It’s usually the case that females lag behind males in their annual migration back to the United States.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male ruby-throated hummingbird perches at a feeder for a sip of sugar water.

The hummingbirds are an amazing family of birds. There are an estimated 330 species of hummingbirds, all of which are found in the New World. Consider that these dazzling little birds have been given vividly descriptive names, such as cinnamon-throated hermit, red-tailed comet, blue-chinned sapphire, lazuline sabrewing, sparkling violetear, fiery topaz, green-tailed goldenthroat, bronze-tailed plumeleteer, amethyst-throated mountain-gem, peacock coquette, red-billed emerald, empress brilliant, purple-backed sunbeam, green-backed hillstar, orange-throated sunangel, black metaltail, marvelous spatuletail and blue-tufted starthroat.

The only hummingbird species to inhabit the eastern United States from spring to fall each year is the ruby-throated hummingbird, which is currently arriving at various points from Florida to Maine and westward to states like Illinois, Minnesota and Oklahoma and north into Canada.

To return each year, ruby-throated hummingbirds make an awe-inspiring and non-stop crossing of the Gulf of Mexico. Even more incredible, they make the trip again in the fall when they return to warmer locations in Central America to spend the winter months.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds lead relatively brief lives. The oldest known ruby-throated hummingbird was a female, according to the website All About Birds. She was at least 9 years, 2 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased in 2014 during banding operations in West Virginia.

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These shared sightings represent some of the “early bird” sightings of hummingbirds. I welcome more reports as other people continue to observe returning hummingbirds. Email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com or find me on Facebook to share your sightings. Provide a date and time, if possible. Good luck with the hummingbird watching.

Brown thrasher helps bid March adieu, welcomes April

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Photo by Ken Thomas • The Brown Thrasher is an alert, sharp-eyed observer of its surroundings.

I heard the paired notes of a signing male brown thrasher on Saturday, March 29, confirming the return of this large songbird. The thrasher was signing from a dead blue spruce tree surrounded by a thicket of forsythia in full golden bloom. I’ve usually celebrated the return of brown thrashers in the final days of March.

This year’s brown thrasher was slightly tardy. For instance, this species returned on March 24 in 2021 and 2023. Back in 2018, I had a “early bird” when a shy brown thrasher put in its first appearance of the year on Feb. 21. Back in 2020, a pair of brown thrashers returned on March 12. Last year, I didn’t see the first brown thrasher until the first week of April.

The brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) belongs to the family of “mimic thrushes,” which provides a label for a group of songbirds capable of imitating the songs of other birds. Mimidae, the Latin root for “mimic,” provides the scientific name for the family, which includes mockingbirds and the New World catbirds, as well as thrashers. The Northern mockingbird is best known for the ability to mimic, but relatives like the gray catbird and brown thrasher are also talented mimics.

Early American naturalist and artist John James Audubon painted a dramatic scene of Brown Thrashers defending their nest from an attacking snake.

The thrasher is a fairly large songbird about 11.5 inches long with a wingspan of 13 inches. Much of the body length comes from the bird’s long tail feathers. A thrasher weighs, however, only about 2.5 ounces, which is equivalent to a stack of about two dozen pennies. The brown thrasher is not a picky eater. It’s known to eat everything from berries and nuts to insects and small salamanders.

It’s also aggressive in defending its nest and young. John James Audubon, a French-American ornithologist, naturalist and painter, painted quite the dramatic scene of a group of brown thrashers valiantly defending a nest from an attacking snake. The painting is so detailed that one has to imagine Audubon based his work on a real-life experience. His work, originally painted in the early decades of the 1800s, still holds up today.

Incidentally, Audubon knew the brown thrasher as the “ferruginous thrush.” Another former common name for this species was “brown thrush.” The brown thrasher breeds across the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. Thrashers withdraw from the northern part of their range in the winter months, spending the season in the southeastern United States.

This species is a familiar bird in southern gardens. In fact, the brown thrasher is the official state bird of Georgia and also provided the name for Atlanta’s National Hockey League team, the Atlanta Thrashers. The thrasher became Georgia’s state bird due to passage of a Joint Resolution of the Georgia General Assembly in 1970.

According to the website All About Birds, brown thrashers, like catbirds and mockingbirds, are mimics with extremely varied repertoires consisting of more than 1,100 song types.

According to the website, male brown thrashers sing a loud, long series of doubled phrases with no definite beginning or end. The song has been described as “plant a seed, plant a seed, bury it, bury it, cover it up, cover it up, let it grow, let it grow, pull it up, pull it up, eat it, eat it.” I’m not sure I would have come up with that same phrasing, but I can detect some of it when listening to a singing thrasher.

All About Birds points out that while mockingbirds tend to repeat phrases three or more times, brown thrashers typically sing phrases only twice.

Photo by Bryan Stevens
A pair of Brown Thrashers forage for food on the ground below a feeder.

They also mimic the songs of other species, including chuck-will’s-widow, Northern flicker, white-eye vireo, tufted titmouse, wood thrush, and Northern cardinal.

The New World is home to less than a dozen thrasher species. Other relatives of the brown thrasher include Bendire’s thrasher, LeConte’s thrasher, gray thrasher and long-billed thrasher.

Other new arrivals have included blue-grey gnatcatcher, which showed up on April 2. I placed two sugar water feeders outdoors for the hummingbirds on the first day of April. This year, I Have not had to wait long for their return. The first male ruby-throated hummingbird showed up at my feeder on Sunday, April 6. I will write more on this year’s first hummingbird arrivals in next week’s post. Remember to let me know when the hummingbirds arrive at your home. Share your first spring sighting by emailing me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Brown Thrasher visits a suet feeder. The thrasher diet consists of everything from berries and seeds to insects and even small reptiles.

Here are a few birds to look for this spring

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male hooded warbler perches in a cluster of branches.

Has it been a slow spring? I have felt that it’s been one step forward, two steps back. But April has finally arrived. Although we’re now two days into the month, I’m still waiting on some of my first arrivals among our fine feathered friends.

That’s not an unusual situation. I think the birds like to drag out their springtime arrivals. They know that being tardy is sure to aggravate me as I’m not known for patience.

The first male red-winged blackbird returned to the fish pond in mid-March and has been singing persistently from the tops of the bald cypress trees bordering the pond. I haven’t seen a female red-winged blackbird yet, but they tend to arrive later than males.

Of course, and I don’t think I’m alone in this hope, I’m also eager to welcome back ruby-throated hummingbirds. These tiny flying gems should be back any day now. My sugar water feeders are waiting for them.

I hope readers will once again share the first arrival dates of hummingbirds at their own feeders. Jot down the date and time, as well as any other details you’d like to share, and email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com or message me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler/

With those preliminary thoughts shared, what else will I look for as the spring advances? Longtime readers will know of my enthusiasm for warblers, also known as New World warblers or wood-warblers.

They’re a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae. The family, which occurs only in the New World, contains 120 species. They are not closely related to Old World warblers or Australian warblers.

About half of the 120 species reside in Central and South America, but the others migrate north each spring to nest in the United States and Canada. In Northeast Tennessee, we have about two dozen nesting species that make their home with us from April to October.

The warbler I look forward most to seeing is the hooded warbler, partly due to individuals belonging to this species nesting in the woodlands around my home.

Photo by USFWS/A female hooded warbler stays put on her nest.

So, from the time my favorite warbler returns in April until the last individual departs in October, I enjoy regular glimpses of this colorful and interesting bird. Like all warblers, the hooded warbler is quite energetic, dashing after tiny insects in the branches of shrubs and trees. Hooded warblers often forage close to the ground, which makes observing them easier.

Of course, birds are free to break the rules. One of my most memorable sightings of a hooded warbler involved a male singing from the upper branches of a dead pine tree. I’d estimate that the bird was at least 40 feet off the ground, singing his little heart out to attract a mate. I was standing on an elevated rise of land while the tree providing the warbler its perch was lower in a gully that actually placed bird and observer on a roughly level playing field.

That sighting took place 25 years ago, but the image of that male hooded warbler singing so enthusiastically has remained emblazoned in my memory.

This particular bird sang for several moments, which is not always the case with warblers. These birds tend to dash for cover at the slightest disturbance, but this enthusiastic male didn’t seem to pay any heed to the fact that most of its kin prefer to skulk in shrubs and dense rhododendron thickets no more than a few feet off the ground.

It’s one bird unlikely to be mistaken for any other. Every time I behold a hooded warbler, I marvel at the bird’s exquisite appearance. The gold and green feathers seem to glow brightly in the dim light of the shadowy thickets of rhododendron they prefer to inhabit. The black hood and bib surrounding the male’s yellow face stands out by virtue of its stark contrast from the brighter feathers. Large coal-black eyes complete the effect. The appearance of the male bird provides this species with its common name.

The female hooded warbler has an identical yellow-green coloration as the male, although she is slightly more drab. She lacks the black hood and bib, although older females may acquire some dark plumage on the head and around the face. Both sexes also show white tail feathers that they constantly fan and flick as they move about in thick vegetation and shrubbery.

Photo Courtesy of Jean Potter
A male scarlet tanager brightens shadowy woodlands with a flash of tropical colors yet remains mostly inconspicuous in the forest canopy.

In addition to warblers, I also look forward to the return of scarlet tanagers. Males are unmistakable in their bright red plumage accented by black wings. This is one bird that is truly breathtaking when lured into the open for an observation through a pair of binoculars.

During their summer stay in the region, scarlet tanagers largely prey on insects. Although renowned as a fruit-eating bird, the scarlet tanager primarily feeds on fruit during its migration flights and on its wintering range in the tropics. This tanager breeds in deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen woodlands across the eastern half of North America. It’s my understanding that oaks are a favorite tree for this woodland dweller.

It’s unlikely that you’ll run across the nest of a scarlet tanager. These birds nest high in trees, often locating their nests 50 feet or more above the ground. After building a nest, a female tanager will incubate her three to five eggs for about two weeks. It’s during this time that her inconspicuous appearance is a plus, helping her blend well with her surroundings.

So, as I wait for warblers, hummingbirds and tanagers, I’ll just have to be a little more patient. I’m also hopeful that the fish pond will attract some nesting birds such as tree swallows and wood ducks. Fingers crossed!

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Remember to let me know about your first hummingbird sightings. Email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com to notify me of a sighting, ask a question or share a comment.

Red-winged blackbird, other birds set to return in coming weeks

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male red-winged blackbird sings to attract mates and ward off rivals.

February’s the shortest month, and it is more than halfway over. There are already signs that some birds are ready to embrace the shift in seasons as winter advances, albeit in fits and starts, toward spring.

On Feb.11, three mallards visited my fish pond. The presence of mallards at any pond is not all that surprising. The mallard is arguably the most recognized of North America’s native ducks. But these were wild birds, as indicated by their wary behavior and their ability to spring into strong flight when I surprised them quite by accident.

Spring migration begins as early as February and March. Eastern bluebirds, which for the most part are not migratory, are already checking out nesting boxes.

The months of March, April and May will bring an influx of migrants. Ruby-throated hummingbirds will soon make their annual crossing of the Gulf of Mexico. These tiny birds usually make landfall in the United States as early as February, but they don’t usually venture as far north as Northeast Tennessee, Western North Carolina and Southwest Virginia until early April.

Bryan Stevens • On Feb.11, three mallards visited my fish pond. I am hoping they are the start of more migrating birds arriving in the coming weeks.

Warblers, orioles, thrushes, flycatchers, tanagers and many other migrants also return in April and May. A variety of waterfowl, raptors and shorebirds pass through the region during these months, as well.

March brings the early birds, including species such as brown thrasher, blue-gray gnatcatcher and red-winged blackbird.

Red-winged blackbirds return with a venegeance in early March or sometimes in late February.

I’m ready to hear their loud, familiar “kon-ke-ree” sounds again from the tops of the cypress trees at the fish pond. It’s always a fun moment to welcome these birds back.

Red-winged blackbirds return yearly in early spring and begin to seek out nesting habitat in local wetland areas, such as the cattail marshes near my fish pond.

My first returning male red-winged blackbird arrived on the evening of March 3 in 2022. The first red-winged blackbird arrived on the morning of March 6 the following year. I heard his unmistakable song from inside my house.

The showy and loud red-winged blackbird males soon take up residence at my fish pond and adjacent stands of cattails after their return.

Male blackbirds arrive ahead of the females. They immediately search out prominent perches and begin singing every day in anticipation of an intended audience. Female blackbirds lag a week or so behind the males in returning to their familiar territory.

Any wet field or marsh, especially those offering a stand of cattails, is almost certain to attract red-winged blackbirds at this time of year. I’d almost wager on that certainty.

The blackbirds arriving in spring behave much differently than the quiet, furtive flocks that often make brief visits to feeders during late winter snowstorms.

“The kon-ke-ree song of the male red-winged blackbird is a sure indication that spring is on the way,” according to a profile located at the Tennessee Watchable Wildlife website.

At this time of year, the male red-winged blackbirds seek elevated perches to display and vocalize. Their loud antics are not designed solely to attract mates. Male red-winged blackbirds also sing to warn rival males from intruding into their territories.

The male red-winged blackbird is a very aptly named bird. Glossy black males sport red wing patches that are often trimmed with a narrow band of yellow feathers. By contrast, female red-winged blackbirds are mostly brown birds that could easily be mistaken for large sparrows. Both sexes have sharply pointed bills.

Red-winged blackbirds are fond of wetlands. Any marsh or even a damp field or flooded pasture is likely to attract a few resident red-winged blackbirds. Females choose nesting locations in cattails or other marsh vegetation. She usually lays three or four eggs. Although she does receive some help from the male, most of the responsibility for raising the young is left to her.

There is a reason that male red-winged blackbirds are not always quite as engaged as females in feeding and tending their young. Males are often polygynous, which means that males will often court multiple mates. His time is often occupied defending females and their respective nests from the advances of other male red-winged blackbirds.

According to the website All About Birds, male red-winged blackbirds spend much of the breeding season sitting on a high perch over their territories and singing almost without ceasing from dawn to dusk.

The website also notes that female blackbirds shirk the high profile of the males. They tend to skulk in wetland vegetation as they collect food or nest material.

Bryan Stevens • Female red-winged blackbirds lack the showy plumage of males. They look more like an overgrown sparrow.

Both males and females defend nests from intruders and predators. They take this duty quite seriously, as I know personally from being dive-bombed by parent blackbirds when I have gotten a little too close to their nests.

Other relatives of the red-winged blackbird in the United States include the tricolored blackbird found along the Pacific Coast and the yellow-headed blackbird resident in wetlands west of the Great Lakes. Rusty blackbird, common grackle and brown-headed cowbird are other species of blackbirds found in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.

For birders, the weeks ahead are an exciting time. In spirit, I think others often join our excitement if for no other reason than to celebrate that spring is just around the corner. These “early bird” arrivals are merely the harbingers of the season.

Share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment by emailing me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Bryan Stevens • In fall, male red-winged blackbird are bereft of the striking glossy plumage of spring.

 

Birds make use of various strategies to attract and keep mates

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Shauna Fletche/Pixabay • Some birds, like waxwings, like to present tasty treats to their potential mates.

 

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, it’s an opportune time to see how courtship is handled among our fine feathered friends. Most birds don’t bring a box of chocolates or a bouquet of roses when they take up courtship of a prospective mate, but birds have several equivalent behaviors that they employ to attract the attentions of the opposite sex. In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought a look at some of the more unusual courtship rituals of some of our feathered friends would be appropriate.

Aerial acrobatics designed to impress

In late winter and early spring, a true oddball begins courting. The American woodcock, also known by such whimsical names as “bog sucker” and “timberdoodle,” is a shorebird that has completely abandoned the shore in favor of woodlands and fields. Beginning as early as February, American woodcocks in the region conduct nightly courtship displays, starting at dusk, that combine aerial acrobatics with an assortment of unusual acoustical flourishes. Any wet field adjacent to a wooded area could offer a stage for these evening displays, but unless you know where to look and make an effort to do so, the American woodcock might as well remain a phantom of the night.

These mating rituals provide almost the only time of the year during which this bird makes itself available for observation. It’s only during this brief window that opens into their lives that we can be assured a glimpse. Even then, our peeks at woodcocks often consist of a fuzzy twilight escapade as the bird flings itself heavenward only to make a spiraling descent a few seconds later. The displays begin with a distinct vocalization, a type of “pent,” that also has the quality of sounding like some sort of mechanical buzzer.

Once the displays conclude for the season, the birds assume nesting duties, usually unobserved by humans. The rest of the year, almost nothing but blind, sheer luck would allow a birder to stumble across an American woodcock. It’s almost as if they disappear after these spring flights of fancy.

Birds bearing gifts

Many birds present small trinkets to a prospective mate. For instance, many male penguins make a present of a stone or pebble to female penguins. There could be more than a simple bribe behind this gift. Female penguins don’t build elaborate nests. In fact, a scrape on the bare ground, perhaps encircled by a collection of pebbles, marks the extent of their nest construction. So, the perfect pebble could be the way to winning a female penguin’s heart.

The way to the heart is through the stomach

Observant birders may have witnessed a male Northern cardinal slip a female a morsel of food, such as a peanut or a shelled sunflower kernel. It’s a marked change for this bird. During the winter months, a male cardinal is more likely to chase a female away from a feeder rather than share food with her. However, as spring approaches, his behavior undergoes a change and he becomes content to feed next to a female cardinal, often slipping her some choice tidbits.

Sabine van Erp/Pixabay • Bow to your partner: Grey-crowned cranes perform an elaborate dance designed to strengthen their bond.

May I have this dance?

Many species of birds perform elaborate and ritualistic dance displays. Among birds known for tripping the light fantastic are flamingoes, cranes, grouse and grebes. Cranes are one of the oldest families of birds on earth. They’re also some of the most accomplished dancers in the animal kingdom. Pairs perform very ritualistic dances that, if the performers were human, would no doubt require the services of an accomplished choreographer. Cranes mate for life and the ritual of dancing is a way to strengthen the bonds between a mated pair. The ability to dance is, apparently, not instinctive. Young cranes must practice their dance moves, a process that can take years before they master the elaborate dance.

Dave Menke/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service • A pair of Clark’s Grebes displays in a courtship ritual known as “rushing” or “weed dance.” Birds use a variety of strategies to attract and keep mates.

Synchronized swimming

While many birds dance to impress a mate or strengthen pair bonds, grebes perform a dance that takes place completely on the surface of the water. A pair will engage in this intricate performance, perfectly mirroring the moves of the other as they literally race across the surface of the water. These dances by grebes are also known as “rushing” or “weed dance.” It’s called as a weed dance because at the culmination of the ritual, the birds usually hold some type of aquatic plants in their bills while racing swiftly over the surface of the water. Pairs that perform well together stay together, building a nest and raising young.

Good housekeeping seal of approval

The tropical family of bowerbirds are famous for complex nests built by males and then decorated with bright and colorful objects to catch the eye of a potential mate. The nests of these birds are actually referred to as a “bower.” Usually constructed on the ground, the male will line the approachs to the bower with items such as shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded garbage, including plastic scraps or bits of glass. Unusually odd items pressed into these decorative displays have included coins and spent rifle shells. This habit of male bowerbirds must rank as the ultimate in trying to impress a mate with shiny bling.

These are just a few of the inventive ways that birds go about attracting and keeping mates. Perhaps you can pick up some pointers from our feathered friends to ensure you have a great Valentine’s Day this year.

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If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Hungry robins emerge during deep freeze to feast on berries

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Robins – by the hundreds – poured into downtown Erwin last week. Most of them ended up on perches around the parking lot between the Clinchfield Senior Adult Center and the rear of the offices of The Erwin Record.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • While American robins like fruit when its available, they also spend a lot of time feeding on earthworms and insects.

 

The newspaper’s office manager Ken Silvers alerted me to the presence of the “huge flock” of robins. He even joked that he felt like he had stepped into a scene from the movie “The Birds.” Their arrival had been preceded by several nights of single digit temperatures.

In a few weeks, robins will likely be making their annual spring resurgence, but their mid-January appearance in such numbers was somewhat surprising. The fact is that, although we don’t think of robins very much in winter, they are still very much present in the region. The same is true of waxwings and is particularly true about European starlings.

While downtown Erwin would not usually be an ideal location for robins, there was something present to attract them: Berry-producing ornamental holly trees.

In the colder months of the year, robins form large, loosely organized flocks, often taking up residence in wooded lots. After several days of frigid weather, the robins were likely desperate to exploit an available food source. The flock spent a couple of hours gorging on holly berries. Even later in the day a few dozen robins lingered around the shrubs, gleaning the remaining berries from the branches.

The American robin is a large bird in the thrush family, which in North America also includes such birds as Eastern bluebird, wood thrush and Townsend’s solitaire. It’s probably a bird that is well-known to birders and non-birders alike.

 

 

In the British Isles, the European robin is simply known as “robin” or “robin redbreast.” When the first English colonists arrived in New England and other parts of colonial-era North America, they took pleasure in finding that some of the birdlife in the New World resembled familiar birds from their homeland. The red-breasted American robin looked like the bird they knew in the Old World as “robin,” which motivated them to name the New World bird “robin,” as well.

Sharkolot/Pixabay • Early American colonists from Europe, familiar with the European robin of their homeland, saw the red breast feathers on the American robin and named the large thrush robin as well.

Other than the red breast, however, the two robins are not all that similar. The American robin is the larger of the two birds. Farther separating these two birds is the fact that the European robin is not a thrush but rather a member of the family of Old World flycatchers.

In some other ways, the two robins are similar. Both are fond of earthworms, spending a great deal of their time on the ground foraging for worms. They will also follow human gardeners at their work, waiting patiently for the followed person to disturb the soil with a spade or hoe and expose earthworms for the waiting bird. They are also rather tolerant of humans and have learned to make their own homes close to human dwellings.

Some of the British transplants to North America must have felt homesick for familiar things because several unsuccessful attempts were made to introduce the European robin to the United States and Canada. European robins introduced in New York and Oregon failed to gain a foothold, unlike the introduction of such alien birds as the house sparrow and European starling.

On a few occasions, migrating American robins have overflown their destinations and ended up in the United Kingdom. For instance, an American robin became a first for London birdwatchers when one was found in that nation’s capital city in March of 2006. Whether of the European or American persuasion, robins have long been a favorite of birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts.

In a few weeks we will have more American robins pouring into our lawns, our gardens and our parks. The American robin has always been a perennial harbinger of spring. But it’s not always necessary to wait until winter’s waning to enjoy observation of this popular songbird.

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Bryan Stevens has written about birds and birding since 1995. To ask a question, make a comment or share a sighting, email him at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Tiffany/Pixabay • The American robin keeps a lower profile but is still present in the region during the winter months.

Winter’s ducks begin arriving in region

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Photo by USFWS • A pair of green-winged teal swim together through a wetland.

Some interesting waterfowl have spent at least part of the winter at the pond at Erwin Fishery Park and a nearby fenced lagoon at the back of the park.

Some of the visitors since the start of the new year have included green-winged teal, American black duck, lesser scaup and Northern pintail. The scaup is a species of diving duck while the others are what are referred to as “dabbling” ducks. Diver and dabbler refers basically to the manner in which these ducks forage for their food.

The familiar mallard is probably the best known dabbling duck, but other dabblers include American wigeon, gadwall and Northern shoveler. Dabbling ducks generally feed in shallow water.

The green-winged teal is the smallest of North America’s dabbling ducks. There are two other close relatives of the green-winged teal in North America – the blue-winged teal and cinnamon teal. I’ve seen the green-winged and blue-winged at many locations in the region. I saw my only cinnamon teal during a trip to Utah and Idaho in 2003.

The Northern pintail that spent some time at Erwin Fishery Park was a hen with a more subtle appearance than adult male pintails.

This can be a species difficult to find in Northeast Tennessee. The website All About Birds notes that Northern Pintails are common, but their populations declined by about 2.6% per year resulting in a cumulative decline of about 75% between 1966 and 2019, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The Partners in Flight organization estimates the global breeding population at 5.1 million.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • The Northern pintail is a dabbling duck, so classified due to its way of foraging for food in shallow water.

 

Elegant is a useful word for describing pintails. Both sexes have blue-grey bills and grey legs and feet. The drake is more striking, having a thin white stripe running from the back of its chocolate-brown head down its neck to its mostly white undercarriage. The drake also has attractive gray, brown and black patterning on its back and sides. The hen’s plumage is more subtle and subdued, with drab brown feathers similar to those of other female dabbling ducks. She has the same slender shaper as the male. Her tail feathers are long but don’t match the male’s namesake tapered tail feathers.

The Northern pintail is a cosmopolitan duck that also ranges into Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia. Other pintails include white-cheeked pintail, yellow-billed pintail and Eaton’s pintail. The latter species is restricted to the island groups of Kerguelen and Crozet in the southern Indian Ocean. The species was named after the English explorer, naturalist and entomologist Alfred Edwin Eaton. He served as the vicar of Shepton Montague in Somerset in England. Born in 1944, he died in 1929 at age 84.

Our region offers some dependable locations for looking for winter ducks, as well as other wintering waterfowl such as geese, grebes and loons. Accessible locations for looking for ducks during the winter season include Wilbur Lake near Elizabethton and Osceola Island Recreation Area below the tailwaters of Holston Dam in Bristol. Of course, any farm pond not frozen over is a potential location attractive to wandering waterfowl.

 

A duck known as the common merganser has expanded its summer nesting range to include the Nolichucky River and Watauga River. Twenty years ago this species, despite its name, was far from common in the region. It’s too early to tell whether changes wrought by last fall’s flooding from Hurricane Helene will affect this duck’s nesting attempts along these two rivers.

One difficulty in finding ducks in recent weeks has been the deep freeze gripping the region and turning almost all open water into ice. The widespread cold could help convince waterfowl from farther north to head south in the hope of less frigid conditions. My hope is that at least a few of those ducks will stop off at places like the pond at Erwin Fishery Park.

Ducks that aren’t too difficult to locate during winter in the region include bufflehead, ring-necked duck and hooded merganser. Other possible visitors include redhead and canvasback. If the Northern pintail is the most elegant of the dabbling ducks, the canvasback ranks as the most majestic of the diving ducks.

Ducks are interesting to observe. Binoculars and spotting scopes can make the process easier. Most ducks are social birds. Flocks, or rafts, of ducks display interesting interactions. In addition to the familiar “quack” of the mallard, different ducks produce a variety of hoots, whistles, hisses and other vocalizations.

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I’ve written about birds and birding since 1995. To ask a question, make a comment or share a sighting, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • The male mallard is probably the most recognized duck in the United States.

Birds made headlines in 2024 for various reasons

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Photo from Pixabay • The bald eagle became official with President Joe Biden’s signature on Dec. 24, 2024.

As we move into a new year, I thought it might be a good time to look back at some bird-related headlines from 2024.

Status delayed

Who knew? For nearly two and a half centuries, Americans have believed that the bald eagle was the official bird of the United States.

Such status, at least officially, was never actually bestowed on the bald eagle.

On Monday, Dec. 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill amending the U.S. Code to officially designate the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) as the country’s national bird. It only took 242 years to get around to making the eagle’s status official. The bald eagle has been considered the national bird of the United States since 1782, when it was placed with outspread wings on the Great Seal of the nation. The bird had always seemed official, appearing in many government institutions and on official documents, making it the most pictured bird in all of America. But until the recent House vote, nothing had ever been done legislatively to sanction the eagle’s status.

President Joe Biden signed into law the legislation sent to him by Congress that amended the U.S. Code to correct what had long gone unnoticed. At the stroke of a pen, Biden’s signature now officially designates the bald eagle as the official national bird. He took the action on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

A man named Preston Cook discovered the oversight regarding the eagle’s lack of government sanction and spearheaded the push to belatedly provide the bald eagle with official status as the national bird. For the full story on how this came about, visit https://www.audubon.org/magazine/bald-eagle-about-officially-become-our-national-bird-thanks-man.

Common murres and The Blob

A seabird common in coastal Alaska suffered the biggest die-off in recorded history, according to a report issued late this year. An estimated 4 million common murres died in Alaska due to a climate phenomenon dubbed “The Blob.” The number represents about half the population of the species in Alaska. The Blob was a large mass of relatively warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of North America that was first detected in late 2013 and continued to spread throughout 2014 and 2015. Now, ten years later, studies on the extent of the devastation to common murres and other marine life is becoming more apparent.

Bird Flu

Bird flu spreads. Some of its latest victims, other than domestic chickens and cattle, include wild cougars in Oregon. This could very well become a major bird-related story in 2025 as well.

Another curlew lost

North America’s Eskimo curlew has not been seen since 1987 when one was sighted in Nebraska. The species was declared endangered in 1966. Most expert believe the species is gone.

Now, a close relative in Europe has also joined the Eskimo curlew in that bleak oblivion. The slender-billed curlew was declared extinct in 2024, although the last confirmed sighting of the species probably took place as far back as 1995.

It’s the first mainland European species to go extinct in more than 500 years. Hunting and habitat loss were cited in some reports as the main cause for the decline of a species that was also apparently never abundant to begin with.

New species

While birds seem to be declining, it’s still possible to discover new species. Three new species of bird were recognized by science in 2024, These species are Timor nightjar, white-tailed tityra and Ascension night heron. The tityra was first discovered in Brazilian rainforest bordering Peru in 1829, and then promptly vanished. In 2006 and 2022, however, new sightings were documented of the species.

Wisdom and perseverance

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross documented as the oldest known banded bird in the wild, returned to familiar territory on March 18, 2024, being spotted on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. She had also returned without her longtime mate to the Refuge in November of 2021. Since that time, she appears to have been seeking a replacement mate.

She is at least 74 years old. She was first identified in 1956 by wildlife biologist Chandler Robbins, who banded her with the number Z333. In November 2024, Wisdom was spotted with a new mate and incubating another egg.

Biologists estimated that Wisdom has laid some 30 to 40 eggs in her lifetime. Most hatched successfully and and she has been a mother to at least 30 to 36 chicks.

Wisdom defied the odds when she and her chick survived the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that killed an estimated 2,000 adult Laysan and black-footed albatrosses and an estimated 110,000 chicks at the Refuge. Here’s hoping that Wisdom continues to prevail despite what life has seen fit to throw her way.

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Best wishes in 2025. To ask me a question, share a sighting or make a comment, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Cardinal a natural symbol for Christmas

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male Northern cardinal visits a feeder on a snowy afternoon.

Merry Christmas. This week’s newspaper is coming out on Christmas Day and, as is my usual custom on this holiday, I want to share my enthusiasm for the Northern cardinal, one of my favorite birds.

I’ve also come to believe that the cardinal is also an excellent feathered symbol for the Christmas holiday. Anyone who provides sunflower seeds at a bird feeder has most likely received visits from this bird.

Individual cardinals around my home have become very accustomed to my presence. Some of them have even learned my routine and know when to anticipate my daily stocking of the feeders with sunflower seeds.

I have always enjoyed watching cardinals. The beauty of both male and female cardinals is undeniable. They’re usually nervous, twitchy birds, so it has been fun watching some of the resident cardinals grow accepting of my presence.

The Northern cardinal, especially the brilliant red male, stands out against a winter backdrop of snow white, deep green or drab gray. Over the years, the cardinal has also become associated with the Christmas season.

How many Christmas cards have you received this holiday season with a cardinal featured in the artwork? I’d wager that at least a few cards in any assortment of holiday greetings will feature the likeness of a Northern cardinal.

There is a possible reason that male cardinals try to outshine each other when it comes to their bright red plumage. According to the website Tennessee Watchable Wildlife, brighter red male cardinals are able to hold territories that have denser vegetation, feed young at higher rates and have greater reproductive success than males with feathers of a duller hue.

The Northern cardinal belongs to a genus of birds known as Cardinalis in the family Cardinalidae. There are only two other species in this genus, and they range across North America and into northern South America. The two relatives are the pyrrhuloxia, or Cardinalis sinuatus, of the southwestern United States, and the Vermilion cardinal, or phoeniceus, a bird found in Colombia and Venezuela.

The Northern cardinal is a native and abundant bird. Cardinals are a widespread species, ranging westward to the Dakotas and south to the Gulf Coast and Texas. The southeastern United States was once the stronghold of the cardinal population. In the 20th century, however, cardinals have expanded their range into New England and Canada.

The cardinal accepts a wide variety of food at feeders. Sunflower seed is probably their favorite, but they will also sample safflower seed, cracked corn, peanuts, millet, bakery scraps and even suet. While we may get the idea that cardinals feed largely on seed, that is a misconception based on our observation of the birds at our feeders. Cardinals away from our feeders eat insects and fruit, including the berries of mulberry, holly, pokeberry, elderberry, Russian olive, dogwood and sumac.

The cardinal uses its large beak to efficiently hull sunflower seeds or deal with other foods foraged in field and forest away from our feeders. The large, heavy beak hints at the cardinal’s kinship with birds such as tanagers and grosbeaks.

In fact, some of America’s early naturalists referred to the bird as “cardinal grosbeak.” Other common names include the apt “redbird” moniker and “Virginia nightingale.”

Even once the holidays are past, there’s nothing like a glimpse of a Northern cardinal to add some cheer to a bleak winter day. It’s not surprising that such a popular bird has also become associated with many trappings of the Christmas season.

“You see cardinals on greeting cards, stationery, paper plates, paper napkins and tablecloths, doormats, light switch plates, candles, candle holders, coffee mugs, plates, glasses, Christmas tree ornaments and lights, bookmarks, mailboxes, Christmas jewelry,” writes June Osborne in “The Cardinal,” a book about this popular bird.

“And the list goes on,” Osborne writes. “Cardinals have become an integral part of the way that many people celebrate the holiday season.”

I can be included among such people. My Christmas decorations include an assortment of cardinal figurines and ornaments. There are other birds — doves and penguins for example — associated with the holiday season, but for me the holidays magnify the importance of one of my favorite birds. The cardinal, in its festive red plumage, appears made to order for a symbol of the holiday season.

I’m hoping you enjoy your Christmas and that at least a few cardinals and other birds fly your way.

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Bryan Stevens has written about birds and birding since 1995. Email him at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com to share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A female Northern cardinal forages for seeds in the snow.