Bird In Hand: Love is in the air (Part 1)
Here’s an oldie but a goldie, do you recognize the lyrics? A flash back to 1978:
“Love Is In The Air, Everywhere I look around Love Is In The Air, Every sight and every sound”
Yup, a memorable song by that one-hit wonder John Paul Young. And surprisingly, he wasn’t singing about birds! I mean, this is the perfect birding song for Spring. Because, everywhere you turn…love is in the air! Bird love, that is.
Romance is all around us and my goal is to help you take in the full measure of Cupid’s avian activities. Cupid has special arrows for birds, I’m sure of it.
First off, have you noticed the robins? They’re starting to show up. In fact, I heard my first robin singing on March 5. In the spring, the migrating male robins show up first – about two or more weeks before the females arrive. During that time the males spend their energy chasing each other around, singing, and otherwise going through the process of establishing a breeding territory. Remember, as I’ve written before, song birds need a defined amount of territory for the resources to raise a new family and the males will defend this territory aggressively. Hence the singing, which is meant to tell other males to stay away. By the way, the male robins are the ones with the dark head and shoulders and the bright orange breast. The females are all brown colored and with a demurer orange shading.
The male Rufous hummingbird will probably be the first hummer you see this spring. Keep an eye out for them and get those hummingbird feeders up! Like the robins, the males show up first too. But have you wondered how these hummingbirds survive in the spring when there are no flower blossoms to draw nectar from? After all, nectar (or its equivalent) makes up 70% of the hummingbird’s diet (the rest is insects). Well, the birds time their arrival with the sap running in the trees. The birds are happy to feed at sapsucker wells and tree sap is a fine substitute for flower nectar – the birds thrive on it. People do too, think of maple syrup.
And speaking of sapsuckers…keep your ears tuned for any ‘drumming’ duels. Our local species of sapsucker is the Red-naped sapsucker, named for the very narrow small (and sometimes difficult to see) patch of red feathers on the back of the head – actually just above the nape – of the male bird. Sapsuckers feed by punching a series of shallow parallel holes in the bark of deciduous trees, such as birch and apple trees. These holes just reach the green cambium layer just under the bark—this is where the sap flows. These holes, called ‘wells,’ subsequently ooze sugar-rich sap, which the sapsucker laps up. And so too do many other birds and insects. The sapsucker not only enjoys a sweet meal, but eats the bugs too! Many other species of birds also rely on these wells for food, such as hummingbirds and orioles.
Male Red-naped sapsuckers will try to establish breeding territories by ‘drumming’ loudly, using trees or fence posts, even metal roofs, to stake their territorial claims against other males. Last spring, I watched a pair of males both chase each other and fill the air with competing drumming. It was a very impressive display of activity, but it got annoying when one of the birds decided to use the tin roof on our shed as a noise machine. Shoo, bird, shoo! Northern flickers are famous for this also, and they can be really loud! Keep your ears peeled.
The male Song sparrows have been singing for a week now. If you have more than one male Song sparrow visiting your feeder, this might suggest that they hold adjoining territories. Listen carefully and you will notice slight variations in their songs. In fact, with practice you’ll be able to differentiate one bird from the other. Yes, birds are individuals too!
And recently I heard that unmistakable ‘cheese-burger’ song of the Black-capped chickadee. Many bird guides will refer to the song of these male chickadees as fee-bee, fee-bee – but our local birds seem to have added a third syllable, hence cheese-burg-er, cheese-burg-er. This was first pointed out to me by some of my students at Clark Fork High School – Hey, Mr. T, what’s the cheeseburger bird? Since then I haven’t been able to get that out of my head!
The Red-wing blackbirds are already singing. Visit some marshy areas to enjoy their distinctive call. I heard my first male this year singing while I was ice-fishing on Kelso Lake. Yes, while I was ice-fishing in early February! That particular bird was either very optimistic or simply nuts!
The Bald eagles will be busy in the ways of familyhood soon too. Even though eagles mate for life, they do begin each breeding season with a courtship dance. If you see two eagles high in the sky with entwined talons, slowly circling down toward their earth below, just know that they’re not fighting. They’re in love! They release their grips well before hitting the ground, so just know that they have things well under control.
The tom turkeys are gobbling and strutting. These birds provide one of the most spectacular displays of courtship anywhere in birddom (hey, I just coined a new word ©). The puffed-up males with their tails fanned are stunning creatures and I always enjoy these displays. If you happen upon a small flock of courting males getting all handsome-like for the ladies, don’t pass up the opportunity to watch. I’m telling you, now’s your chance to make birding memories!
Love is in the air and soon our area will be flooded with summer residents, and I don’t mean people. We’ll continue the song next month, part two.
“Love Is In The Air, Everywhere I look around Birds are everywhere, in Every sight and every sound”
Until then, happy birding!
Questions? Comments? Karaoke opportunities? Mike can be contacted at mturnlund@gmail.com