I heard this guy long before I saw him. He’s got a repetitive call that sounds a lot like he is saying “phoebe.”
It’s quite pretty, with a dark gray back and head, then a dusting of olive green on its chest and belly. He seems quite talkative, making his distinctive sound often enough to rival a blue jay.
According to the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s All About Birds page, phoebes eat mostly insects, including wasps, beetles, flies, midges, cicadas (yay!), butterflies, dragonflies (boo!), spiders and ticks.
Phoebes are also loners, rarely appearing in groups or even with their mate. If you’d like to read more about the Eastern Phoebe, check out: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/lifehistory
So, this guy landed in my yard today (it seems like I see a new bird a few times a week now!). At first I thought it was just a common grackle, which are extremely common in these parts. But I noticed right away that it was much smaller, and as you can see, it has intensely red eyes. I soon discovered that it was a bronzed cowbird.
It was really quite striking with its jet-black feathers and beautiful, if not a little creepy, eyes. But what was interesting was the way it would bunch up its neck feathers.
He kind of reminded me of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones when he wore the Night’s Watch cloak.
Sigh. I miss that show. But I digress.
Here is what Cornell Lab’s All About Birds has to say about this bird:
A compact, bull-necked bird of open country, the Bronzed Cowbird forages for seeds and grains on the ground, usually in flocks. In good light, the male shimmers with deep glossy blue on the wing and a black body with a velvety bronze sheen. Males and females have intense red eyes. Like their relatives, the smaller Brown-headed Cowbirds, these unusual birds are “brood parasites”—they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, leaving the hosts to provide all the care for their young.”
Both Brown-headed and Bronzed Cowbirds have expanded their ranges recently, and the two species now overlap extensively. Competition for host nests has been one result. Bronzed Cowbirds tend to lay eggs in the nests of larger species than the Brown-headed does—but people have reported many host nests containing the eggs of both cowbird species.
Many species of songbird that are regular hosts to Bronzed Cowbird eggs attack the cowbirds when they are near their nest, which suggests that they perceive the cowbird as a threat to the nest. Couch’s Kingbirds, Hooded Orioles, and Northern Mockingbirds are especially aggressive toward Bronzed Cowbirds.
At least 101 species of songbirds have been known to host Bronzed Cowbird eggs in their nests. These range in size from the small Golden-cheeked Warbler to the sizeable Green Jay.
Bronzed Cowbirds often parasitize the nests of orioles. Birders have noticed that the sound of an oriole singing in the springtime often brings in both male and female Bronzed Cowbirds.
The record for the number of Bronzed Cowbird eggs found in a single nest is 17.”
Yesterday while I was working at my desk, which incidentally looks out onto my front garden and our neighbor’s yard across the street, I saw a roadrunner eating a giant grasshopper of some kind. As per usual, I snatched up my camera, but in my excitement, I didn’t put my glasses on, and my shots came out blurry. And then, of course, the bird had disappeared.
Disappointed but a bit hopeful he might still be around, I decided to go outside and have a look. Sure enough, he was hanging out in my other neighbor’s yard.
I don’t know much about roadrunners, but their name implies that they probably hang out mostly on the ground. So, I was surprised when this guy flew up into our neighbor’s oak tree.
But the squawks and shrieks from the jays and mockingbirds made me worry that perhaps this guy was after some fresh eggs. If you look to the right of the roadrunner’s head in the picture below, you can see a mockingbird. She doesn’t look happy.
I never did spot a nest, so I guess the other birds were feeling territorial. And, I mean, the roadrunner does look intimidating. Just look at that beak!
After a bit, the jay and the mockingbird flew off to do other things. Maybe that was because the roadrunner didn’t seem to be all that interested in doing anything but sitting in the oak’s dappled shade. Or maybe it was because given how loudly the cicadas were screaming in the afternoon heat, this guy had plenty of snacks available to him.
I left him alone after a while and hopped on the computer for some ID details. If you’ve never used The Cornell Lab’s Merlin bird identifier, definitely give it a go the next time you want to ID a bird. It’s super cool! Anyway, according to Merlin, a greater roadrunner sighting in Kyle, Texas, is “uncommon.”
Here are some basic facts about the bird from the Cornell site:
A bird born to run, the Greater Roadrunner can outrace a human, kill a rattlesnake, and thrive in the harsh landscapes of the Desert Southwest. Roadrunners reach two feet from sturdy bill to white tail tip, with a bushy blue-black crest and mottled plumage that blends well with dusty shrubs. As they run, they hold their lean frames nearly parallel to the ground and rudder with their long tails. They have recently extended their range eastward into Missouri and Louisiana.”
I especially appreciate this bit of info:
“Greater Roadrunners eat poisonous prey, including venomous lizards and scorpions, with no ill effect, although they’re careful to swallow horned lizards head-first with the horns pointed away from vital organs. Roadrunners can also kill and eat rattlesnakes, often in tandem with another roadrunner: as one distracts the snake by jumping and flapping, the other sneaks up and pins its head, then bashes the snake against a rock. If it’s is too long to swallow all at once, a roadrunner will walk around with a length of snake still protruding from its bill, swallowing it a little at a time as the snake digests.”
So, it was a pretty cool sighting. And if you know anything about me by now, you know I love it when a bird I’ve never seen in or near my habitat shows up. It just feels special.
Did I mention that I’ve had the song from the Roadrunner cartoon in my head ever since?
Oh happy day! I’ve spotted a new bird here at the Paddington Drive wildlife habitat! Seriously, nothing is quite as exciting as seeing a new bird species.
This ladder-backed woodpecker showed up on my sage bush. He didn’t seem interested in the bird feeder right in front of him, but was instead content with picking small worms off the shrub. Apparently, it’s worm/caterpillar season because I’ve had a terrible time with them eating my watermelon plants, and our backyard mountain laurel is infested with tent worms. I’m reluctant to use BT anywhere but my vegetable garden since I have butterfly plants in the front, so this guy was doing me a favor. Thanks, little bird!
Here’s a brief species account from The Cornell Labs All About Birds page:
When traveling through the scattered cactus and mesquite of the arid southwestern U.S., it’s difficult to believe that these almost treeless habitats are home to woodpeckers. But the Ladder-backed (once known as the “Cactus Woodpecker”) is an attractive dweller of deserts, desert scrub, and thorn forests. It can also be found in pinyon pine and pinyon-juniper forest. Like many small dwellers of arid habitats, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers can be inconspicuous and quiet, requiring a bit of time and patience to find. Their small size and agility make them deft foragers among the thorns and spines of plants like cholla, mesquite, and prickly pear.
Ladder-backed Woodpeckers may come for mealworms offered at feeding stations; they have also been observed eating peanut butter and black oil sunflower seeds. In the northern parts of the range, suet feeders sometimes attract them. To attract a nesting pair, try growing native vegetation and leave dead trees standing when possible; this species does not typically use nest boxes.”
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