Oak Titmouse: "Just the Two of Us"

I am absolutely charmed by this little gray bird with a short crest.  Its peculiar name, Titmouse, is thought to be derived from the 14th century Old English word for bird, mase, and tit, meaning small.  Small it is at 5 inches.  Compared to most of the birds at my feeder, it is tiny and delicate, flitting in and out, and never staying put for very long.  It clearly doesn't like a crowd, but instead stops at the feeder whenever it has a chance to eat alone.  If other birds come along, it flutters away to the trees and neighboring yards, reappearing only when it has a chance to dine in solitude.  

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only do these little birds mate for life, but unlike many other birds, male and female look exactly alike. This is one male that has no need for fancy colored plumage.  He also allows his mate to select her nest site and to decorate it however she pleases.  He accompanies her and helps where needed, but pretty much lets her call the shots.  Once she is planted inside her nest cavity, roosting or incubating, he feeds her.  When the babes are born, they both feed and tend to the 6-8 hatchlings until they fledge in 16-21days.  What more can a woman want?  And what a great partnership. 

    I have yet to see two titmice in the feeder at the same time.

                  Always only one solitary little bird.

I have seen this little bird at my seed feeder often, but always alone.  Perhaps his mate has been busy at her nest, or perhaps I've seen them both at different times and thought they were one and the same; after all, they have identical coloring.  But today, for the first time, while this one was at the feeder, I saw another in the trees behind, flitting from branch to branch.  So he wasn't alone after all.  I had also heard that their little legs were so strong they can hang upside down--and today I witnessed that too, as the little bird clung to the bottom of the feeder, literally upside down, searching for hidden sunflower seeds.  Apparently there weren't any left, for within seconds, both birds took off and disappeared.  I tossed more seed in, but they didn't return.  Titmice are constantly moving, foraging for seeds, berries, and acorns or searching for insects--some that they catch in mid-air.  

I think I know why I am so charmed by these birds.  They don't travel much, staying close to home: Found in warm dry woodlands throughout much of California, titmice don't migrate but stick around defending their home territory year round.  They are not terribly social: Not the type to form flocks, they are found mostly in pairs and sometimes in small groups.  In short, I like their style.  These little gray birds, who mate for life, prefer keeping it "just the two of us."  That warms my heart. 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Oak_Titmouse/lifehistory
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/oak-titmouse
https://watchingbackyardbirds.com/wbbsite/article/adorable-titmice.php

California Ground Squirrels: Each Has Its Own Entrance

We now have quite a family of ground squirrels that inhabits our little hillside in our backyard.  This spring there was a mom who gave birth to three little ones--at least that's all we saw.  I have since learned that they give birth to a litter of five to eleven once a year, so perhaps the others didn't make it.  Then early this summer, another female gave birth to a litter of five.  They have taken over our yard...and our hearts.

       

 

Drinking out of the waterfall,
easier for the little ones to get to than the bird bath.

The little ones are skittish, as expected, so getting pictures of them is a challenge.  Tiny as chipmunks and faster than lizards, they scamper and disappear into the nearest escape pod--and there are plenty of those!  Our hillside has numerous cinderblock steps and walls that they have incorporated into their complex burrow system.  I see them disappear and reappear at several different spots.  I wish I had X-ray vision so I could see what this elaborate tunnel system looks like.  Generally, it is 4-5 inches in diameter and can be 5-35 feet in length.  There are many entrances and exits, and once a colony is established, each individual squirrel has his or her own entrance.  I absolutely love this idea!

The crazy cinderblock steps put in by previous owners.

This seems to be the main entrance.
My camera is never fast enough to capture
the ever-present protruding head.

Ground squirrels are diurnal, meaning active during much of the day, so they are vulnerable to predators, such as hawks, weasels, bobcats, domestic cats, coyotes, and snakes.  Every now and then, I will hear a high-pitched, piercing chirp that sounds over and over again for a very long time.  This is a warning from one squirrel to all critters within a pretty large radius, as this can be heard a good block away.  Birds disperse in a startling swoosh, and squirrels scurry to the nearest opening and dive in for cover.

Since rattlesnakes are a prime predator for squirrel pups, moms have a few incredible tricks up their furry sleeves.  It's been discovered that they will roll on or chew snake skins, then lick their pups and themselves as well, disguising their scent, for when a snake finds a mother squirrel, it knows there are pups nearby.  If confronted with a snake, the mother will swish her tail aggressively, flooding it with extra blood, which creates heat.  The snake's sensors on each side of its head will detect the heat and think that this creature is even larger than it appears.  If this doesn't work, she may dash away, enter another opening into her tunnel system, and quickly kick dirt, thus filling and blocking the snake's way toward her pups. (So far, we have not seen any snakes, fingers crossed, and we haven't heard any coyotes in months.)

This lovely lady is Mama. <3

This is the position squirrels take
when they sound the alarm, but it's also,
as in this case, just a cool way to look around.

Squirrels will eat just about anything and with great enthusiasm.  Their diet is primarily seed based, but they also eat acorns, fruits, insects, roots, bulbs, and even quail eggs, which explains why my quail family never stuck around and nested in my yard.  They also eat grass, especially the tender tops of fresh growing grass, and they eat the grass seed that we keep putting down to replace the fresh growing grass that they just ate.  A constant challenge, but we don't mind.

They are also very generous little critters.  Their elaborate tunnels often provide a perfect habitat for other creatures, such as rodents, rabbits, even snakes.  And you've probably seen a squirrel gorging itself at the bird feeder, its jowls bulging with food that it then takes to its burrow, where an enormous cache is accumulated.  So yes, they also feed the neighborhood.  

Right now we have Mama, her five babies that are growing fast, two juveniles (of the three born in spring), and perhaps one other adult who may be their mama.  As soon as I put food out in the morning, they all scamper down.  They are willing to share until the American Crows come and make such a racket that everyone gets out of the way.  

Okay, but this half is mine!

Oh wait, who is that little one
between the raccoon feeder and the squirrel feeder?
Even the noisy crows don't keep him away!

I like to think our squirrel family has it made.  Endless food supply, pretty awesome habitat, and a fairly safe environment--and in return, we have non-stop entertainment.

Further reading

https://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Spermophilus_beecheyi.html#predation
https://ovlc.org/ojai-wildlife/california-ground-squirrel/
http://www.laanimalservices.com/about-animals/wildlife/squirrels/

Brown-headed Cowbird: Clever or Conniving?

Brown-headed Cowbird at my feeder.

Brown-headed cowbirds are not as stunning as red-winged blackbirds nor are they as gregarious as crows and ravens, but they definitely have their own unique and fascinating story.  First of all, their name.  Cowbird?  No, they do not look or sound like a cow, neither do they steal droplets of milk from the udders of cows for their young, as one myth declared.  It's believed they were given this name long ago when they used to follow herds of bison.  Insects were their primary diet, followed by seeds and grains, and where the buffalo roam--or herds of cows for that matter--there are insects.  And so their name, which is, after all, much easier to remember than Molothrus ater. 

While we see many varieties of blackbirds in our yard, this particular male bird stands out for two reasons.  One, its distinct brown head and black body, and two, because it's usually the only one of its kind in the crowd.  While they sometimes travel in small groups, I've only seen one at a time at my feeder.

Females, as always, are plain gray-brown and can easily be mistaken for other types of female blackbirds.  But male cowbirds have this distinct brown-head.  You can't miss them.  However, while the male caught my attention, which led me to look them up, it was what I learned about the plain gray-brown female that held me spell-bound and made me a fan.

Consider: If this plain little bird was supposed to keep up with the traveling bison herd, how was she supposed to build a nest, lay and incubate her eggs, and then feed and raise them?  Try as we women do, we can't do it all.  So this clever little bird spots a well-made nest where at least one other egg has been laid by some other bird, and when that bird darts off for a bite to eat, Mama Cowbird lays one of her eggs in that bird's nest and goes on her way.  The unsuspecting foster mother bird returns to her nest, incubates "her eggs," and feeds them all when they hatch, even the odd looking hatchling.

Meanwhile, Mama Cowbird continues her stork-like delivery from nest to nest, laying anywhere from 10-40 eggs per year.  While this is generally very successful, there is one potential problem involving the nests of House Finches.  Since finches feed their young primarily seeds and grains, baby cowbirds may not survive without an early diet of insects.  Perhaps this is why the cowbird lays her eggs in so many different nests, increasing their chances of survival.

Cowbird egg in a Robin's nest

In the bird world, they are considered "brood parasites" and in some cases "nuisance birds" because the eggs and young of other birds are sometimes destroyed in the process, but I find this little bird fascinating, for she's found a way to survive in a bustling, fast-paced world.

Post script:  Just came across a fascinating study on how cowbirds learn to be cowbirds.  If they are raised by a different bird type that builds nests and tends to young, wouldn't a cowbird learn to do the same?  Nope.  Not only is it in its nature to be a cowbird, but a study showed that they actually sneak out at sundown and find where cowbirds roost and hang with them at night, then sneak back to their nests!  In addition, there are studies that have found that the mother doesn't entirely abandon her young, but somehow keeps tabs on them, checking in and even evaluating which nests were better than others.

 https://www.audubon.org/news/how-does-cowbird-learn-be-cowbird

Further Reading
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/brown-headed-cowbird
https://nestwatch.org/learn/general-bird-nest-info/brown-headed-cowbirds/