Two months of bird watching joy

Birds are beautiful, amazing creatures, and it’s a joy to share the Earth with them. And for everyone who loves them, the months of April and May are special indeed. It’s breeding season and our avian neighbors are in prime condition to fully participate.

Our local birds have been announcing the beginning of this season for a while already. A northern flicker pounds away on a utility pole’s metal transformer. He isn’t looking for food, obviously; he’s declaring his territory and proclaiming the coming of spring.

Northern flickers are speckled brown; they are larger than a robin and a bit smaller than a crow. They have a bold black patch across their breast and a white rump patch that is hidden when they’re still, but flashes when they spread their wings and fly.

Our residents are the red-shafted variety, so named because they have reddish color on the shafts of their wing and tail feathers, and a red whisker line. On occasion, especially in winter, one might encounter the eastern yellow-shafted variety, where lemon-yellow replaces the red and the whisker slash is black.

A northern flicker red-shafted male.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

They often are seen on the ground, feeding on ants. Their vocalizations are loud and conspicuous, a single note call “kyeer” and another that sounds like “wicka, wicka.” I’ve often wondered if the latter vocalization led to the adoption of this bird’s common name. 

Jill Severn, the JOLT garden columnist, was walking the Chehalis Trail recently and came upon a red-breasted sapsucker pounding on a road sign. She sent this photo, apologizing that it “wasn’t very good.” But it illustrates perfectly what I want to point out — woodpeckers will use anything handy to make a big noise and declaring their territory; something metal seems to be especially suitable for this purpose.

A red-breasted sapsucker hammering on a sign.

Jill Severn | The JOLT

For birders, red-breasted sapsuckers are one of the west coast specialties. If you have a visiting birder from ‘back east,’ it’s one of the birds that they will want to see. They are smaller than that flicker, about robin sized. Males and females look alike and with their red head and breast on an otherwise black and white body. They are unmistakable. When they fly, they flash white wing patches.

As with all sapsuckers, they drill horizontal holes in deciduous trees, causing them to leak sap. The sapsuckers “lap the sap” with a specialized brushy tip on their tongue. They also eat a variety of insects, both catching them on the wing and eating those attracted to their sap wells. Liam’s photograph below shows both the bird and the results of its drilling. (These holes remain and years later one can still find them, for example on ancient fruit trees in long-abandoned orchards).

A close-up of a red-breasted sapsucker.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

As days get longer, our local resident birds begin their territorial quest. Soon the dawn chorus of birdsong will begin in earnest. At this early April date dawn begins about 6:30 a.m., not an unreasonable hour to listen in. From my window, and possibly from nearly every window in our county, it is the American Robin who is singing most often right now.

Robins are so common that we seldom give them much attention, but this month in Thurston County we are seeing two separate robin populations. Our residents are singing away, from dawn to dusk, establishing their breeding territories. Other robins, however, are gathering in flocks, getting ready for their own mini-migration to higher elevations. Soon their songs will echo from mountain woodlands.

An American robin eyeing winter food.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

The increasing amount of sunshine and warmth is not lost on migrating bird species — it tells them that that it’s time to get going! Whether it’s warblers or flycatchers, almost every day some species will arrive from its distant wintering territory. Several birders already have noted the arrival of the first common yellowthroat.

A common yellowthroat male.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

One way I like to monitor their arrival is listening for that new and different call or song, but sometimes I have difficulty identifying songs not heard since last year. That’s where the handy Merlin app comes to my rescue, helping me “remember” those songs that I thought I had mastered last year.

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 45+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com

Bird photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, an 18-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.