Wood Duck

Wood ducks are unique birds in both habits and appearance. They're one of the few ducks to perch and nest in trees. Like Tree Swallows and Barn Owls, they nest in cavities such as hollow trees and human-made nest boxes. As dabbling ducks, they eat vegetation, seeds, and insects.

Wood Duck mothers sometime choose cavities over water, but often nest over land. When it’s time for baby Wood Ducklings to leave the nest, they still aren’t able to fly — so they jump. Check out this amazing video, which shows how the ducklings free-fall 50 feet to the ground. (Put the sound on mute, though, because that awful music adds nothing to the experience.) They bounce like rubber balls on the ground but seem to be unhurt.

Wood Ducks pair up in the winter, getting ready for the spring breeding season. I saw this pair (with the male in front) at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on December 27.

The Stockings are Hung by the Bird Feeder with Care

Christmas may have come and gone, but the stocking will still be hung underneath the hummingbird feeder! The solution of water and sugar inside will freeze in cold weather. Anna’s hummingbirds depend on feeders to stay fed in the winter, and may need to eat every 20 minutes to stay healthy. A hand warmer taped onto the bottom of the feeder with a sock for insulation does the trick to keep the nectar liquid.

Black-capped Chickadee

Chickadees are generally recognized as the cutest birds in Vancouver, and are probably featuring on many of your holiday cards! The Black-capped Chickadee is the most common of two chickadees seen here in the city (the other is the Chestnut-backed) and seven (including Mountain, Boreal, Carolina, Mexican, and Gray-headed) found on the continent. The Black-capped Chickadee was voted VanCity Bird in 2015, so this blog would never be complete without it!

Most of these seven chickadees call out their names – chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee – but species each have their own voices. The Mountain Chickadee, for instance, sounds like a chain smoker: chicka-zee-zee-zee-zee. This is usually an alarm call, with more dees signifying greater danger. Often other birds will hang out with chickadees and will respond to their alarm calls even if they don’t have an alarm call of their own.

Chickadees are non-migratory birds, which is why we continue to see them throughout the holiday season. Especially when the mercury drops below freezing, they’re common visitors to our bird feeder. I saw this bird on December 25 in our back yard.

Spotted Towhee

Contrary to popular belief, Spotted Towhees are not baby robins – in fact, they’re overgrown members of the sparrow family. Their angel-white chests and devil-red eyes are reliable field marks to tell them apart from baby robins. Also, you wouldn’t expect to see any baby birds running around in the winter. This towhee was at Jericho Park (I was back again!) on December 14. She was standing on one leg and tucking the other into her fluffed-up feathers to conserve heat.

Like other sparrows, in the winter they’ll eat pretty much anything they can find.

Seeds? Good to go.

Grubs? Even better.

Rotten blackberries that have been fermenting on the stem since July? Down the hatch.

American Wigeon

Just as ice cream comes in many more flavours than just vanilla, ducks come in many more flavours than just “Mallard.” The American Wigeon is, however, a flavour similar to Mallard: both belong to the same genus, have iridescent green on their heads, and are dabbling ducks. Dabbling ducks stick their heads underwater and their bums in the air to feed on aquatic plants (while diving ducks, such as mergansers and goldeneyes, will dive completely underwater to eat fish and invertebrates). Also like Mallards, American Wigeons are quite chatty. Larger flocks can be heard from a good distance, but instead of the plebeian Mallard quack quack quack they have an adorable squeaky whistle.

This bird I saw on December 4 at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. (The Reifels migrated from Europe in the early 20^th century and made their fortune bootlegging liquor to the States during prohibition, as well as farming sugar beets on Westham Island. Their descendant sold the family estate to the government on the conditions that it would continue to be used to protect wild birds, and be named after his father, George.) He – the bird, not George – was repeatedly taking flight from the water, only to circle back and land just where he had been. He was probably trying to impress the ladies, though I didn’t notice any female wigeons paying him any attention.  

For the record, I don't have anything against Mallards. Just look at that pretty face.