White-crowned Sparrow

The White-crowned Sparrow is a handsome little fellow; so handsome, in fact, that it was John James Audubon’s favourite bird. According to him, “… none other known to me as a visitor or inhabitant of the United States, exceeds it in beauty.” Audubon was a vain man with very long hair, and wrote, “My locks flew freely from under my hat, and every lady I met looked at them and then at me until she could see no more.” He was, however, persuaded to cut his hair before meeting the British royal family. He became so sad seeing his precious hair be sheared off that he was reminded “of the horrible times in the French Revolution when the same operation was performed upon all the victims murdered at the guillotine.” But, I digress.

White-crowned Sparrows have a sweet song, sung mainly by males. Young males learn how to sing in the first few months of life. However, they don’t just learn from Dad, but also their male neighbours. As with many birds, different areas of White-crowned have different songs, and males raised at the boundary between two dialects grow up to be bilingual.

I saw this bird March 23 at Boundary Bay at 72^nd Street. He was having a feast of seeds with Red-winged Blackbirds and other sparrows including Golden-crowned and Song.

Bushtit

“Bushtit” may not seem like an appropriate name for a bird, but in this case it actually does fit the bill.  “Titr” is an ancient word meaning “small”. Weighing in at a whopping 6 grams and standing a colossal 4 ½ inches high, they fall just short of the heavyweight division. Bushits really do like the bush; they prefer brushy, scrubby habitat and do well in suburban settings. Bushtits belong to the long-tailed tit family, another delightfully short yet descriptive name. (I swear that I’m not making this up!)

Bushtits are highly social creatures; you’ll never see just one Bushtit. Even during nesting season, the newlywed pair will recruit several friends and family members to help with the kids. They’ll all build an amazing nest woven of spider’s silk and plant matter, lined with cozy animal fur and camouflaged on the outside with tree bark. The female will lay up to 15 eggs—no wonder the parents need the help! Both parents, plus all their helpers, crowd into the nest at night to sleep.

A Bushtit nest

There is no other bird quite so tiny and blandly coloured, and along with the flocking behaviour these birds are unmistakable. I saw this one in my back yard in North Delta on March 19, along with about 20 of her friends. The nest is just down the road, and it’s possible that it will soon be occupied by her or one of her flock-mates.

Killdeer

How many deer would a Killdeer kill if a Killdeer could kill deer? Killdeer are named for their high, peep-y call that supposedly sounds like their name. They are, however, not known to hunt large mammals. Like other shorebirds, Killdeer eat mainly small invertebrates they dig out of the ground. They blend in to their environment surprisingly well, considering their bold stripes; they catch your eye only when they move.

Killdeer are a common bird anywhere along the coastline, or in fields, parking lots, and lawns all across the continent. Killdeer parents make nests on the ground in shallow scrapes, pretty much anywhere with rocks or gravel—even on gravel rooftops! Baby killdeer have survived a 7-storey drop to the ground. You may never have heard of the Oscar category for non-human actors, but the Killdeer are regular winners for their performances as “poor injured birds” that lure predators away from their nests.

I saw this one with two of his friends near the white rock in White Rock, on March 12.

Ring-billed Gull

Another common gull, the Ring-billed Gull engages in the typical tomfoolery such as stealing your picnic, hanging out in garbage dumps and parking lots, and stealing food from other birds. When garbage dumps and French fries aren’t readily available, they deploy a range of hunting techniques from snatching insects out of midair to fishing in shallow water. Despite being a “sea” gull, many Ring-billeds may never see the ocean; they’ll winter in the southern US and Mexico, and nest on the prairies of Canada. Large colonies of Ring-billeds nest together on the ground, and a small percentage of them will be two-female couples. These gals find male mates but keep them around only as long as strictly necessary (which is to say, not very long). They then each lay one clutch, which they raise together.

Due to habitat loss and hunting, Ring-billed Gulls became threatened in the early 1900s. Protection under migratory bird acts in 1917 and 1918 helped the species recover and resume their role as an endearing pest.

I saw this gull on February 11 at Blakie Spit in Surrey.