- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
We are now in the midst of winter with its often foggy and dreary days. Many trees are bare, most insects are dormant, and numerous bird species have flown south, so our gardens can seem gray, bare, and quiet. However, some birds spend winters here, so there are still some bright spots.
Here are a few of my favorite birds that you might see in your garden and neighborhood during midwinter:
Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) – Neighborhoods or parks that have trees and shrubs crammed with berries are magnets for groups of this sleek, gregarious crested brown bird with their characteristic “eyemasks” and red marks on their wing tips. With thin, lisping voices, flocks of Cedar Waxwings will descend on the berries, fluttering about as they feed. They are non-territorial and will groom each other. Occasionally a line of waxwings perched on a branch will pass a berry back and forth, from bill to bill, until one of them swallows it.
During the spring to fall months Cedar Waxwings tend to be in fruiting trees and orchards, but during winter months they are widespread, moving into towns and suburban areas, particularly where berries are abundant. Except when nesting, they always forage in flocks. Berries and small fruit are their primary source of food – important sources include juniper, dogwood, flowering pear, winterberry, hawthorn, and cherries. Sometimes they will eat overripe, fermenting berries and become intoxicated. Some also eat flowers and drink oozing sap. They will consume insects such as beetles, caterpillars, flies and ants, grabbing them from foliage or catching them in mid-air.
While it seems much quieter this time of year, there is still plenty of wildlife activity, if we look for it. If these or any other birds show up in your area, enjoy their beauty, songs, personalities, and the brightness they add to your winter garden.
California Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica) – A distinctive, assertive, acquisitive, and vocal bird, it is the only local bird with blue and gray coloring. Scrub Jays are sometimes mistaken for Blue Jays, but Blue Jays are a different species altogether since they are found east of the Rockies. As its name suggests, Scrub Jays inhabit low scrub bush areas, but also live in pinon-juniper forests, oak woods and suburban gardens. Like ravens and crows, it is a member of the highly intelligent corvids bird group.
Scrub jays can be seen surveying their habitat from a high perch on a tall tree, high shrub or wire. They are often seen foraging in pairs or small family groups among leaf litter for insects or small amphibians such as frogs. They also eat other birds' eggs, pinon pine and almond nuts, as well as fruits and grains, with acorns being a staple of their diet during the cold weather months. They spend the autumn months harvesting fallen acorns, individually storing them in holes they have dug in the ground with their powerful bills. They have complex memories to recover as many as 200 hidden caches while keeping track of the rate of decay of the nuts. They often use hard surface such as a rock or flat concrete to help crack open the acorn's hard coat. The California indigenous people called them “garden birds” because of their habit of storing acorns and other nuts, since unused acorns would sprout into oak trees. They will feed from hopper feeders filled with sunflower seed or peanuts.
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) – Native to the west coast region, this is the only hummingbird that lives year-round in our area. Even if there were other “hummers” wintering over, it would still stand out since male Anna's hummingbirds are the only “hummers” to have a glorious rose-red crown and neck. Like all hummingbirds, they often hover over flowers while feeding, using their slightly curved beaks and long tongues to drink nectar, which is their primary source of food. Since they feed from different flowers they are valuable pollinators. They prefer tubular shaped flowers and are particularly attracted to red and orange colors. They also feed on insects, often catching them in flight or plucked from foliage, and will feed from home garden sugar-water feeders.
Anna's hummingbird are found in a variety of habitats, including riparian woodlands, chapparal, open oak woodlands, urban and suburban parks, and gardens. Due to their characteristic high, thin squeaky sounds, buzzes and chirps, they are often heard before being seen.
Black Phoebe (Saynoris nigricans) – Their habit of bobbing up and down endears phoebes to bird lovers. They are often seen sitting alert on fences, posts, stumps, and even on windowsills peering into our homes while calling with a sharp whistle. Experts at catching just about any insect, they forage by watching from its perch, darting out to catch in mid-air, often just above water. They will also hover above foliage before picking the insect off. During cool weather they may pluck insects from the ground. They feed almost exclusively on a wide variety of insects, including beetles, crickets, bees, flies, caterpillars and moths, occasionally eating small fish.
Black Phoebes often spend summers near open rivers and streams, but during cold weather they tend to scatter about urban and suburban areas, often around houses and outbuildings with southern exposures. They are attracted to water, so they may hang around gardens and parks with fountains, ponds or pools.
Resources:
Peterson Field Guide to Birds by Roger Tory Peterson
Birds of Northern California – Lone Pine Field Guide by David Fix and Andy Bezener
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Audubon: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Master Gardener in Stanislaus County since 2020
