Pair Bonding and Nest Building Is for the Birds

Author: Meera, January 28, 2014

Nothing is sweeter to this farmette owner’s ears that the trills, tweets, and peet-a-weets of the backyard songbirds. Of late, we’ve been highly entertained, especially since the male songbirds seem to be in courtship mode, singing and doing air acrobatics in an effort to woo a female into bonding with them. Nest building comes after that.

 

Mourning doves mate for life; these two are joined at the feeder by a third who has lost her partner

Mourning Doves mate for life; these two are joined at the feeder by a third who has lost her partner

 

 

The Mourning Doves sound their plaintive call during flight or at rest on a wire waiting for the right time to alight on the ground, which is where they prefer to feed. Lately, however, I’ve seen a pair feeding together in the tight space around a feeder. Of late, a third has joined them.

 

 

Jays are notorious for finding acorns and other nuts and burying them all over the yard

Jays are notorious for finding acorns and other nuts and burying them all over the yard

 

The Western Scrub Jay isn’t really a songbird. He competes with the mockingbird, who is especially vocal, for the highest perch in the tree where it sits lookout and squawks until it spots an acorn and swoops down to take it in its beak for burial, most likely somewhere in my yard. At first, we saw only one or two jays and now there are four or more hanging out near the many feeders and suet cakes that we’ve hung for the birds.

 

 

 

Gray-headed Chickadee

TheĀ  Gray-headed Chickadee’s habitat is in northwestern Canada and Alaska, so what’s it doing on a Bay Area farmette?

 

The above bird passed through and posed long enough for a picture in our apricot tree. We think it is a Gray-headed Chickadee, but when we look the bird up in the Audubon book, it seemed unlikely since that bird doesn’t travel through Northern California. Still, the image of our bird seems to match exactly that of a Gray-headed Chickadee.

 

 

A male Nuttall's Woodpecker loves dining on the suet cake hanging near our pepper tree

A male Nuttall’s Woodpecker loves dining on the suet cake hanging near our pepper tree

 

 

The flashiest bird of all in our backyard hangs upside down at the suet box, pecking away at the embedded seeds and pieces of fruit in the suet cake. He’s the Nuttall’s woodpecker and he’s found a mate. She’s hanging around, scouting out nesting sites. We’re trying to deter them from using a hole in our old farmette roof strut, but I think we’re losing the battle. Every morning, we hear the rat-ta-tat-tatting of bird beak against wood near the front porch. I’ve covered each hole they’ve made, but they keep drilling new ones.

 

 

The pine warbler perches contentedly in the apricot tree after dining on

The Pine Warbler perches contentedly in the apricot tree after dining on insects, bugs, larvae, spiders, and caterpillars as well as the fruit and seeds embedded in the suet cake

 

Another bird that proved difficult for us to identify is the above pictured Pine Warbler. We have a massive pine tree in front of the farmette and with the suet cakes hanging at the back, this guy must have moseyed from the tall pine tree to drop in and taste a bit. These birds sing a rapid 10 to 30 notes at a time, usually on one pitch. Like most songbirds, they have song and also have defensive sounds, like a rattle call or a short, sharp note they sound to warn of predators or danger.

 

 

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