Birding by Ear in the Southwest Part 5

Summary: Learning to bird by ear is an important part of becoming an expert birder. Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they discuss four more southwest birds and play their songs and calls.

 

For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.

 

Show Notes:

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Song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, House Finch recorded by Ryan O’Donnell,  House Sparrow recorded by Pat Goltz, Phainopepla recorded by Paul Suchanek, Pyrruhuloxia recorded by James McNamara, and Spotted Towhee recorded by Paul Marvin.

 Transcript

Birding by Ear in the Southwest Part 5

Kiersten: Intro – Welcome everyone. This week we are continuing our birding by ear series. We’ll discuss another five species, how to identify them by sight and more importantly how to identify them by sound. This is an interactive episode so take a moment to grab your bird ID guide so you can pair a picture of the bird while we play their song. Pairing the image with the sound will help imprint the information into your memory. Cheryl and I both believe this is an underappreciated but very important part of birding, so listen up!

 

Cheryl: House Finch

            We’re going to start off with a common bird that many of you have seen and probably have heard but may not have realized it. The House finch is a medium-sized, widespread finch that is a year-round resident of the southwest. House finches have brown-streaked backs, wings and brown-streaked and white underparts. The male will have a reddish-pink head, throat, and rump. During breeding season, the males will be very bright red. Females lack the red coloration but do have the brown steaking over their entire chest and back with a brown head. The beak is small and gray and made for cracking open seeds and picking berries. The tail is longish and has a very slight notch.

            The coloration of the male house finch is influenced by diet. The more nutritious the diet the redder the color of feathers. The color can vary from red to yellow based on the food available during molting. The red color is important for catching a female because a female wants a strong male to contribute his DNA to her young and to help her raise the chicks. If you are a bright red male, it means you are capable of finding and fighting for good quality food and are a healthy adult; therefore, you are more attractive to the ladies.

            House finches are found all over the United States, southern Canada, and all of Mexico. They can be found in almost every type of habitat, but in the West, they prefer chaparral, desert, orchards, and suburban areas. Originally, they were a western bird, but in 1940 a small population was transported to Long Island, New York where they were released and flourished.

            House finches are common bird feeder visitors so most likely you have seen them. Next time you see this pretty bird listen for this song ____ and you’ll be able to recognize them by ear.

 

Kiersten: House Sparrow

            The next medium-sized bird is also common all across the United States and is often seen in cities. You’ve probably seen the House Sparrow at your local hardware store or grocery store hanging in the parking lot searching for food scraps and nesting in the signs above the doors.

             This urban bird is actually quite handsome. Both sexes have light gray underparts and chest. The males have a black throat and upper breast with black around the eye. They have a charcoal gray cap on the head with a chestnut brown nape on the back of the head. They have lighter gray cheeks and brown and black wings. The handsome black and brown head coloration will fade in winter.

Females are a bit darker gray on the chest and underparts, some may even look brown. They have brown and black wings with a brown head. They have a thick cream-colored eye stripe that helps you differentiate between a female house sparrow and a female house finch. They have a thicker heavier beak than the house finch. The male’s beak with be black during breeding season and yellow in winter. Females are yellow all year.

This sparrow is found all over the world. They are native to Europe but were introduced to the rest of the world except Antarctica. They are found in cities, towns, and agricultural areas. They are omnivores eating grains, fruits, and insects, but they especially like grains and will eat both wild and domestic seeds.

Their song and chatter are background noise to our lives that we all probably take for granted. When you hear this ____ take a moment to look around for this sparrow.

Many people, especially in the US, see this bird as a pest because they were introduced to our continent and take resources from our native species. We need to remember though we made that decision for these birds and they have adapted to the environment we brought them into. Next time you see this little bird think about how they are seen in Japan and maybe you’ll see them in a slightly different light. Sparrows, including the house sparrow, are traditionally a symbol of loyalty because of their social nature and their ability to get along in large groups. (Maybe we can learn a little something from their behavior!)

These birds actually return to their birthplace after every migration. Since they visit the same place every year, they want to make sure they blend in well. Because of this characteristic, called philopatric behavior, they have developed fourteen distinct population colors in the West. So, there are 14 individual House sparrow subspecies in the western world.

 

 

Cheryl: Phainopepla

            The phainopepla is a striking bird found only in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a medium-sized songbird with a slim body, head crest, long tail and bright red eyes. The male is all black while the female is a slate gray.  When the male is in flight large white wing patches can be seen on the tops of the wings. Locally, people often refer to the phainopepla as the black cardinal, but it’s not a cardinal and it’s not even in the same family as the cardinal.

            These amazing birds are fond of washes and riparian areas with arid scrubs. They eat insects that they catch on the wing and mistletoe berries. Most animals cannot eat these berries because they are poisonous but phainopepla can eat 1,100 berries a day when they are in season.

            Speaking of mistletoe, this is a great way to look for phainopepla because they nest in mistletoe bunches during breeding season. They take advantage of the berries being readily available and they also eat the spiders that live in the mistletoe, as well. Unlike most songbirds, the phainopepla breeds twice a year. And even more unusual they do so in two different nesting sites.

            Their song is quiet, and you really need to listen closely to detect these birds by ear. (Insert song) If you hear this take a moment to look around and find this supercool bird. The phainopepla does have its own song and calls, but when they are pursued by predators or handled by humans, they may mimic the calls of other birds. Imitations of 13 different species have been recorded. We don’t yet know why they do this, but it is interesting.

 

 

Kiersten: Pyrrhuloxia

            First things first with this next bird, how do we say the name? Pyrrhuloxia is actually on the National Audubon Society’s list of 17 tricky names of North American bird. It is pronounced peer-uh-LOX-ee-a. I’ve heard it pronounced peer-oo-LEE-a, but apparently you do pronounce the X.

            The pyrrhuloxia is a medium-sized songbird that is often mistaken for a cardinal that is having a bad molting year, but they are separate birds. Unlike the phainopepla, they are related but they are separate species. The pyrrhuloxia is predominantly gray with red splashes on the crest, around the eyes and beak, down the chest, on the edge of the wings, and outer edges of the tail. Females are gray but with less red. What really sets them apart from cardinals is their beak. The beak is bright yellow and is deeper at the base than a cardinal’s with a downward curve. 

            The pyrrhuloxia is found only in the southwest including southern Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, and Mexico. It can sometimes stray north of these areas but they prefer habitat with thorny thickets and desert brush near streambeds. Their diet consists of flower spikes, fruit, berries, seeds, and insects.

            Their calls and songs are usually quite distinctive and can carry a nice distance. Listen for this ____ when you’re in their favored habitat and hopefully you’ll catch a glimpse of this amazing songbird.

            Sometimes this bird is called the desert cardinal but we’re sticking with the pyrrhuloxia because we don’t want the confusion that this local name can cause, and pyrrhuloxia makes you sound super smart to other birders!

              

Cheryl: Spotted Towhee

            Our last bird of this episode is the Spotted Towhee.

            The spotted towhee is a large sparrow that is predominantly black, white, and reddish brown. Males and females are very similar with the female being slightly duller black. The spotted towhee’s head, back, throat, wings, and tail are black with white spots on the wings and back. The sides are reddish brown and the underbelly is white. The tail is long. Both the male’s and female’s eyes are red.

            The spotted towhee is found throughout the western portion of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They do migrate spending winter in Texas and spring and summer in the north. A large population from New Mexico to California and Oregon are year-round residents. They like forest edges, thickets, gardens, and shrubby park areas.

            The calls of the spotted towhee can be variable and recognizing their calls and songs can take some practice, but if you hear this ­­____ take a moment to look around for this beautiful bird. You’ll want to check out the ground under the bushes because they are often seen scratching up insects and seeds on the ground. They have a double scratch pattern that helps them unearth insects and have been known to munch on a lizard or two.

            If you come too close to a nest during nesting season you may see the female running away. She does this to attract predators away from the nest to protect her young. She makes herself vulnerable to being caught by running until she feels the predator is far enough away from the nest and will then take flight to save herself.

             

            Kiersten: Closing – That’s all for this episode of Birding by Ear in the Southwest. Pairing sound and images together is the next step to becoming an expert birder, not to mention it helps keep your brain healthy. So, use your eyes and your ears next time you’re out and about.

            Song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, House Finch recorded by Ryan O’Donnell,  House Sparrow recorded by Pat Goltz, Phainopepla recorded by Paul Suchanek, Pyrruhuloxia recorded by James McNamara, and Spotted Towhee recorded by Paul Marvin.