Archilochus colubris

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are the most common hummingbird in the Eastern United States, and until I moved to Kansas, I had never seen one. Don’t get me wrong, I had seen lots of other species. California is a year-round home to quite a few species. But the hummingbird you see on greeting cards, shirts, and whatever else they put hummingbird pictures on was a mystery to me.

The first one I saw was pointed out during a bird walk. It was a little bump on a wire. She was so small, I could barely find her with my binoculars. No one else was impressed, but I was super excited. Another instance of something so common that no one notices them anymore, and I had never seen one.

Luckily, that was the first of many. One of our facilities guys at work hung a feeder outside the window in the main office, so I get to see them all the time. I watch them chasing each other off, hunting for little bugs, and yawning. Have you ever seen a hummingbird yawn? It is ridiculously cute!

In case you need a refresher, they are green with a white chest, and the males have a red gorget that flashes in the sunlight. The females have a light chin with dark around their eyes that looks like eyeliner connecting to their beak.
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Kansas does not see hummingbirds year-round. They are all starting to make their way to Southern Mexico and Central America for winter. I’ll miss them, but I find comfort in the fact that I will get to see them again in the spring. 

​Mimus polyglottos
 
Mock (yeah)
Ing (yeah)
Bird (yeah)
Yeah (yeah)
Mockin'bird, now
 
There’s a reason there are so many songs about Mockingbirds – they sing A LOT. I remember my first real encounter with a Mockingbird was a nest outside my window when I lived in Davis, California. It was constant. If it wasn’t the parents, it was the baby. They also do an excellent impression of a car alarm, because those aren’t annoying enough on their own. I was starting to understand why someone would want to shoot one.

Thankfully, that is not the end of my story. We rehabilitated lots of them at California Wildlife Center, and I learned they are hilarious birds with quite the personality. They had these funny stretches and mannerisms, and I swear they had facial expressions. They are clever and can be sneaky.

Cornell’s All About Birds has the best description of Northern Mockingbirds; “These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities.”  They do have striking white patches on their wings that they will display in alternating wing flashes.

They are brilliant mimics, which I initially thought was one of their most irritating qualities, but now I marvel at. Both their common name and scientific names reference this talent. Their scientific name, Mimus polyglottus, means many-tongued mime. I was visiting a friend who lived next to a high school football field, and the Mockingbirds in her neighborhood could do a spot-on impression of the coach’s whistle.

Northern Mockingbirds are found from the Southern United States through Mexico, and they eat fruit and insects. Even though they are a very common species, their numbers are still in decline. Habitat loss, insecticide use, feral cats, and window strikes are all taking their toll.
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Next time you see a Mockingbird, stop and listen. And if it is in the middle of the night, maybe just close your window.

Gymnogyps californianus

It is not for lack of trying that I have not seen a California Condor in the wild. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon multiple times. Nothing. I would look for them on my drives to and from Ojai, where there had been numerous reported sightings. Nada. Now I live in a state where they aren’t native, so I really won’t see one. I guess that is what vacations are for.

The first time I saw one in person was at the San Diego Zoo. I cried. These massive, beautiful birds are a testament to wildlife conservation. In the 1980s, there were only 23 individuals left in the world. 23. That’s it.
Condors eat carrion, so they would get lead poisoning from shot animals. They were also impacted by DDT, which caused their eggshells to be so soft, they would be crushed when the parents would try to incubate them. Also, humans, being who they are, would shoot the large birds for fun.

The remaining Condors were all captured and brought into captivity. Through a multi-entity effort, which included the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos, they began breeding them. In the early 1990s, they were able to start releasing them back to the wild. There were some hiccups. Condors didn’t know what electrical wires were, so institutions had to teach the birds that the wires were bad before release. Today, there are more than 500 California Condors.

I really do think they are beautiful. Yes, they don’t have feathers on their heads, but you wouldn’t want feathers on your head either if you were going to stick it in a carcass. The undersides of their wings are black with white along the leading edge. They also look like they are wearing a glamorous coat from the 30s with a lovely collar of black feathers around their necks.
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Condors are located in Arizona at the Grand Canyon, in Utah at Zion NP, and in places along the California coast, most notably Pinnacles NP. I’d better start booking my trip!

Corvus ossifragus

The first time I heard the call of a Fish Crow, I thought an American Crow had been sucking on a helium balloon. I think I even said out loud, “What a weird sounding Crow!” I had never even heard of Fish Crows. It wasn’t until I was using Merlin to identify some other birds that “Fish Crow,” popped up. It was then that it clicked that I hadn’t heard an American Crow with laryngitis, but that this was a completely separate species.

Of course, the first thing I did was look up this anomalous bird to see what the deal was.  I was told they look pretty much identical to American Crows and can usually only be identified by their call. It did make me feel better that I didn’t realize it was a separate species. They are found in the Southeast and, according to All About Birds, not in Kansas. It did mention that their range was spreading north and east along rivers. Well, we have two rivers in town, so that would make sense.  One fun fact they shared was they rob other birds’ nests and dig up turtle eggs. Kind of a bummer, but thanks for the info.

Other than tending to live near water and sounding like Fran Drescher, they are mostly like other corvids, smart, will eat anything, and hold a grudge, probably. They do defer to American Crows when in a territorial dispute because they are every so slightly smaller.
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So, there you have it! What looks like an American Crow, acts like an American Crow, but isn’t an American Crow? A Fish Crow, apparently.

I did something very silly. Last weekend, I went birding and forgot my binoculars. At first, I beat myself up about it, figuring I wouldn’t enjoy the outing at all. In the end, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When I stopped micro-focusing on one bird, I realized there were lots of birds! I could spot them faster than everyone else. I could probably even see them better, too, because it takes a bit to be able to find them through the binocs. I know I struggle.

It wasn’t just about the birds, either. As I was looking for birds, I noticed all the trees and how many different kinds there were, and that they all seemed to merge together to make a giant wall of green. I could look down at the creek and see the rainbow of wildflowers, the iridescent green mayflies, black and white dragonflies, and various butterflies flitting about.
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I often focus on identifying individual species, but I realized I also need to stop and soak in all the nature around me. I highly recommend taking some time and enjoying all that nature has to offer. 

This week, I decided to focus on four species of Swallow. I know there are eight Swallow species in North America and 86 in the world, but I opted to focus on the species I had seen. Their split tail feathers are so synonymous with the birds that other species with split tails are named after them, such as swallow-tailed butterflies. They have streamlined bodies and are very acrobatic fliers, but they need to be, as they catch insects in flight! Swallows build mud nests, often on human-made structures, so some people view them as a nuisance. Many species are migratory, but none have ever been seen carrying coconuts.
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Enjoy!

Hirundo rustica
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When I moved into my apartment in Colorado, the manager apologized because there was a swallow’s nest on the light by my front door, and he said they weren’t allowed to remove it. I thanked him for NOT removing it because A) it is illegal to move/destroy an active bird nest, and B) what super fun neighbors! I named my WiFi “Swallows Nest” and embraced the role of auntie. I checked on them every day and watched the babies hatch, grow up, and fledge. I did feel the effects of being an empty-nester over the winter, but then, before I knew it, they were back!

Now that I am in Kansas, we have a lovely couple who have constructed a nest at the Zoo near where my building is, so I get to watch them every day. They are between broods at the moment.

Barn Swallows are the most common species of Swallow in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica. They breed in the Northern Hemisphere and overwinter (which is actually summer there) in the Southern Hemisphere. Barn Swallows used to be cliff nesters, but now they nest almost exclusively on human-built structures. The one exception is a colony in the California Channel Islands that still nests on cliffs. Next time I am out there, I need to look for them!

Stelgidopteryx serripennis
 
I encountered Northern Rough-winged Swallows darting and banking over Malibu Creek. This species is typically found above bodies of water, hunting insects. I could watch these aerial acrobats for hours.

The Northern Rough-winged Swallow has tiny hooks on the leading edge of their wing feathers, which is what gives them this name. I have never been close enough to one of these birds myself.

Unlike many other species of swallows, they do not make mud nests. They build their nests in crevices out of grass and twigs. However, these seemingly simple nests can reach 40 inches long!

These Swallows breed across North America and spend winter in Mexico and Central America. Next time you are near a body of water, look up and you may see these agile birds catching lunch!

Tachycineta thalassina
 
I will never forget the first time I remember seeing Violet-green Swallows. I was visiting Bodie State Park in California.

Side note: if you haven’t been there, go. It is an awesome mining ghost town, and I’m not just biased because my great-great-grandmother taught school there.

I noticed some mud nests on the side of a building and saw adult Swallows darting in and out of the nests, feeding their young. I stood there watching, transfixed. I had never seen swallows this color before! I waited, hoping to get a great shot of a parent at the nest. I have no idea how long I was there trying to get a photo. Suddenly, a ranger came out of the building asking if they could help me. Unbeknownst to me, this was the rangers’ lodging house, and I was standing there taking tons of photos like some kind of creepy stalker! I, completely mortified, pointed out the swallows’ nests. The ranger seemed to understand, but also gave the impression they didn’t want me to continue to stand there taking pictures.  I moved on, looking for an abandoned mine shaft I could crawl into and die.

Violet-green Swallows, along with being found in Bodie, also range across Western North America from Alaska to Central America. Migrating to breed in the northern area of their range, and over-wintering in the tropical climates of Mexico down to Costa Rica. Like Northern Rough-winged Swallows, they usually feed around bodies of water.
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I’ve included some of the photos I took on that fateful day below. You can decide if they were worth the embarrassment!

Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
 
I probably have more experience with Cliff Swallows than any other Swallow species. We used to treat orphaned babies at California Wildlife Center. Once they fledged, we would need to train them to catch food on-the-wing. This involved holding a mealworm up with a pair of hemostats (kind of like forceps) and waiting for a bird to fly by and grab it. Here is a post about it.
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There are a lot of canyons in Southern California, so it makes sense that Angelinos would see a lot of this species. As their name suggests, Cliff Swallows build their mud nests on the sides of cliffs. However, they are not above building their nests on highway overpasses.

Cliff Swallows have a longer migration than the last two species I talked about. They breed in North America, from Alaska through Mexico, and over-winter in South America. Like other swallow species, they hunt insects, but will often fly at higher elevations than other species.

I hope you enjoyed this look at some of our North American Swallow species. Let me know if you have any suggestions for other feature weeks!