He can wipe away the grey!

Walking the woods along the Little Miami river today was less than inspirational (at first). It was so grey, it felt like the color could swallow you whole. Thank goodness this little guy came along peeping his happy song. His shade of grey is always welcome!!

A Tufted Titmouse's peeping song cuts through the grey woods with cheer!

I like grey when it has feathers...

...keep on peeping Beaolophus bicolor!

p.s. Bird profile shots are always great references for artists. Feel free to use these photographs to help you sketch, draw, or paint a cute tufted titmouse! 

First Bird of 2012--Baeolophus bicolor!

This morning when I looked out the kitchen window to see what my first bird of the year would be, I saw nothing! Not a bird in sight, but within a second or two, a Tufted Titmouse flew up, nabbed a peanut from the mesh peanut holder, and looked up at me almost with a wink! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect bird to start the New Year...

Painting 1. Baeolophus bicolor Grabs a Peanut

(watercolor - just a few pencil lines and broad brush strokes, a quick sketch)

Painting 2. A Tufted Titmouse on New Year's Day

(watercolor heightened with colored pencil, another quick sketch)

...a pencil sketch of a Tufted Titmouse (Baeolphus bicolor) from my sketchbook.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year...with lots of peanuts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Painting 197. A Tufted Titmouse Outside my Kitchen Window on the Eve of Thanksgiving

(watercolor)

...and a poem for autumn:

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry's cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

I'll put a trinket on.

Emily Dickinson

"The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson," pg 124

Appendaged Waterleaf...the Happy Mother's Day flower!

Back on May 9, 2009, I posted a letter from a young Tufted Titmouse to her Mama on Mother's Day. In her letter, she mentions "charming little lavender flowers" growing at the base of the tree she and her mate had chosen to make their home. Yesterday when I took my walk along the Little Miami, her tree was still there and so too were her lavender flowers, Appendaged Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum). Unfortunately, Mama and Papa Titmouse chose other lodgings this year, but I thought we could have a look at the beautiful spring wildflowers she loved...

Appendaged Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum appendiculatum, in all its lavender splendor!

...the delicate papery petals of Hydrophyllum appendiculatum are a soothing blue-lavender color and often seem to glow softly in the lush green of spring.

...did I mention Appendaged Waterleaf is quite hairy?

...each blossom is about a half-inch and forms a graceful, fluted bell. The five stamens extend from the bell. You can still see pollen clinging to the anthers of the blossom on the right.

Hydrophyllum appendiculatum's leaves are Maple leaf-like and often have white spots on them resembling water spots, which is the reason for its name, Waterleaf.

Although Mama and Papa Titmouse were absent from their tree this year, a young Squirrel Nutkin was making good use of it by climbing up and down the trunk...until he realized I was there and then took off in a frenzied terror (no doubt to the comfort of his mama) through the waterleaf patch, causing the flowers to sway gently on their long stalks as he passed through them.

Happy Mother's Day!

(especially to you, Mom!)

Tufted Titmouse sitting pretty...

Sunday afternoon the snow was fresh along the Little Miami River and covered the hillsides and paths along the way. Winter birds were all around, their calls softly filtering through the branches, muffled as they carried across the snow. At one point, I looked up and saw this lone Tufted Titmouse perched on the end of a small branch. He was tucked in among lacy shadows, catching a sun ray every now and then...perfectly mirroring the beauty and stillness of winter.

A Tufted Titmouse along the Little Miami River shows a touch of winter's magic.

Tufted Tiddlywinks and the breadcrumb fairy...

Today, AGAIN, it snowed, snowed, snowed...and it's still snowing now! It’s very pretty out there, but maybe not quite as pretty as it was 4 snows ago……. Anyway, all this snow makes for great sledding, so a few days ago I took Matty and his friend sledding at Pine Hill Lakes Park. I was hoping the breadcrumb fairy had shown up again and left crumbs under the big pine tree by the parking lot so I could photograph some of the birds. There were no breadcrumbs tucked under the tree that afternoon--but there were buns…big and fluffy, and covered with sesame seeds…and lots of them! So our local breadcrumb fairy was not a one-shot deal. Somebody was taking care of the Pine Hill Lakes birds on the sly!

20 or 30 large buns had been left under the tree for the birds.

Birds were flying in left and right to nip off small pieces of bread and pose for a photo, so I plopped down in the snow just under the boughs and sat still (thank goodness for Spyder snow pants and coats...warm and waterproof!). The birds soon became accustomed to me as a nonstop procession of titmice, juncos, cardinals, white-throated sparrows, chickadees, and even a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a very cute Carolina Wren took turns grabbing a bite to eat. In the distance I could hear screams of excitement as kids raced down the snowy slopes, but here, under the pine boughs still heavy with snow, it was very quiet and still. Now and then tiny bird sounds would drift down through the branches as feathers whisked against pine needles, knocking clumps of snow to the ground. Of course, when the Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker arrived it wasn't quiet. They announced themselves regularly with their wonderful songs...

This Tufted Titmouse was very friendly. He studied me for a

while before grabbing a bit of bread and flying up in the tree to eat it.

My cousin, Curg, calls these guys Tufted Tiddlywinks. (Hi, Curg!)

...for some reason that really seems to fit, so Mr. T Tiddlywinks it is!

After about 45 minutes my battery died. Grrrr…. It had only one bar of charge when I left the house, so I was lucky to get 45 minutes out of it. The last time I photographed the breadcrumb birds I filled up the card and didn't have a replacement with me. Well...Matty's school was just called off for tomorrow, so another snow day awaits us. Yeah! I bet we will go sledding again.

A Letter From a Young Tufted Titmouse to her Mama on Mother’s Day

Dear Mama,
I wish you could see our new nesting cavity. It’s in a lovely old tree growing at the foot of a dark, shaded hillside. I can hear the river flowing past, as it’s just a short flight across a little foot trail. A small brook cascades down rocks in our backyard. Little pools form among the rocks, and we go there to drink and splash around a bit. It’s a cozy little homey-home with an adorable moss-covered entryway. Virginia Creeper is climbing up the right side of the trunk and looks very pretty. When I’m away hunting down caterpillars for the babies (an endless job, mom! How did you do it?), a sweet Wood Thrush who lives about 20 feet away serenades the little ones with his beautiful, flute-like tones. Everywhere I look I see beauty. Charming little lavender flowers are at the base of our trunk growing in the dark, moist soil. Although I did all the brooding, my mate is very helpful and forages for insects and feeds the babies too. He is a very good father! Well, I had better get back to foraging. The caterpillars are plump and juicy this year. I think the babies like the bright green wiggly ones the best.
Happy Mother’s Day, mom! I love you…

Little Mama Titmouse

...and Happy Mother's Day to all the

mamas out there, especially you, mom!

Titmice and chickadees cache food for winter survival

Several people asked me today if I had figured out why a group of titmice or chickadees is called a "banditry" (from yesterday's post). I wasn’t able to find anything in my books or on the Internet, so I don’t really know, but if I were to guess, it might be because these two little birds stash seeds in a food cache all autumn to prepare for food shortages in the winter ahead. In a previous post, I talked about the birds in our area that stash food. These birds have larger spatial memories than non-caching birds, and the extra brain cells (beefed up during the autumn) help them keep track of the seeds they hide. In our area, food-caching birds are White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice and chickadees.

A pencil sketch I did of my favorite bird, a Carolina Chickadee.

In the autumn, the chickadees and titmice step up their food gathering behavior, so maybe their constant trips to the feeder (or any other food source) appear to be “stealing” as they zoom in, grab a seed, and then fly off without eating it. Maybe this thievery earned them the description of a "banditry" of chickadees or titmice. Who knows...

...or maybe it's just because they appear to wear masks! 

I think this Tufted Titmouse is getting tired of the snow and cold...

This does not look like a happy face. It looks like a 

“Please make it go away now thank you very much” face.

Today I didn't hear our Tufted Titmouse call out "Peter, Peter, Peter" at all, so I decided he was fed up with the cold and the snow. There was no other explanation. Feeling sorry for the thing, I hopped on the Internet to see if I could learn anything new about them. I found a few interesting tid bits on the WhatBird.com site:

• Most Tufted Titmice live their entire life within a few kilometers of their birthplace.
• They only occur in areas where rainfall is greater than 24 inches per year, and are more common where rainfall exceeds 32 inches per year.
• In Cherokee legend, they are regarded as messengers.
• A group of titmice are collectively known as a "banditry" and a "dissimulation" of titmice.

A banditry? A dissimulation? How can that be?

"What?" he says. "Please check that again." 

It does seem strange to call a group of these little cuties a banditry. In Webster’s a bandit is defined as an outlaw who lives by plunder, especially a member of a band of marauders! ...and dissimulation is even worse. It means to conceal one's true feelings or intentions, but Titmice just don't seem that sneaky to me.

"I think you underestimate my sneakiness."

This fellow doesn't seem to be concealing anything. 

He’s clearly crying out to the heavens “enough 

with the white stuff falling on my face already!”

I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for these 

strange names (and I'm sure someone out there 

knows it!), but I think a group of titmice should 

just be called a Collection of Cuties.

Since titmice and chickadees are in the same family, I wondered if chickadees had the same moniker, and sure enough, they are just a bunch of little marauders sneaking around in the woods too!

Thanks for the photos Larry! They are awesome!

The Great Blue heronry continues to grow.

I ran up to the rookery today at lunch out of curiosity. I didn’t think any herons would be there because it was the middle of the day and the herons aren’t sitting on eggs yet, and sure enough, only one bird was there, and he was only there briefly. I assume that I'll know when eggs have been laid because then one of the parents will remain in the nest at all times. A Tufted Titmouse was active and singing Peter, Peter, Peter heartily, but no action in the rookery. On my way back to the office, I saw a Peregrine Falcon sitting on a wire. First time I’ve seen one there. I asked Bill and Larry if they had seen him, and Bill confirmed one is hanging around the office. Yeah!

Beautiful blue lunchtime sky, but no beautiful blue herons!

This evening, I headed over to the heronry at 4:45, a little earlier than usual, but I hoped many of the herons would have returned for the evening already…and they had! The number of occupied nests has definitely increased since my trip last week, and the herons are talking a lot more than last time too. There are at least 13 more occupied nests. Unfortunately, I could only stay for about 30 minutes, which wasn’t enough time to watch all of them come home, but progress is definitely happening! On the 13th, the 7 nesting couples were centered in one large tree. Today, enough new birds had arrived that they had pushed out to two surrounding trees.

Eleven newly occupied nests are in the tree behind 

the original tree, and another is in a tree to the right of it.

I just listened and watched, and that was very nice. If I can fit in the time, I’d love to spend a couple of hours just observing and writing about colony behavior. I could see several different types of courtship displays today: 

One of three couples preening each other.

This couple kept walking around each other in the nest.

This heron was stroking his mate along 

the neck and back with this head and bill. 

I also witnessed one small property skirmish with some pretty cool threat displays, including a sharp bark followed by snapping the bill together several times:

He would bark and then snap his bill together 

several times. Even though I am quite far 

from the rookery, the bark was loud.

This Tufted Titmouse photo is too cute to sit on…

Larry, the bird photo wizard of southwest Ohio, just sent me this photo. I know I should wait to do a proper post on titmice this evening, but this guy is just too darn cute to languish in a folder on my computer all day. WordChick (a.k.a. Titmouse Lover), this one goes out to you for your birthday!

I wonder if they dipped into their winter food stores this week…

There are several types of birds who stash food in the autumn, preparing for the harsh winter ahead. These birds have larger spatial memories than non-caching birds, which help them keep track of the position of objects in space. In our area, food-caching birds are White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice and chickadees.

In autumn nuthatches harvest and store hundreds of 

seeds throughout their territory using each hiding place 

only once. They hide seeds behind bark, in cracks and 

crevices of tree trunks, or in knotholes. Sometimes, they 

even cover the seeds with moss or lichens.

By spreading their food around, a behavior that’s called 

scatter-hoarding, food-caching birds help guarantee 

their survival by making it less likely their entire 

food stash will be raided by other birds. 

Blue Jays harvest several thousand acorns each fall 

and bury them in the ground. Any acorns the Blue Jays 

don’t eat sprout into saplings, so squirrels aren’t 

the only ones important to seed dispersal.

To read more about seed-caching birds, get Secret Lives of Common Birds, Enjoying Bird Behavior Through the Seasons, by Marie Read. This book has a lot of interesting bird behavior tid-bits and very beautiful photos.

Blue Figures out the new Peanut Feeder

A couple of weeks ago, I was in my favorite bird store, Mary and Patrick's Wild Bird Center of Mason, when I saw a new peanut feeder. I bought some peanuts in the shell and brought the feeder home, and for 2 weeks it hung there with nothing even giving it the eye, but on Monday, while it was snowing, Blue suddenly figured it out and started nabbing the nuts. Later in the day, I saw a Tufted Titmouse stop by, but he didn’t take a peanut. He just looked at it. The Blue Jays (five in all) would take turns flying in, grabbing a peanut, and then flying out. It was fun to watch.

Blue finally lands on the feeder and takes a look.

He sees it's filled with peanuts in the shell and grabs one.

...but there is no sticking around. 

As soon as he has the peanut, it's lift off!

Throughout the week, the Blue Jays and the squirrels were the biggest customers and were really fun to watch. But...the Tufted Titmouse is hanging around more and more and loves the peanuts! Even a Carolina Wren dropped in for a visit, but he didn't take a nut. The feeder is a really fun addition to the backyard, and we love it. I can't wait until the Red-bellied Woodpeckers start coming to it. 

...let's hope Red figures it out too!

Lunchtime Fieldtrip Thursday: Cincinnati Nature Center

Today I headed over to the Cincinnati Nature Center at about 11:30. When I got out of the car, it felt like spring! It was 48 degrees, much better than last Thursday’s fieldtrip of 10 degrees. I stopped in the Rowe Visitor Center to see if anything exciting had been sighted and a very nice gentleman reported he had seen a Hermit Thrush and a Bald Eagle flying over with a a fish! He had spotted the Hermit Thrush on the trail over by the Raptor, Inc. property, so that's where I headed. Unfortunately, the thrush was no where to be found when I made my way through the woods, but I didn’t care. The trail was beautiful in the sunshine, and the pseudo-spring weather was amazing. The warmth was misleading though, because beneath my feet, snow still remained,


…and it covered the hillsides and branches too, but the moss steady as ever, stayed green and peeped through.


An evergreen vine overhead really made it seem like spring was just around the corner. I don’t know what type of vine it was, but my guess is Trumpeter Honeysuckle. I'll ask the naturalist about it the next time I'm there.

…the wonderful winter birds were around, Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers. All their lovely sounds bouncing off the trees and keeping me company.



…and then right before I was getting ready to leave I stopped in the bird blind and saw this happy yellow guy. 

Yesterday at my house, I thought the goldfinches seemed to be getting a little brighter…a little more ready for spring, but then decided I was imagining it. But there is no doubt now. This fellow is definitely a little more yellow than the goldfinches were last week. So maybe spring is just around the corner!