Posts by Tina Mitchell
American Robin-Nature’s Troubadours If you have ever lived somewhere that American Robins breed, a spring without their bright, lilting “cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up” song lacks something magical. Yet in 1959, Michigan State University (my alma mater—go Spartans!) faced this catastrophe. In the early 1950s, campus arbor specialists began trying to eradicate Dutch elm…
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Red Shouldered Hawk-our fearless buteo If you live in a Red-shouldered Hawk’s territory, you know it. (If you aren’t sure, you most likely don’t.) Even non-bird-oriented people can’t ignore this noisy, fearless, small buteo. At one time mostly residents of the county’s lowland riparian woodland, Red-shouldered Hawks in widespread abundance today appear to be…
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The Bushtit, San Diego County’s smallest songbird, is a long-tailed, effervescent, beady-eyed wisp of a thing that would easily go unnoticed if it led a solitary life—which it most definitely does not. A creature of the pack except during breeding season, it is almost never found alone, often traveling in groups of 6−40 birds. A…
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Bird Names for Birds Wilson Warbler Leucadia Photo by Steve Brad I remember my first one. Bright yellow underneath, yellow-olive back and wings. Striking black cap. “What is that bird?” I whispered to my friend. “Wilson’s Warbler.” Huh. That’s a disappointing name for such a stunner. Who was Wilson? Why did HE get this bird?…
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Small but Mighty— The Northern Saw-whet Owl Small but Mighty— The Northern Saw-whet Owl The Northern Saw-whet Owl is a small owl (a mere eight inches tall) with a streaked chest and a distinctive white V stretching above its eyes—a winsome and (if you’re a little mammal) ferocious owl. With a chunky body, stubby tail,…
Read MoreHappy as a Lark…Believe Me
A cloudy, blustery, cold December day at the foot of the Colorado Rockies and the three of us were doing the Christmas Bird Count. As my husband drove slowly, our friend sat in the front seat scouring the landscape for likely places to check for birds. Opposite a stubble-covered farm field, he hollered, “STOP!” “Seriously?…
Read MoreThe Hermit Thrush
For five years, my husband and I covered a Breeding Bird Survey route in Colorado’s high country. One morning during breeding season, starting ½ hour before dawn on a 24.5-mile stretch of road, we stopped the car every half mile for three minutes to count all the birds we saw or heard (mostly heard). Some…
Read MoreWell Worth the Search— Lewis’s Woodpecker What bird climbs trees like a woodpecker but feeds mostly by acrobatically sallying forth from a perch or circling high in the air to catch flying insects? What chops up acorns and other nuts, stores them the crevices of tree bark, and guards them all winter—at times, having stand-offs…
Read MoreThe Northern Shoveler
As a medium-sized duck, the Northern Shoveler seems just too small for its preposterously large, flat, broad-tipped bill. A paint pallet on webbed feet, the male’s breeding plumage (September through May) borders on gaudy, with his bright white chest, rusty sides, and green head. Note especially the gleaming white chest. Only one other non-diving (also…
Read MoreThe Western Bluebird— Carrying the Sky Above and Reflecting the Earth Below At the wildlife rehabilitation center, I grabbed a dish of fresh mealworms and headed to an outdoor aviary.There, 11 hand-raised fledgling Western Bluebird orphans were honing their flying and foraging skills before release back into the wild. As I stepped into the aviary,…
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