Wild Florida: The Song Birds

A very long time ago I and my family were watching our Purple Martins odd behavior. We had a Purple Martin house in the center of our large mowed lawn and Martins filled it every year. This year, as we watched, they were flying from the house to a nearby tree where they were landing, plucking leaves and flying back to their nests with the leaves. We never saw them do this before so didn't think they were lining their nests with the leaves. We know plants have chemicals and we guessed the birds were using the leaves to repeal pest insects. Now we hear that they've discovered birds do this.

Again, many years ago, we watched a sparrow caring for and feeding a young robin that was following it around. They use to think that just certain birds laid eggs in other birds nests. Now we hear that they are beginning to think that this happens much more frequently than believed.

You never know if what you're seeing is something no one has ever seen before. It doesn't matter if you're sitting at your back door and watching birds from your porch. It doesn't matter how much you know or how little you know. All you have to do is open your mind to the details.

Mockingbirds are about 10" in length, with a 15" wingspan, grayish upper portions, white under sides, and white patches on the tail and wings. The mockingbird is omnivorous. About half its diet consists of arthropods, including beetles, ants, bees, wasps, and grasshoppers, but it will also eat earthworms and small lizards. These aggressive feeders can often be observed chasing down a grasshopper on a lawn, running, hopping and lunging at the prey, or flying just above the ground maneuvering behind a large wasp. They are also fond of zebra butterflies, the state butterfly. Mockingbirds are monogamous, usually for the length of a breeding season, and occasionally mates for life. The average lifespan is eight years. In the spring mockingbirds perform swift, acrobatic flights, male chasing female, often accompanied by the exchange of soft "hew" calls, repeatedly perching next to each other and taking off again. They will often build several nests in low bushes between 3 and 10 feet off the ground. Mockingbirds are fiercely territorial and will attack just about anything that comes into their territory but they have also been known to recognize individual people and selectively attack some and not others. Mockingbirds have fantastic songs! They will mimic songs and parts of songs of other birds, other animals such as dogs and cats, humans, mechanical sounds, and even the sounds of other mockingbirds.

From Birdwatchers Digest Bird Behavior

Mockingbirds can imitate about any sound imaginable, from a barking dog to squeaky hinges, to the notes from a piano to a cackling hen to even a cat meowing. What's more, their mimicry is so skilled that even electronic analysis would find it difficult to distinguish between the original sound and the impression."

Click on the link to

Hear a Mockingbird sing

This is, of course, only one bird. All Mockingbirds have different songs. It's in the songs variety that you can identify the singer as a Mockingbird.

Attention: If you click an audio file and it's blocked as a Dangerous Site...
Don't worry. This is Google as big brother.
Which is a somewhat scary but entirely different topic...
Just check back sometime. They'll remove the warning when they feel like it.
Or go to your settings and unclick "warn me" then click through the warning.
Audio files don't have any hacked script.

If you're ever out at night, with the full moon burning bright, and you hear some crazy bird singing with all it's might....

Well, Frank L. Stanton said it best.

The Mocking Bird
by Frank L. Stanton

He didn't know much music
When first he come along;
An' all the birds went wonderin'
Why he didn't sing a song.

They primed their feathers in the sun,
An' sung their sweetest notes;
An' music jest come on the run
From all their purty throats!

But still that bird was silent
In summer time an' fall;
He jest set still an' listened
An' he wouldn't sing at all!

But one night when them songsters
Was tired out an' still,
An' the wind sighed down the valley
An' went creepin' up the hill;

When the stars was all a-tremble
In the dreamin' fields o' blue,
An' the daisy in the darkness
Felt the fallin' o' the dew, -

There come a sound o' melody
No mortal ever heard,
An' all the birds seemed singin'
From the throat o' one sweet bird!

Then the other birds went playin'
In a land too fur to call;
Fer there warn't no use in stayin'
When one bird could sing fer all!

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that "The Common Myna is native to southeastern Asia but has been introduced onto almost every tropical or subtropical oceanic island and Australia, where it is mostly found in open country and human environments. In Florida, populations remain small and widely scattered and tend to prefer shopping mall parking lots. Mynas are omnivorous and feed on fruits, seeds, insects, and human food. They nest in tree cavities, buildings, crowns of palms, large signs, and broken lights."

I had gone to breakfast one Sunday and there were about 4 Myna Birds mixed in with the Crackles at the edge of the outdoor dinning area. I had to go over and take their pictures. It was sad that no one else there noticed the beautiful bird.

Male Painted Buntings are the most spectacularly colored of all North American songbirds, with a gaudy combination of red, blue, and green feathers. This species has two distinct breeding populations in North America, but overall, it has shown a significant decline across its entire range during the past 35 years. The exact causes for Painted Bunting's decline are not known, but they are believed to include habitat loss, cowbird parasitism, and trapping for the pet trade on its wintering grounds.

An adult male Painted Bunting is arguably the most distinctive songbird in North America, with the combination of a deep blue head, red underparts, a green back, and a red rump. While not as brightly colored as males, female Painted Buntings are also distinctive. The female has an overall greenish plumage which is more darkly colored above than below.

Painted Bunting favors somewhat open areas with dense brush at all seasons. Its diet consists mostly of seeds and insects, with insects predominating during the breeding season. These birds forage mostly on the ground or in low brush. Males defend territory by singing from a high perch, often hidden among the uppermost foliage of a tree. Males, who may have more than one mate, will actually fight to hold territories; these fights are sometimes bloody and even fatal. The nest is an open, woven cup of grass, leaves, roots, and animal hair. Painted Bunting often associates with Indigo Buntings in migratory flocks, and sometimes interbreeds with that closely-related species.

The two, separate breeding populations of Painted Bunting differ in their patterns of migration and molt. The western group migrates to northwestern Mexico in late summer. There birds molt into their winter plumage before migrating south in the fall to wintering grounds in southern Mexico. The eastern group migrates directly to the wintering grounds before molting. The molt-migration pattern of the western group is very unusual among songbirds. It requires a stopover molting area which has a mild climate and plenty of food.

Red-Winged Blackbirds eat seeds and grain and as well as insects. "Although they will also nest in hay fields, swamps, and other wet upland habitats, Red-winged Blackbirds are primarily associated with freshwater marshes. Males that have successfully claimed territories mate with 2 or 3 females; in drier regions, where marsh insects may be more plentiful, the usual ratio is 3 to 6 females per territorial male. Up to 15 females have been observed on the territory of a single male, but the territory owner may not necessarily father all of the young on his territory. Females sometimes mate with several partners during a season or even during a single nesting attempt. Males don't breed until they are two years old, and they must secure and defend a territory to mate successfully." Excerpt from Red-winged Blackbird on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site. This is a great site for information.

Red-Winged Blackbird
Margaret V.Doran

The smoky haze drifting upward through the trees
proved to be fog, raising its curtain to admit the day
and although it was lighter, through my window
the sun itself could not pierce the low cloud cover
that eclipsed the tops of the snow-crowned mountains
and another day began,
caught somewhere between winter and spring
when everything is cold, damp and muddy
and the wind offers no surcease

The blackbirds and starlings that wintered-over
settled thick upon the bent and twisted
ancient blackberry canes
yet when they raised their black cloud
I saw a flash of red upon an ebon wing
he had returned; my harbinger of spring

Blue Jay's are fairly common birds. They prefer evergreen and pine forests but can be found everywhere. They are 9 to 12 inches long. They are very aggressive and noisy birds and will drive other birds away from their territories. They will hide food for the winter. They eat fruits, nuts, seeds, insects, mice, frogs and small birds and eggs from other nests. Blue Jay populations have been declining as forests and woodlands decline. One of their main sourse of foods is the oak tree and it's decline has had an impact on them.

Click on the link to

A Blue Jay's call

The Black and White Warbler summers in Canada and the Eastern U.S. It winters from Florida to Venezuela and Colombia. This bird is distinctive as no other black and white bird creeps along tree trunks and branches. It eats Caterpillars, adult insects, and spiders.

Unstreaked olive above with yellow throat and breast, faint streaking below, white belly, inconspicuous eye-stripe, two white wing bars. Female similar but duller. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds.
Breeds in southern Canada, the eastern half of the United States, and in the Bahamas. In winter, their range shifts outward into the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. In Florida, Pine Warblers are common residents. Florida has 2 breeding subspecies: D. p. pinus in the Panhandle and D. p. florida in the peninsula.

We're guessing this is a Pine Warbler because of it's wing bars but at the same time it looks very much like the Palm Warbler in a dullish white phase.

This bird is a Southeastern warbler and prefers pine woodlands. It eats insects and spiders. Forages by creeping along tree branches, probing into cracks, crevices, bundles of pine needles, and Spanish moss. It is believed that this bird is expanding it's range north.

A tiny, long-tailed bird of deciduous forests and scrublands, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher makes itself known by its soft but emphatic "spee" calls and its constant motion. By flicking its white-edged tail from side to side, the gnatcatcher may scare up hiding insects. Adults are blue-grey on the upperparts with white underparts and have a long slender bill, long black tail and an angry black unibrow. They have a white eye ring. These birds migrate to the southern United States, Mexico, northern Central America-(Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras), Cuba, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Cayman Islands. They forage actively in trees or shrubs, mainly eating insects, insect eggs and spiders. They may hover over foliage, or fly to catch insects in flight. The tail is often held upright while defending territory or searching for food. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is the northernmost-occurring species of gnatcatcher, and the only truly migratory one. Most members of its genus are resident in the Neotropics. The soft, rambling song of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher usually contains some mimicked songs of other bird species.

According to enature.com The Red-Bellied Woodpecker is "a common
woodpecker over much of the South, the Red-bellied is scarcer farther
north but has expanded its breeding range northward in recent decades.
Like most woodpeckers, it is beneficial, consuming large numbers of
wood-boring beetles as well as grasshoppers, ants, and other insect
pests. It also feeds on acorns, beechnuts, and wild fruits. It is one of
the woodpeckers that habitually stores food. I have watched these
woodpeckers obtain some food I have tossed out, fly up to a high
broken tree stump and try to fit the food into different crevices of
the dead tree.

According to The Animal Diversity Web Downy woodpeckers are smallest woodpeckers native to North America at about 6 1/2 inches long. They are found throughout North America, from southeastern Alaska east to Newfoundland, extending south to southern California and Florida. They usually do not migrate. During the winter male and female Downy Woodpeckers forage for food differently. Males tend to feed in the tops of the trees while females feed lower down in the middle and lower sections of trees. Downy Woodpeckers are often confussed with Hairy Woodpeckers. One way to tell the difference, besides the Downy being small, is that the Downy has a beak shorter than it's head whereas the Hairy Woodpeckers beak is the same length or longer than it's head.

Click on the links to hear
A Red Headed Woodpecker call
If you hear this sound the the Woodpecker isn't far away.

A Red Headed Woodpecker drumming
Woodpeckers "drum" on wood to announce their territory.

The speed tells you it's a smaller woodpecker. I saw this one drumming so know which woodpecker was drumming. The Pileated Woodpecker drums as well but at a much slower pace.

The Black Hooded Parakeet is an introduced bird.
They are not yet known to be breeding but will
probably be the next exotic bird species to become
widely established in Florida. This bird is native to
Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay , and Argentina. You can
find the Black Hooded Parakeet in both urban areas
and in native pinelands. They feed on palm fruits
and pine seeds and nest in tree cavities.

Click on the link to hear

The call of a Crow

Click on the link to hear

A Cardinal's song

The Cardinals songs vary. The one you hear will not sound exactly like this one. Cardinals, both male and female, will also make a short sharp chipping chirp when they feel that something should not be in their territory.

Here's a neat trick. You can actually call a Cardinal close to you by making a call as close to the Cardinals call as possible. Cardinals are very territorial and, as all calls are slightly different, the local Cardinal will think you're another one and come in to take a look at you.

I've called Cardinals in so my husband can shoot a photo of it. If you're patient and quiet after calling a Cardinal in the rest of the birds will start to show up.

Birdwatchers Digest has some interesting ideas for attracting birds.

* Meat Scraps and freezer-burned meat.
* Grape Jelly: Favored by woodpeckers, orioles, tanagers, and others. Offer a spoonful in a shallow dish or jar lid.
* Eggshells: Rinse egg shells out in the sink, place them in a shallow pan and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. This cleaning and baking eliminates the chance that wild birds will be exposed to harmful bacteria from domestic chickens. We crush them on the front sidewalk and the birds nibble at the pieces all winter long.
* GritGrit (small stones, sand, & eggshells) resides in birds gizzards and help to speed the processing of food. A sand pile will also attract birds for sand baths.
* Pumpkin or Melon Seeds: Dry them in the oven, and spread them out on a large platform feeder.
* Mealworms
* Compost pile items include melon rinds and spaghetti.

In addition to Birdwatchers Digests suggestions I have also used dog food. The birds pick up the food, fly to the birdbath, drop the dog food in the water and wait for it to crumble and float. They eat this like it's a buffet.

Another tip from Birdwatchers Digest:
Don't feed birds lots of stale bread. The birds may seem to love your stale bread, but bread to a hungry bird is like popcorn is to a hungry human: Lots of filler, but no real nutritional value. Bread also attracts mostly starlings and house sparrows. Solution: Offer apples, oranges, meat scraps, rendered suet, mealworms, or other nutritional foods instead.