Bird Experiences, Part 2: Visual

I started these two entries grouping bird experiences as being of two kinds: visual and aural. This posting will look at how birds delight our visual senses. The other three senses—taste, touch, and smell—may become involved at Thanksgiving, but thankfully they’re of little concern for songbird experiences.

Our foremost sense is visual. And there is something about birds that fascinates the eye. Few other spectator sports induce their practitioners to lay out oodles of money for binoculars, pour over birding lists, and fly halfway across the globe just to get a fleeting glance of an exotic species in the forests of Costa Rica or Borneo.

And of the visual appeal of birds, nothing captures our attention like a bird in flight. We are drawn to follow the action. Noting differences in flight styles can be a help in identifying a bird. Look up in the sky around here and see a bird gliding lazily, and it’ll surely be a hawk or a buzzard. (They can be distinguished by their underside. A hawk is nearly white, a buzzard is dark.) If a bird is in power flight with constant wing pumps, it may be a crow far overhead. Most songbirds have a bouncy or undulating flight—in which they’ll pump furiously for a moment (causing it to rise) and then fold their wings momentarily (causing it to dip). That style of action keeps lactic acid from building up in the muscles. Some birds will exhibit more than one kind of flight pattern—depending on their energy level, flight distance, their load, and wind conditions.

I love to watch birds at the feeder—their antics are fascinating. The pecking order is on display then—both within and between species. Sweet little chickadees are at the bottom rank and the red-bellied woodpecker is the current king of the feeder. Nuthatches intimidate titmice. Cardinals tyrannize nuthatches, etc.

Various types of sunflower seed-cracking techniques are also fun to watch. Birds with short, pointed beaks (chickadees, titmice) grab a seed, fly to a nearby branch, wedge the seed under a foot, and bang away at it until they’ve penetrated the shell; then they pick out the meat. Birds with strong beaks (finches, cardinals) just sit on the feeder, pick up a seed and crush it with their bill, spitting out the shell pieces. Ground feeders (juncos, doves) hop around under the feeder, pecking for bits dropped by the spitting finches.

Finally, it’s fascinating to watch how songbirds flock cooperatively around the feeder during winter, but then pair up and face off in the spring. Any pretense of collaboration evaporates, as males begin showing off to prospective mates—calling boldly, as previous buddies square off against each other.

I’m hooked. The more I watch birds, the more I learn, the more I watch. I’m caught in a charming bird whirlpool, but this hermit has no plans to fly to Costa Rica any time soon.