October Birds

Oct 15, 2014

By Steve Blight

The other day I was nursing my second cup of coffee and contemplating the changing colours outside our window when a group of small birds flitting and darting among some branches caught my attention. Binoculars at the ready, the group turned out to be a mixed flock of chickadees, kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers and juncos. This is a common site in October as small songbirds migrating through an unfamiliar area often associate with resident chickadee flocks. Most birds that associate with chickadee flocks respond to chickadee alarm calls, even when their own species doesn’t have a similar alarm call. Other birds that may join up with these loose flocks include woodpeckers, vireos and creepers.

Kinglets are tiny active birds, scarcely bigger than hummingbirds. There are two species of kinglets in North America – Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Both prefer to nest in evergreen-dominated habitats found mainly to the north of our area. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet forages through lower branches of shrubs and trees. Its habit of constantly flicking its wings is a key identification clue. This plain green-gray bird has a white eye ring and a white bar on the wing. The male’s brilliant red crown patch usually stays hidden, so this cannot be relied on for identification. Ruby-crowns winter from southern New England southward, being seen in winter around here only very rarely.

Golden-crowned Kinglets are olive-coloured birds that are boldly marked with a black eyebrow stripe and rich, visible lemon-yellow head crest. Golden-crowns typically winter further north than Ruby-crowns and can often be found in our area during the winter. On winter bird counts I look for them in groves of hemlocks or cedars. To find them, listen for their high, thin call notes.

Dark-eyed Juncos are handsome little sparrows that generally breed in open northern coniferous forests, but are often seen in spring and fall foraging on the ground. Juncos don’t seem to be in any hurry on migration, as they can be seen for extended periods of time in our area in both spring and fall. They have dark grey or brownish-grey upper parts, white underparts, a pink bill and bright white tail feathers that they habitually flash in flight. I have not seen many juncos around here in the heart of winter, but they can occasionally be found near feeders or stands of Eastern White Cedar, and are more common in other parts of southern Ontario where winters are less harsh.

Yellow-rumped warblers are the most common and earliest of the warblers to arrive here in spring and the last to move through in the fall. In fall and winter they are streaky brown-and-yellow birds with distinctive, sharp “chip” call notes. In spring, their dull color pallet is transformed into a mix of bright yellow, charcoal gray and black, and bold white. Females are slightly more subdued but still very handsome birds. Yellow rumps breed throughout the province wherever there are extensive areas of forest dominated by confers but are largely absent from the agricultural areas of Southwestern Ontario.

Many people who are interested in birds find this time of year unrewarding, as the breeding birds of summer are largely gone and those that remain are lower in number, often dull-colored and hard to identify. However, watching for flocks of birds than contain familiar chickadees can reward the persistent birder with some interesting finds. Moreover, with fewer leaves on the trees to get in the way, many tree-top foragers can now be seen more clearly. October birding can be fun!