Birds Page 6

Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli

13 - 15 cm. Mountain Chickadees have a black cap and bib with white cheeks and grey sides. It is the only chickadee with a white eye stripe. They are small large-headed birds that often hang upside down to pluck small insects from conifer needles. It's a fearless, inquisitive, and constantly active insect forager. Its call is a hoarse chick-a-zee-zee. It lays 7-9 white, sometimes spotted eggs in a hair- or fur-lined natural cavity or woodpecker hole. It lives in high altitude coniferous forests, but descends to lowlands in the winter. It prefers hanging, even wobbly feeders or platform and window feeders. It is attracted by oil sunflower seeds, suet, and peanut butter.

Resident in New Mexico throughout the montane coniferous forests. They will visit bird feeders.

Bushtit

Pygmy Nuthatch, Sitta pygmaea

10 - 11 cm. The Pygmy Nuthatch is bluish gray above with a gray-brown cap terminated by an indistinct black eye line; faint white smudge at base of nape; creamy white below. They usually occur in flocks and live in ponderosa pine forests with an undergrowth of bunch grass. Their name comes from "nut-hack", based on their habit of sticking seed in bark and hacking it with their bill. Nuthatches have sharp claws for hopping upside down and nabbing insects overlooked by other birds. It lays 5-9 white eggs, with reddish-brown speckles, in a nest about 12 - 25 feet from the ground and made of a quantity of soft material, often vegetable down, amassed in the cavity of a dead pine. Easily attracted by sunflower seeds, nuts and suet. Offer it a bark covered house 4x4x10" placed high on tree trunk. It's center hole should be 1 1/4"in diameter and 7 1/2 " above the floor.

Very common throughout Los Alamos. They will visit suet feeders in large numbers.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Very common throughout Los Alamos. They will visit suet feeders and are often seen scaling trees acrobatically.

Canyon Wren

Hyperactive wren seen scurrying around the rocks, fairly common along the Falls trail in Bandelier. It doesn't seem to visit the water garden or the feeders.

House Wren

Fussing in brushpiles and singing in the trees, the wren is common in the canyon and in backyards.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Hyperactive, tiny bird that commonly hops around the shrubs in our yard during the spring, summer and fall.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Spends the summer in Los Alamos and can be observed flitting about scrub oak and juniper.

Western Bluebird

Common in Los Alamos in the winter and spring. Groups have been observed in various locations around town such as the Barranca school fields. The water garden and berries are the primary attraction for the bluebirds. Nesting boxes provide a great opportunity to watch these birds raise their young.

Mountain Bluebird

Fairly common in the Los Alamos area, but quite common in the summer at the Valle Grande. Nesting boxes provide a great opportunity to watch these birds raise their young. Plants with berries as well as water attract the bluebirds.

Hermit Thrush

Attracted to the water garden where it hops around the shrubs nearby. They are seen primarily during the spring and fall migration, but may also spend the summer in the area.

American Robin

Very common in summer all over Los Alamos.

Northern Mockingbird

Curve-billed Thrasher

Cedar Waxwing (rare)

These elegant little nomads may be be present in large flocks in their search for wild berries. Flocks have been seen sporadically in White Rock.