Other Birds

Mountain Chickadee

NPS Photo

Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli)

The Mountain Chickadee is a tiny bird (4.5-5.5 inches length) with a large head, small bill, round belly, and a long tail. Black-and-white head with a white body and gray wings. The Mountain Chickadee is distinguished from other chickadees by the white stripe over its eye. This quick, acrobatic bird flies from tree to tree and hangs upside down on pine cones. Nest sites are usually in natural holes within trees or holes carved out by woodpeckers or nuthatches. Mountain chickadees will excavate their own holes in trees if the wood is soft enough.

Fun facts: It's believed that the tiny half ounce chickadee requires only 10 calories a day to survive. This equates to about 1/20th of an ounce of peanut butter.

 

Clark's Nutcracker

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Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga Columbiana)

The Clark’s Nutcracker is 12-13 inches long (30-33 cm) and is a pale grey or white with a large-pointed bill. Their wings and tail have large white patches that are most noticeable during flight. These birds prefer high mountain habitats in forests of pine. They may also be found in lower elevation pine forests when there are high pinecone levels. The Clark’s Nutcracker is an omnivore, eating both meat and plant-based food sources. Most of their diet consists of pine seeds, but may be supplemented by nuts, berries, snails, eggs, and carrion.

Fun Facts: This bird can store as many as 90 seeds in a special pouch behind its tongue when it is preparing to find places to cache the seeds for the winter.The male Clark’s Nutcracker helps with egg incubation, taking a turn when the female goes out to retrieve seeds from her caches for food.

 

Dusky Grouse

NPS/Jane Olsen

Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus)

The Dusky Grouse is between 15-20 inches tall (38- 50 cm) and are a uniform dark grey with some white feathers near the neck. When courting, the males have a reddish neck pouch that they display to attract a mate. The females of this species are a mottled brown and grey. These birds prefer to live in deciduous (trees that lose their leaves annually) or mixed forests in the summer and conifer forests in the winter. Their diet consists of conifer needles, insects, leaves and berries.

Fun Facts: The Dusky Grouse used to be considered the same species as the Sooty grouse. In 2006, DNA comparison and subtle differences in displays, vocals and plumages led scientists to separate the two into different species.

 

Wild Turkey

NPS/Neal Lewis

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

The male Wild Turkey is 48 inches tall (1.2 m) and the female is around 36 inches (91 cm) tall. The male Turkeys are a dark brown with white patterns on their feathers, as well as a naked, pink face and neck, and a tail that drags on the ground. The females are a dull brown with mottled feathering. When mating, the males fan their tail in an impressive display as they shake their feathers to attract a mate. While they shake their feathers, they also enlarge their face wattles and droop their wings to show off how big they are. A male will mate with several females. Wild Turkeys prefer mountain forests, mixed woods, and wooded swamps but can also be found in arid grasslands or forests like Bryce Canyon National Park. They have an omnivorous diet that consists of acorns, leaves, berries, grass, insects, and snails. Occasionally, these birds will eat frogs, lizards, snakes, salamanders, and crabs if other food sources are not available.

Fun Fact: Benjamin Franklin nominated the Wild Turkey to be America’s national bird, but it was turned down in favor of the Bald Eagle. Wild Turkeys, despite their size, can fly and may be found in the branches of trees to evade predators such as coyotes, golden eagles, bobcats, and racoons.

 

White-throated Swift

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White-throated Swift
(Aeronautes saxatalis)

The White-throated Swift is 6-7 inches (15-17 cm) and is one of the few swifts with black and white coloring. An easy way to identify this bird is by their tail, which is forked and slightly longer than other swifts. These birds prefer to make their nests in cliffside crevices in dry mountains or canyons. The White Throated Swift eats insects including beetles, wasps, or winged ants.

Fun Fact: This bird finds and eats its food only while it is flying.

 

Say's Pheobe

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Say’s Pheobe (Sayornis saya)

The Say’s Pheobe is 7-8 inches (18-20 cm) tall. This bird is a dusty brown-grey, with a pale orange belly, and a black t/ail. These birds prefer semi-open terrain in dry country, often found in farmland or prairie habitats. Say’s Pheobe is an insectivore, and feeds primarily on insects that it finds while flying, but can also forage in low shrub or rocky areas. Common insects it eats include grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles.

Fun Fact: The Say’s Pheobe often coughs up little pellets that are made up of the indigestible parts of insects that it has eaten.

 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

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Black-Chinned Hummingbird
(Archilochus alexandri)

The Black-Chinned Hummingbird is only 3 ¾ inches tall (10 cm). its coloration is mainly greenish-grey and it has a black chin with a white collar. These birds flap and spread their tail while hovering, possibly to help keep them steady. Black-Chinned Hummingbirds prefer semi-arid habitats along desert rivers but will move to higher elevations after breeding. These birds eat mainly nectar from flowers or small insects. They will also feed on a sugar-water mixture from hummingbird feeders, but make sure you do not keep them up too late into the fall or they will miss their migration period to Mexico or the Gulf Coast!

Fun Facts: Hummingbirds are among the smallest birds in the world. They beat their wings up to 80 beats per minute!

 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

NPS/Bill Ratcliff

Broad-tailed Hummingbird
(Selasphorus platycerus)

The Broad-Tailed Hummingbird is 4 to 4 ½ inches tall (10-11 cm). Males have a rose red throat, a green back and sides, and a rusty tail. This bird prefers mountain meadows and forests but has adapted to many cityscapes as expansion has occurred. These birds feed mainly on nectar from various flowers and will eat small insects and spiders. They will also feed on a sugar-water mixture from hummingbird feeders, but make sure you do not keep them up too late into the fall or they will miss their migration period to Mexico!

Fun Fact: Lewis and Clark are credited in discovering this species of hummingbird in 1806 during their exploration of the North West.

 

Rufous Hummingbird

NPS/Bennetts

Rufous Hummingbird
(Selasphorus rufus)

Rufous Hummingbirds are about 3 ½ inches tall (9 cm) and adult males are a bright copper with a dark red, shining throat. These hummingbirds live in and around forest edges, stream sides, and mountain meadows. They can be found as far north as Alaska in the summer and Mexico in winter. These birds eat mostly nectar from flowers and will occasionally supplement their diet with small insects or spiders. They will also feed on a sugar-water mixture from hummingbird feeders, but make sure you do not keep them up too late into the fall or they will miss their migration period to Mexico.

Fun Fact: Hummingbirds mature quickly and can begin to fly 21 days after flying.

 

Black-headed Grosbeak

NPS/Ingrid Arlton

Black-headed Grosbeak
(Pheucticus melanocephalus)

The Black-headed Grosbeak is 7 ½ inches (19 cm) tall and the males have a dull orange-brown body with a black head, and black and white wings. Their most distinguishing feature is their rather large and triangular beak which they use to find their food. These birds prefer to live in ponderosa pine, aspen, and foothill riparian (river) forests. They tend to migrate in the fall to warmer regions such as Mexico. Their diet consists of seeds, berries and a variety of insects that they forage from the understory and canopy of their forest home.

Fun Fact: The Black-headed Grosbeak is one of the few birds able to eat the Monarch Butterfly, despite the noxious chemicals the butterflies ingest from the milkweed plant in their larval stage.