Winter Birds

 

Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius). 
Rowan County, North Carolina.

In the spring, as the days lengthen and temperatures warm, birders eagerly await the return of the neotropical migrants.  These birds spent the winter in warmer climes and they appear in waves, wearing their brightest colors and singing their brightest songs.  But winter brings its own special birds.  As the migrants wing their way south a whole suite of avian guests come from the north and spend the winter in Southeast. 

 

Sapsucker holes in the trunk of
Red Tip Photinia (Photinia x fraseri).
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker feeding on suet in mid-winter.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

One of our winter visitors is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).  This medium-sized woodpecker has black and white stripes on the face, a bold white patch on the wing and some individuals show yellow on the belly.  Both male and female Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have a red on the top of the head but the males also have a bright red throat.  These birds breed across a wide swath of Canada and the Northern United States east of the Rocky Mountains.  They winter in the South Central and Southeastern US, the Caribbean and Central America.  Their name sapsucker comes from their habit of drilling rows of small holes with their chisel beak in tree trunks.  The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker does drink some of the sap that flows from these holes but also consume insects that come to feed on the sap. 

 

Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) showing off its reddish-brown tail.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Hermit Thrush. 
Rowan County, North Carolina.

The Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) is another bird that spends the winter in our area.  These birds are a little smaller than their relative the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).  Hermit Thrushes have spots on the throat, a brown back and a reddish brown tail.  They also have a habit of drooping their wings when perched. Hermit Thrushes live in the forest understory and constantly bob their tail.  They breed from Alaska to the Canadian Maritimes and down the Rocky Mountains.  Hermit Thrushes spend the winter along the West Coast, the lower third of the United States and Mexico.  Their preferred food is berries but will also take insects, particularly in the breeding season. Hermit Thrushes, like other members of the thrush family, have a flute-like song but we rarely get to hear it in winter. 

 

Hermit Thrushes often droop their wings when perched.
Horry County, South Carolina.

Purple Finches (Haemorhous purpureus) breed, like the other winter visitors, in Canada and the Northern United States.  Males and females of this species look very different from each other.  The males have purple wash over their head, neck, and back.  Their breast white with pink stripes.  The great naturalist and field guide author, Roger Torrey Peterson, described the male Purple Finch as “Like a sparrow dipped in raspberry juice”.  Females have the same pattern as the males but are brown where the male is purple. Female Purple Finches are easy to tell from the similar female House Finches (Haemorhorus mexicanus) because they have a white line over their eyes that the House Finches lack.  Purple Finches are mainly seedeaters and have a large, seed crunching beak.  Some winters these finches are rare but when the seed crop in Canada is sparse, large numbers move south.  Purple Finches will visit bird feeders where they prefer sunflower and thistle. 

 

Female Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Female and male Purple Finches.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Another northern seedeater is the Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus).  These birds are also sporadic visitors to the Southeast and often show up with Purple Finches.  Pine Siskins are smaller than Purple Finches with a finer, pointed beak.  They have flashes of yellow on the wing and tail and a streaked breast.  Pine Siskins are even more voracious at the feeders than Purple Finches.  Some people who feed birds hate to see these flying pigs appear because they love thistle and that seed is expensive. 

 

Video of feeder action including a female Purple Finch, many 

Pine Siskins (Spinus pinus), a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 

and a Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis).
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Five Pine Siskins and one American Goldfinch (Spinus tristus)
on a thistle feeder.  Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Three Pine Siskins and a female Purple Finch eating sunflower and suet. 
The Pine Siskins have yellow on their wings and tails.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

This year the Eastern Canada conifer seed crop was poor so Pine Siskins and Purples Finches are streaming into the south in what is called an irruption.  Even rarer northern birds may join them to spice up the winter months.  Keep an eye out for these and other winter birds.       

By Its Bark

 

Flowering Dogwood bark looks like alligator hide.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

The title for this blog is the answer to a bad riddle.  Here it goes.  “How do you tell a Dogwood tree?”  “By its bark”.  Get it?  By its bark.  I know, it is a bad riddle.

For most of the year, you can identify trees by leaves, flowers and fruits. But in the winter, bark is one few clues we have for tree ID.  Bark’s main job is to provide a waterproof protective layer for trees, shrubs and woody vines.  The outermost layer of bark is called cork.  Cork Oak, Quercus suber, a tree that grows around the Mediterranean basin, produces abundant cork.  This cork is used to stopper wine bottles.  The Southeastern United States has many trees with interesting and diagnostic bark.

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) is a small tree native to Eastern North American forests.  In early spring, Dogwood produces its familiar four bracted flowers that fill the woods with clouds of white. The flowers develop into red berries in autumn and are the favorite food of many migrating birds.  Dogwood bark is gray with small rectangular plates that give the tree the appearance of alligator hide.  So yes, you can tell a Dogwood by its bark.  

 

Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata) bark is arranged 
in large plates.  
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) with the outer
layers of bark scorched by fire. 
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Many pines (Pinus sp.) are adapted to live in environments with frequent fires and the bark is part of that adaptation.  Pine bark is dark brown, thick and scaly.  The bark is arranged in large plates that help make the tree fireproof.  A low ground fire will burn off the outer bark scales but allow the tree to survive. 

 

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) bark.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) has light bark mottled with red, brown, gray and white patches.  The light bark color makes these trees glow in the winter woods.  As American Sycamore ages the bark on the lower parts of the trunk becomes scaly and peeling. 

 

This hollow American Sycamore is a townhouse
for Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).  They are peeking
out from upstairs and down.  

Another tree with peeling bark is River Birch (Betula nigra).  Paper-thin strips of bark slough off the trunks of this wetland tree. A related species Betula papyrifera, Paper Birch, grows in the Northeastern United States and Canada.  Northern Indian tribes used the bark of this tree to make their iconic birch bark canoes. 

 

River Birch (Betula nigra) has peeling bark.
Mecklenburg, County, North Carolina. 

I think American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) has the most beautiful bark in our area.  The bark is clean, smooth and mottled light gray.  Being so smooth makes American Beech a favorite tree for carving initials and declaring undying love.

 

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) has smooth, gray bark.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

American Beech bark with carved graffiti.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) really does have shaggy bark. As you walk through the woods, you can see long strips of gray bark hanging from the trunks of mature trees.  Native Americans used Shagbark Hickory bark to make sugar and medicines.   

 

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) and its shaggy bark.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Northern Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) has interesting bark.  On the lower sections of the trunk, the bark makes ridges, nay even cordilleras, of cork.   Upper branches of the tree lack these odd ornaments.  This tree hosts the caterpillar of the Hackberry Emperor Butterfly Asterocampa celtis.  

 

Northern Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) with corky growths
on its bark.  Rowan County, North Carolina.

Closeup of Northern Hackberry cork ridges.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

                                 

Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis) caterpillars
develop on Northern Hackberry.  
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. 

Winged Elm (Ulmus alata) gets its common name from the extensive wings of cork on the stems.  The bark proliferates on each side of a branch to make the wings.  Another tree that makes cork wings on its stem is Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua).  The function of the winged stems of these two trees is unknown.

 

Winged Elm (Ulmus elata) branch with cork wings. 
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

 

Stem of Sweetgum (Liquidamber styraciflua) with its winged stem.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

The final example of interesting bark is a ringer from the tropics. Eucalyptus deglupta, Rainbow Gum, is a rainforest tree from the islands of the Southwest Pacific.  The bark of this tree has stripes of red, green, orange and blue.  Outside its natural range, Rainbow Gum is a horticultural tree grown in warm climates from the American tropics to South Florida, Texas and California.  We found this one, with is colorful bark, at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Coral Gables, Florida.  

 

Rainbow Gum (Eucalyptus deglupta).
Miami-Dade County, Florida. 

 

One more joke.  “Why do Dogwood trees make good pets?”  

“They have great bark and wooden bite.”   Groan.