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.