Birds Page 7

Canyon Towhee

Very common throughout the year in all of Los Alamos. Quite capable of even hopping around the garage if you leave the door open! Makes up for his rather plain colors with incredible personality.

Spotted Towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus

18 - 22 cm. The male Spotted Towhee has a black hood, back, and wings, with white wing bars and spots. The tail is black with white edging on the outer feathers. Its breast and belly are white with bright rufous sides. The female has the same pattern, but she is brown where the male is black. Both sexes have red eyes. the towhee prefers forest edges. It is a ground feeder and needs a nearby haven of a thicket or underbrush. They scratch the ground for insects in a dance pattern named the "Towhee Shuffle", and they similarly rummage for seeds at platform feeders. They may stay all year in dense unkempt gardens. It lays 3 - 6 white eggs, with reddish-brown and lilac spots, in a loose cup nest near the ground in a dense bush such as cedar or juniper. Its latin name means "red-eyed chirper". Its song varies with a few introductory notes and usually ending with a long trill, such as drink-your-teeaaa or to-wheeee. They are attracted by millet, sunflower seed, cracked corn, thistle seeds, and suet.

Fairly common year round. They will eat from platform feeders.

Evening Grosbeak

May be common one year and uncommon the next. Flocks can visit bird feeders consuming vast amounts of sunflower seeds.

Acorn Woodpecker

Beautiful woodpecker with clown-like face. They are commonly seen in the spring, summer and fall. They will visit platform feeders and like to perch on dead trees where the store acorns and nuts.

Downy Woodpecker

Common throughout the year and will visit suet feeders. A small bird, but listed on this page for grouping with the other woodpeckers.

Hairy Woodpecker

Common throughout the year and will visit suet feeders.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (rare)

Rare visitor to the area, sometimes seen scaling various trees, but never at the feeders.

Lewis's Woodpecker (rare)

A bizarre, beautiful woodpecker that is scarce and localized in the west. Can be seen in Los Alamos during the fall migration in September. The picture does not do this bird justice, it has an oily green back, red face, pink belly, and silver-gray collar.

Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus

30 cm. Flickers are a large brownish woodpecker. The have a black bib and mustache, gray cap, and red nape (females lack the mustache). Their back is brownish with dark bars, and their chest is whitish with black spots. They have yellow under wings. Flickers have a sticky tongue that extends 2 inches beyond their bill. They feed on ants and other ground insects and also, in winter, on berries. They have two toes forward, and two toes back for vertical grip and a stiff tail used as a prop. They are often the first birds to the feeders in the morning. Its voice is a loud repeated flicker or wicka-wicka-wicka. Its preferred habitat is open country with trees; parks and large gardens. They hollow out their nests in dead trees and lay 6-8 eggs. Flickers are important in the woodland community, because they provide cavities for many hole-nesting birds. Feeder attractants are suet, peanut butter, fruits and seeds. Place nesting box over dense shrubbery and fill with sawdust or put a mirror inside opposite the door.

Clark's Nutcracker

Fairly common in spring, summer and fall.

Red-tailed Hawk

Common hawk of the area. Commonly seen in the air and even comes to the deck occasionally. Often seen perched along the roadside near the Los Alamos airport.

Cooper's Hawk

Rarely seen in the skies over Los Alamos. However, they are fairly common at Bandelier.

American Kestrel

Our smallest falcon is commom in open parts of the county. Often seen perched on wires along the roadside.

Piñon Jay

Spectacularly colorful and noisy flocks arrive in the summer and can clean out the bird feeder in no time. Flocks tend to follow the piñon nut crop.

Scrub Jay

Common jay year round eating from platform feeders and suet.

Steller's Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri

30 - 34 cm. This is the only western jay with a crested head which is black and melds into a blue body. Rocky Mountain varieties have white eyebrows. Its call is a raucous shack-shack-shack or chook-chook-chook voice. It will mimic the voice of hawks and other birds. It lives in coniferous forests; pine and oak forests. It lays 3-5 spotted greenish eggs in a well hidden neat twiggy bowl lined with small roots and fibers. Jays are omnivores and quickly become accustomed to eating the crumbs left around campsites and picnic areas. Feeder attractions are peanuts, suet, cracked corn, peanut butter and sunflower seeds.

Beautiful crested jay that is common year round. Will feed from platform feeders.

Mourning Dove

One of the most common birds in Los Alamos. When it takes flight, the wings make a whistling noise.

Greater Roadrunner

Fairly common in White Rock. They are often present near feeders not to eat the seed but to ambush other birds.

Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura

64 -81 cm. Wings 1.8 m. This eagle size vulture is one of three vulture species that breeds in North America. In flight, the long wings are held upward in a wide shallow V. Their flight feathers are silvery below and their tail is long. All vultures have bare heads which prevents their feathers from being fouled when feeding on carrion. The Turkey Vulture's small bare head is reddish, but gray in immature birds. It can coast for hours, swaying from side to side, as it searches for carcasses. As they soar, vultures ride columns of warm air called thermals to save energy as they cover miles of territory. They migrate north toward Canada to breed. The Turkey Vulture is usually silent, but it may hiss or grunt while feeding or at the nest. They lay two whitish eggs, heavily marked with dark brown and placed without a nest or lining in a rock crevice, hollow dead tree or fallen log. Know as the buzzard of the west, these birds are important to the ecosystem because they scavenge and clean up what others have left behind.

Seen soaring in the skies throughout Los Alamos in the spring, summer and fall. They can be seen roosting in Los Alamos canyon near the ice rink and on the Falls Trail at Bandelier.

Common Raven

Very common bird in Los Alamos. Can often be seen soaring in the skies. The rounded tail of the raven can be used to differentiate them from the crow.

Gambel's Quail

Can be see in White Rock often travelling in coveys for most of the year.