"Nature Guide Journal"

10 January 2002

A week or two ago I was standing at my second-story office window, gazing at the leaden sky, thinking about something or other. Now I don't remember what I was thinking about because my preoccupation was shattered by a sudden flash of small wings a few feet from my face.

A chestnut-backed chickadee flew up to the window and, with an agile twist, perched sideways on the horizontal strip dividing the window. I froze; the chickadee did not. It snatched something from the snarl of webbing in the corner of the window—presumably a spider—then flitted off to perch in the bare maple just beneath the window.

Finishing it's freshly caught snack, the tiny hunter gave me a chance to admire its handsome pattern of black, white, and reddish-brown.

I immediately called a friend to share the event. While we were on the phone, a Townsend's warbler flew up to a different window and pulled the same spider-sampling maneuver. About the same size as chickadees, Townsend's warblers sport surprisingly vivid black-and-yellow markings on the face.

From my window I noticed the entire back yard aflutter with small birds. The lone Townsend's warbler left my window to join a small flock of chestnut-backed chickadees and dark-eyed juncos that were skittishly feeding among the lichen-flocked apple trees.

Previously called "Oregon juncos," dark-eyed juncos look rather like they've been dipped head-first into black- or slate-colored paint.

Juncos measure just over five inches long; chickadees and warblers are just over four inches long. Juncos are primarily seed-eaters that occasionally take insects; chickadees and warblers glean branches and trunks for small arthropods, occasionally adding occasional seeds and fruit to their diet.

Working it's way along the fence wires was a Bewick's wren, with the characteristic light-colored belly and jaunty white eye stripe. The Bewick's wren was heard earlier this year in my yard, but the leafless cover made it more visible. Scarcer insect food in the undergrowth probably added to its boldness.

All the birds feeding at my windows and in my suburban Coos Bay yard that afternoon are Coos County residents. Chestnut-backed chickadees, Townsend's warblers, dark-eyed juncos, and several other resident species migrate seasonally within the county. Like perhaps most in-county migrants, those three spend the breeding season at higher elevations or in deeper forests and move to more open low-lands in winter—providing entertaining surprises outside our urban windows.