Atlantic Puffin: Research

Photo by Steve Garvie, via Wikimedia Commons

The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a bird I've never seen in life. But I really, really want to see one. This is a bird I would be willing to travel to see, even though they live where it tends to get cold. It's not that they're rare, or that there's even anything that interesting about them... except that they're pretty, or at least distinguished looking. With their black and white plumage and colorful beak, they look like clowns that are slightly worried about something. Some folks might find that creepy, but I kind of like it.

Atlantic Puffins are seabirds, members of the auk family. They eat fish, primarily, and nest on rocky outcroppings next to the sea in the North Atlantic. It has some clever, if obvious, nicknames: "clown of the sea" and "sea parrot."

Puffins have fairly long lives, and can live up to 30 years. They live primarily at sea, but when it comes time to nest, they live in colonies and nest in burrows on cliff sides. Dad clears the burrow; both mom and dad incubate the eggs and care for the chicks until they fledge.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Research

Photo by Greg7 on Flickr, via Wikipedia Commons

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is, as its name suggests, a chickadee with chestnut-colored feathers on its back and under its wings. The mask/cap and throat are similar to the more familiar Black-capped Chickadee. (Their cousin, the Mountain Chickadee, has a white eye stripe.)

Like other chickadees, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee has a large head in proportion to the rest of its body, making it look kind of like a Weeble with a tail. They are small birds, 4 - 5 inches long, with small, black beaks and fairly long tails. Most of their diet is comprised of insects, but they will eat seeds and berries.

Chestnut-backed Chickadees live on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Central California, and across northern Washington and Idaho. I saw them for the first time at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, near the Raptor Center; the folks at the Raptor Center keep some feeders full, and the feeders are routinely visited by nuthatches, chickadees, towhees and the ubiquitous sparrows. (This sort of begs the question, are they trying to tease the raptors? Perhaps not, since not all raptors like to eat songbirds; some would rather nosh on larger birds or mammals.)

Cooper's Hawk: Research

We have hawks in the yard: Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks. They look very similar to one another, but the Cooper's Hawk is larger... we didn't know how much larger until we went to DC and saw the "Birds of DC" at the National Museum of Natural History.

Photo from Wikipedia.

The Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk that's very common at feeders. The one in our yard last year liked to sit on the fence right next to the tree where I have the finch socks.

Cooper's Hawks live year-round across the continental United States. Western birds are smaller than their eastern counterparts.

It's a crow-sized long-legged hawk that looks like its wearing pantaloons, with a long barred tail. Adults have red or orange eyes; juveniles have yellow eyes. As with many birds of prey, the female is about 1/3 larger than the male. Wings and tails are dark brown, underparts buffy with dark bars. Chest and pantaloons have reddish bars.

As you might suspect from their prevalence at feeders, the Cooper's Hawk feeds mainly on small songbirds, with some rodents added into the mix.

Northern Cardinal: Research

Photo by Ken Thomas, via Wikipedia Commons

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a medium-sized songbird found throughout the Eastern and Southwestern US and (oddly enough) in some places on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu (successful introduction). Both male and female have a distinctive crest and orange beak. The male is red; female is brown with red on her crest and wing and tail.

Cardinals live year-round in their range, but will move to avoid extreme temperatures or food shortages. They live in woodlands, swamps and suburbs. As with other feeder birds, the Cardinal is subject to predation by backyard hawks.

The Cardinal can be extremely territorial; if another bird enters a place the Cardinal thinks is his, the bird will be chastised and likely chased away. It is, apparently, not unusual for male Cardinals to attack their own reflections, at least during breeding season. Some of them have been observed doing this for hours at a time.

Cardinals have a distinctive song, sung by both males and females, which they use to attract a mate, in courtship and to lay claim to territory. Since songs are learned, there are regional variations.

The bird's diet consists primarily of seeds (look at the design of that beak!), but as with most birds, it also eats bugs and fruit.

Places to look for information about the Northern Cardinal:

1. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology site, All About Birds.


2. The Wikipedia article on the Northern Cardinal.