GRAND TETON NATURE NOTES

WINTER BIRD GUESTS

by Sylvia Stagner

One of the special pleasures the winter affords here is the fun of watching the birds as they flock to our feeding tables. We learn to recognize them not only as chickadees, jays, and crows, but also as engaging individuals who vary in size and temperament just as people do.

Chickadees, both the Long-tailed (Penthestes atricapillus) with their perky black caps, and the Mountain Chickadee (Penthestes gambeli) with a white stripe over each eye, are our most numerous and welcome guests. Fat an and thin, large and small, they are a gay, zestful, songful lot. Last winter, however, one poor chickadee lost his tail feathers through some mishap or other and came to Hazel Hanks' feeding board regularly when the other birds were gone. He could fly, but had difficulty in maintaining his equilibrium, particularly when "taking off". Fortunately, as time went by his feathers grew out, and he became a normal happy chickadee again.

All winter a pair of Black-headed Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri anectens) have made themselves conspicuous with their amazing variety of chatter and vivid appearance — their shiny, black-crested heads and their gorgeous blue plumage being accented by the snowy background.

Another frequent visitor of the larger birds is the Rocky Mountain Jay or "Camp Bird" (Perisoreus canadensis capitalis) whose dark grey band across the back of his light grey head is a distinguishing feature. He is a curious and friendly sort of rascal, sometimes a bit tousled looking, who is usually on hand wherever there is any food to be found.

No such welcome visitor is the Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) whose heavy black bill shows him to be a member of the Crow family, and a handsome one, too, with his sleek gray body, black and white wings and tail. He is somewhat of a bully and monopolizes the feeding table.

Often we find the large, black and white striped Rocky Mountain hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus monticola) at our feeding boards. The male has a bright red bar across the nape of the neck. Occasionally a woodpecker about half as large as the Hairy and its exact duplicate in coloration comes, too,— the Batchelder's Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens leucurus).

Jess and Ella Roberts, who are spending the winter at Jenny Lake, report in addition to the above birds, the large handsome black and white American Magpies (Pica pica hudsonia) at their feeding table, as well as the tiny Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) All winter we watched for these colorful, fearless little creatures who seem equally at home upside down or right side up as they travel along the branches and trunks of trees. Finally in March a belated pair surprised and delighted us by coming regularly to the feeding boards.

Both Superintendent Whitcraft and Naturalist Stagner have been able to get some fine close-range moving pictures of these birds.

We know that Grouse (Dendragopus obscurus richardsoni) have been in the vicinity all winter, but now that Pink-sided Juncos (Junco mearnsi) are visiting our tables, we are convinced that Spring is on its way and soon our feeding tables will be deserted by our winter guests who have afforded us so much entertainment during the months of deep snow.

----------