| RUFFED GROUSE Our State Bird. In other parts of the country, grouse may be called "partridge." Ruffed grouse weigh about 1½ pounds on the average. The predominant color may be gray or reddish-brown. Nests on the ground, often at the base of a tree; one brood per year. The male displays to attract females he fans his tail, erects the black ruff on his neck, and beats cupped wings to make a booming sound, called drumming. Food: buds, fruits and leaves of aspen birch, beech and maple; grapes, other fruits and nuts. Grouse populations peak about every 10 years. Game bird. |
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KILLDEER Golf courses are a favorite hangout for this bird of open fields. Although it's a shorebird, the killdeer is often found far from water. A loud, clear kill-deee may attract your attention before you see the brown and white bird with a double black "necklace.'' Lays eggs (usually four) in a slight, shallow scrape in dirt or gravel. If disturbed near the nest, the female will pretend to be injured in order to lure a potential predator from the nest area. An insect-eater, the killdeer is the farmer's and gardener's friend. |
| AMERICAN
ROBIN Perhaps the first bird most people learn to recognize, "robin redbreast'' is a brown bird with darker head and tail and a rusty-red breast. The male's breast in spring is the most vivid. The robin's call is a series of chirps, rising and falling. Food: earthworms and insects. Young robins often fall out of their nests and die, but robins produce so many young each year that the population remains fairly stable. Nests are of mud and grass, in a tree or on a ledge. These nests are protected, as are those of most songbirds, by federal law. |
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EASTERN BLUEBIRD Once a common sight in the Pennsylvania countryside, the bluebird has dwindled in the past half-century. Among the many reasons for its decline are loss of tree-cavity nesting spots, and competition for the few sites from house sparrows and starlings. Many outdoorsmen erect suitable bluebird nest boxes in an effort to bring back this lovely little bird with the voracious appetite for insects. Boxes must be the exact size to let bluebirds in and keep competitors out. Both sexes are blue with reddish throat and breast, but the male is much brighter. Favorite habitat is open farmland and roadsides. Call, a soft warble. |
| GREAT BLUE HERON The heron is a large wading bird with long legs and neck. The great blue is about three feet tall, with a gray-blue body, white head and black "eyebrow" plume. Herons walk slowly through fresh- or salt-water shallows hunting fish, frogs, and crustaceans; they may also eat small mammals and reptiles. Nest in trees, in colonies called "rookeries." In Pennsylvania, great blues breed mostly in northwestern counties. Call, a hoarse squawk. The neck is crooked in flight. Some individuals remain through winter on open water, though most migrate south. |
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NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD "King of Songs" could be his title—or "The Great Pretender." He's a long-tailed bird, dark gray above, light gray beneath, with white patches on wings and tail. He sings almost constantly, especially on clear spring nights, imitating many bird songs as well as other animal sounds, whistles, creaking doors, musical instruments, and so on. Some folks find this annoying; others, a source of continual amusement and pleasure. The singing male prefers a high perch—often a television antenna. Food: insects and wild fruits. Rare here in earlier years; now fairly common in southern Pennsylvania. |
| MALLARD Best-known of our waterfowl, mallards may remain here all year where water is free of ice. The male (drake) has an iridescent green head, white neck band and reddish chest; the hen is mottled brown. Both sexes have a bluish-purple patch on the wings, called a speculum. Eight to 10 eggs are laid in a nest on the ground. Food: mostly aquatic plants, some grain, insects and small fish. Call is a loud quack. Wild birds may join domestic ducks, and may interbreed with domestic or other wild ducks. Duck hunting is regulated by state and federal laws. |
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EUROPEAN STARLING This bird is so common here that it's hard to believe it's not native to the United States, but was brought in from Europe in 1890. First introduced into New York's Central Park, it had reached Pennsylvania by 1904. Now it roosts, often on city buildings, by the tens of thousands and may be a real nuisance. Starlings drive native birds such as bluebirds from their nest cavities. On the other hand, they eat a lot of insects. Starlings are iridescent black with a yellow bill in summer; black speckled with white, with a dark bill in winter. |
| EVENING GROSBEAK Most often seen in winter at the backyard feeder—some years quite common, other years absent. When it does appear here, it's most easily attracted by sunflower seeds. About the same size as the cardinal, with whom it may be seen at the feeder, the grosbeak's black, white, and yellow are nicely set off by the cardinal's red. In both species, the female's color is duller than the male's. Outside the backyard, its favorite habitat is coniferous forests, its favorite food the seeds of box-elder. Call is a loud chirp. |
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CANADA GOOSE Along with turkeys, our largest game birds. With careful management the population nationwide doubled between 1955 and 1975. Both sexes have a brown body and black head and neck, with a white cheek patch. Some Canadas winter here; most migrate in V formations, honking loudly. Adults mate for life, breeding when three years old. They nest on the ground near water, and readily use artificial nesting devices. Food: aquatic plants, roots, grains and insects. May bother landowners by grazing heavily on fields near wetlands. |
| RING-NECKED PHEASANT This popular game bird is a native of Asia, first successfully stocked in this country in Oregon in 1881. Pennsylvania's first effort to permanently establish the ringneck was in 1915. The brightly-colored iridescent male takes off with a loud cackle when flushed. Hen pheasants are much better camouflaged in brown and black. Favorite habitat: grain fields, meadows, bushy fence rows, open marshes, old weed fields and pastures. Eats at least 56 species of plant foods and many insects; quite fond of corn. |
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RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD Lucky is the person who spies this three-inch bit of brightness hovering insectlike near a blossom. Only the male has the bright-red throat; both sexes are iridescent green above and white below. The call is a rapid squeak, but you may also hear their high-speed wings "humming" in flight. Food is insects and nectar, especially from tubular red or orange flowers, easily lured to sugar-water feeders. The nest is a tiny cup fashioned of floss from milkweed and other plants, held together with spider or tentworm silk, and covered with bits of lichen. It holds eggs (usually two) the size of small beans. |
| BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE Every hunter, hiker, and skier probably knows this pert little gray-white-and-black bundle of woodland energy. They've enjoyed his curiosity—he'll edge closer and closer if you remain quite still—and his bright TSICK-dee-dee-dee which enlivens the winter woods. He's around all year long, but is most noticeable in winter when many other birds have departed for sunnier places. He's often seen with nuthatches, titmice and downy woodpeckers in winter. Insects fuel his fires; he's a great benefit to farmers and foresters. |
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AMERICAN KESTREL Smallest but most colorful Pennsylvania falcon, often seen perched on telephone wires watching for prey. The robin-size kestrel has a rusty back, speckled breast, gray forehead and black whisker- and ear-marks; males have blue-gray wings, females rusty wings. Nests in tree cavities or nest boxes sometimes in building eaves. Kestrels prefer to eat insects, especially grasshoppers, but will also eat small mammals, reptiles and birds. You may see one hovering above a field, then dropping on prey. Call, a distinctive killy-killy-killy. |
| RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE Despite its obscure-sounding name, this is a common bird of brushy woods, often mistaken for a robin. Its red, however, is just on the sides, not the whole breast. Neck, head and back are black in males, brown in females. It sings DRINK-your-TEA repeatedly, trilling the tea. The towhee (pronounced TOE-he) scratches through leaves on the ground looking for insects and seeds and hops from bush to bush in the undergrowth, making lots of noise. Some individuals remain in Pennsylvania all year. |
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DOWNY WOODPECKER Most abundant of our woodpeckers, this little sparrow-sized bird with black and white wings and white back is well-known to outdoorsmen. The male has a red patch on his head. Call is a soft pik; most common sound is the tap-tap-tap of a downy looking for beetle eggs and grubs. True friends of foresters, woodpeckers help control wood destroying insects, and hollow out nests only in the softer wood of dead or dying limbs. Abandoned woodpecker nests are often used by other birds and mammals. The hairy woodpecker is almost a twin but a few inches bigger. |
| SCREECH OWL Small (about eight inches) but very common owl, with ear-tufts and yellow eyes. Mottled, color varies from reddish to brownish to gray (gray is most common in Pennsylvania). Year-round resident in lightly wooded areas and suburbs. Nests in tree cavities or nest boxes, and will defend nest fearlessly, attacking humans which venture near. Mostly nocturnal, flies silently. Eats small mammals (mostly mice); also insects, small reptiles, house sparrows. Voice: a quavering, descending wail, heard most often at dusk. |
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RED-TAILED HAWK The most common hawk, a year-round resident of our state, is the redtail. As you might guess from its name, its most striking characteristic is a rusty-red tail. Spread in flight, with sun shining down through it, that tail is quite striking; when conditions are not so good, however, it may not look red at all. The back and upper wings are brown, the underparts more or less speckled but with a distinct band of darker speckles across the belly. Often seen perched in a tree near open country, or soaring above searching with sharp eyes for small rodents. |
| TURKEY VULTURE An unattractive bird with an unpleasant odor; yet immensely valuable. Vultures eat carrion; you might call them the garbage disposers of the bird world. What a mess we'd have without them! Common in summer; some stay through winter in southeastern and occasionally southwestern counties. Large, black bird with naked red head. High, soaring flight; wingspread about six feet; wings are black in front, light gray at tips and back, characteristically held in a shallow V rather than straight out. Nests in rock crevices or hollow logs. |
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