The flicker or yellow hammer is another woodpecker that is with us in winter as well as summer. He varies somewhat from the rest of his family in habits, in that, he feeds considerably on the ground, consuming a large number of ants. He is quiet during the winter, but his loud and cheerful notes are one of the first bird songs of spring.
A bird which resembles the woodpecker in his method of feeding, is the brown creeper, a pretty little brown bird, with a long curved bill and long sharp claws, who spends most of his time in climbing trees. Unlike a woodpecker, he goes up the trunk by going spirally around it, thus going over the whole tree before he flies to the next one and repeats the operation. The color of his back closely resembles the bark of a tree, and when disturbed he will sometimes crouch close to the tree where it is almost impossible to see him. In the spring, before departing north to breed, they often sing their pretty tune to us, which, however, we are lucky to hear. In the coldest weather they are frequently seen on trees by the wayside, and I have seen them on Boylston street, Boston, as busy and contented as ever.
The nuthatch is another bird which climbs, and, unlike either the woodpeckers or creepers, he goes down the tree head first, instead of backing down, and for this reason has been nicknamed “Devil Downhead.” There are two nuthatches which are fairly common during the winter months, the white-breasted and the red-breasted. The former more commonly frequents orchards and the roadside, while the latter prefers to frolic, with the chicadees, among the evergreens. They seldom stay with us in the summer, usually nesting farther north.
The goldfinch is also a regular winter visitor; but at this season he has none of his bright colors of the summer time; but is a plain little olive green bird, with dark wings and a gray breast. They feed considerably on thistles, but when the snow falls they take whatever berries they can find. I remember seeing four or five of them, one day two winters ago, coming up and feeding upon the berries of a honeysuckle vine near my window, and at another time I saw them eating with chicadees in some cedars.
Cedar birds, although they do not stay with us any length of time, may be seen at different periods during the winter. They are very pretty birds, being brownish drab above and sulphur yellow below, while the wings are marked by spots of bright red. They travel in very large flocks and soon have one locality completely cleared of food, when they depart elsewhere. One is first attracted by their peculiar lisping notes, which, coming from so many throats, make quite a noise, and upon looking up, he will see them perhaps in flight or more probably roosting on the branches of some elm or oak; or flitting about a cedar, stripping it of its berries. They are also great lovers of cherries, and when this fruit is ripe they may be seen in large numbers in some orchard.
A journey into the woods on a cold winter day may reveal to one a flock of small birds, which have the appearance of a lot of sparrows which had been dyed purple, the colors of the sparrow plainly showing, beneath the purple tinge or wash on their backs and heads. These are lesser redpoll linnets. Very hard working little birds, that usually delight in the arctic regions, we see them only when the severest cold drives them south. They fly in very large flocks, and Miss Blanchan says of them, “First, we see a quantity of dots, like a shake of pepper, in the cloud above, then the specks grow larger and larger, and finally the birds seem to drop from the sky upon some tall tree that they completely cover—a veritable cloudburst of birds.”
The red crossbill is a similar bird to the redpoll, but is larger and has the two mandibles of his bill crossed, by the means of which he extracts the seeds from the pine cones. We only see him in the coldest winters, but then he is very tame and may allow one to pick him up, and he has even been known to stay in a cage without a murmur.
These are all our important winter birds, but the robin and bluejay might be mentioned although they are more birds of the summer than winter.
Winthrop Smith.
