Verdin…by Brad Marks

Well, I have to say it has been quite the week and one of the few times I don’t mind the time accelerating past. Now we will start transitioning into the Christmas spirit here at Intrigued HQ keeping in mind there is still an important holiday to celebrate – in direct obstinacy to the corporate merchants who want us to start celebrating red and green long before orange and black has had its day. While I continue to tend to the weakened body part(s) and we get used to a sadly much quieter home, Brad is going to bring us a new feathered friend for he and Jan.

Take it away Brad…

I think I’ve found the secret for finding those small little spastic birds; let Jan take photos while I’m doing something else.  Shhh!  Don’t tell her.  Oops, it’s probably too late since she edits my stories before they go out.

Earlier this spring Jan and I were visiting the wildlife areas near Las Vegas.  Brian has posted on this particular bird from Henderson Birding Viewing Preserve (story here).  I had just gotten off the phone when Jan found me wandering one of the trails of Clark County Wetlands (here), looking for her.  She said she found a little yellow bird and then asked me, “What is it?”  Hard to tell from the little LCD view screen on the back of Jan’s camera.

Hit the jump to read more about this desert resident.

I probably mumbled something like, “I don’t know, but I bet it’s a +1 for us.  We’ll have to see it on the big screen (meaning not the back of the camera) at the hotel later.”  Well, that’s almost the way it happened.  Not long after we chatted, I found a sign along the trail showing common birds in the wildlife preserve.  Guess which bird was on it? 

At least that’s how I remember it while I was wrangling the camera on my new Black Rapid strap and holding onto my mobile phone while thinking about where we were going to find a hotel for the eclipse after our other one was cancelled a week before the big event (link here).  Whew!  Big sentence, but there was a lot going on in those few seconds of time.  Not to worry, we did find another place near the center line on the path of totality in southern Illinois near the home of Popeye (think spinach).

OK, OK, back to the bird story, this is a wildlife blog after all. 

The perky little yellow bird Jan found was a Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps) a +1 for us.  Verdin are similar in size and shape to chickadees, but a bit less round, and with a smaller head than a chickadee.  Who thinks to measure these things?  These cute little birds are pale grey with a yellow head and chestnut patches on their shoulders. 

As many of our astute readers already know, Las Vegas is located in the desert.  I certainly couldn’t tell we were in a desert from the variety of habitats I was seeing.  Oh sure, the trails were either concrete, or nicely maintained crushed gravel.  The foliage on both sides of the trails was varied and well-hydrated.  Since Jan and I were two of the very first people at the park that bright and sunny morning, we nearly had the entire place to ourselves.  Even though we were there very early in the day, the temperature was already near 80F under the cloudless desert sky.

Verdin build two types of nests; one for breeding and one for roosting.  The male constructs most of the spherical shell of the breeding nest while the female finishes most of the lining on the interior.  The roosting nest has thicker walls to help reduce the energy required to keep warm in the winter, up to 50% less.  The summer/breeding nests usually open towards prevailing winds, to help with cooling?

Pairs will be build multiple nests year-round and in close proximity to each other.  Both sexes incubate the eggs and tend to their chicks.  Once the chicks fledge, they forage with their parents for a little while.  After a few weeks, the offspring end up building a nest not very far away, probably for laundry and meal privileges at the parent’s nest.

Verdin usually eat insects and spiders (which makes Jan very happy—less for her to worry about), but have been known to eat fruit, nectar, and some plant matter.  They may also visit hummingbird feeders, but tend not to be fans of seed feeders. The forage mostly in small trees, about 10 feet off the ground.  

Even though Verdin populations have declined roughly 60% since the late 1960’s, the species is of low conservation concern, partly because there is still a rather large population.  Loss of habitat in their year-round range, the American Southwest and northern Mexico, is the biggest threat to these colorful little birds. 

Credits:

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  I wasn’t around when many of the photos were being taken.  Consequently, I made up most of this story.  Jan contributed all but one of them with her brand new (new to us anyway) 200-500mm Nikon lens.  Thanks to Jan for most of the photos in this article.