Chickadees find a creative way to keep feathers in top condition — a snow bath

Q: One winter we had an amazingly well-built cardinal nest in a shrub outside our kitchen window. It held together as snow built up inside the bowl, and we often saw chickadees “bathing” in the snow-bowl, much as birds in summer fluff themselves up in soil or sand.

A: I am so envious of your opportunities to observe this chickadee behavior — I had no idea they took snow baths.

Q: I had some very unusual-looking birds at my finch feeder in early January. Looking at my bird book, the only thing that comes close is a wheatear.

A: The photo you sent shows American goldfinches at your feeders, enjoying the nyger seed you provide. Many of us get confused by these little birds at this time of year, because they look so different in winter compared with summertime. In winter they’re more of a taupe color, with dramatic wing markings. These little birds move around in fall and winter, so you might not have noticed them at your feeders earlier. As spring approaches they’ll molt into their brighter plumage.

Q: I’m hoping you can help me identify a hawk I occasionally see gliding between the houses in my St. Paul neighborhood. It’s mostly gray, a little bigger than a crow and with a white band at the end of its tail. The only one that comes close, in my bird book, is a gray hawk, but I know that’s not it. Any ideas?

A: You’ve provided some excellent identification tips (size, color and tail tips), leading me to suspect that a Cooper’s hawk is hunting over your neighborhood. These birds prey on other birds (and, sometimes, squirrels), from juncos to starlings, and are increasingly making their home in cities. Cooper’s hawks are beautifully designed for the lives they lead and it’s exciting to watch them swoop through the backyard.

Q: I still worry about the robins hanging around in winter, even though experts say they survive on fruit. But what fruit is still around in winter?

A: At this point in the winter there’s still a great deal of fruit out in nature. Robins that spend the winter here can be found eating crabapples, mountain ash berries, winterberries, rose hips and hackberries, among other things. They’ll try just about anything to see if it’s food. If you have robins around your backyard and would like to put out a treat for them, you could chop up some apple slices, raisins and/or frozen fruit and put it outside in a dish. They’ll eat these even if the fruit freezes.

Q: One of your readers asked about putting up a roost box for birds to sleep in at night, and you wrote that you doubted that birds would use it. I think you’re right. I put up a roost box and no birds used it, but a family of flying squirrels moved in. It was fun to watch them flit from my feeder to the roost box in the evening.

A: How lucky for you — busy little flying squirrels provide months of entertainment. Before I lost a large maple tree in my backyard, flying squirrels roosted in its many cavities and came out each evening to feed and glide around. I still miss them.

Q: I noticed an unusual woodpecker at my peanut feeder the other day. It wasn’t a black and white downy or hairy woodpecker. It looked more like a zebra in back and it had a bright orange head. Was this unusual?

A: Sounds like a male red-bellied woodpecker showed up for some peanuts, one of their favorite foods. Their name doesn’t fit this fairly common woodpecker very well: Instead of being named for their striking orange-red head, the naturalist who named the species emphasized the faint tinge of pinky color on their stomach. It’s fun to listen for their distinctive “kwirr, kwirr” calls before they drop in for a visit. Visit this site to learn more and to hear their call: allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/.

Q: We see red-tailed hawks in the daytime, perching on top of freeway light poles, but I wonder: Where do they sleep at night?

A: Good question, and the Raptor Center has the answer. Here’s what interim director Lori Arent says: “Red-tailed hawks usually sleep in trees within their territories, usually deciduous trees. Most often the hawks are well hidden, perched close to the trunk and fairly high up. These trees usually have thick branches for easy gripping, protective cover that both conceals the hawks (to protect them from nighttime predators) and from adverse weather conditions such as cold and wind and provide easy access to land and take off.”

Q: We recently had three bluebirds at our birdbath in January. Do you think they were migrating through?

A: Seeing bluebirds in the dead of winter can be a surprise, but a number of them remain in our area during the cold months. If the weather isn’t too severe and they find enough food to eat (usually “freeze-dried” fruit), they can survive the winter. These birds will be well positioned for spring, when they can claim prime nesting sites before the return of the bluebirds that left last fall.

Q: I was driving in the countryside and noticed several flocks of small birds on the roadside, maybe feeding on something. What were they doing there?

A: Those roadside birds you’re seeing in winter are probably either goldfinches, tree sparrows, horned larks or snow buntings. These birds are seed eaters, and they need some way to grind up their food. This grinding happens in the gizzard, and the gizzard needs to be stocked with tiny stones to do the grinding. So the roadside flocks of birds that swirl up every time a car passes are swallowing small stones and grit to help digest their food.

Note to readers: Here’s a good tip from Eric Olson, Minneapolis, for making birdbaths accessible for drinking but not bathing on days when it’s life-threateningly cold: “I fashioned a piece of chicken wire (about 14 inches square) into a thick pancake shape, and placed it in the center of my birdbath,” he wrote, adding that the pancake can be left in place, with fresh water poured through it, but is also easily removed.

St. Paul resident Val Cunningham, who volunteers with bird organizations and writes about nature for local, regional and national newspapers and magazines, can be reached at valwrites@comcast.net.