June is a bountiful month for nesting birds, and the Tufted Titmouse is a common year round and nesting bird found around homes and gardens in the eastern US including eastern Gulf Coast, SE Texas. The adult males and females are identical, but single birds are more commonly seen in similar places with woodpeckers, chickadees, and wrens year round in our area as well as with kinglets and nuthatches during the winter. This small bird a little smaller than a sparrow is quite distinctive with its pointed head crest and small, but rounded, stout beak.
Unlike chickadees, they do not gather in large groups during the first of breeding season, but stay very close to their territory in pairs . . . but you may not often see them together. I have pairs in two distinct parts of my garden and most frequently in June see them around Carolina Chickdees. In fact, I have one feeder that really only the titmice, chickadees and woodpeckers like due to its grasping (non-perch) design. Since the Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice normally take one seed at a time, they fly to an understory tree to dine. Mine enjoy a Yaupon Holly and a Japanese Maple for dining. The maple has hanging bromeliads that also serve as drinking fountains.
During nesting season they also acrobatically forage on insects, but will also eat berries, nuts and suet. This variety of food makes it easier for them to remain in one territory year round. Not as quick as chickadees and wrens, these curious birds will often look at me straight on. One sang busily to me last week. Their calls and songs are pretty, but without the volume of the Carolina Wren.
The adults differ from the juveniles in that the juvvies are two shades of gray and do not have the black mark above their beak nor the russet flank under the wing. They nest in cavities of trees, nesting boxes and occasionally drain pipes. They cannot create their own nest cavity and depend on woodpeckers to craft them. Their nests use all kinds of hair including pet and human hair.
Bringing them to your garden: Tufted Titmouse frequent backyard bird feeders. They love sunflower seeds and have the strong beaks to open them, but will eat suet, peanuts, berries and other seeds as well. Insects during warmer seasons my divert them from feeders. They build their nests in cavities, so putting up nest boxes is a good way to attract breeding titmice to your yard. Enjoy understory trees and bushes and will forage in leaf piles.
See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan. Click photos to enlarge them.
Other nesting birds besides the Tufted Titimice this month with young in Janice's garden:
Summer Tanagers, Carolina Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Downey Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Robins, Mourning and White Wing Doves, House Finch, and Carolina Wrens. Be sure and visit Oyster Creek and Stafford Run as well as Mustang Bayou and the Brazos to see multitudes of water fowl young. In MacNaughton Park and on the golf courses, watch for Bald Eagles. Select nesting birds other nesting birds.
Comments