Fluttering

February 6, 2010, 9:18 am • Tags: , ,

icon_08Bushtits are small birds common in shrubby and woodland habitats. They are a year round resident of the western United States, and do not seem to mind residential areas. Its high pitch twittering contact call is first heard followed by the appearance of a flock ranging up to fifty birds. Members of the group constantly make contact calls to each other that can be described as a short “tsit”.

They typically swoop into an area en mass, bustle around noisily while eating and socializing, and then depart for more insect rich patches of greenery. They glean the vegetation for insects often hanging upside down in their search, gradually moving through the area.

Bushtits build elaborate pendulous nests made up of soft plant material, cobwebs, and man made items like threads and string. They are one of the first birds described to have helpers at the nest, a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents, of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters.

The birds successfully petitioned for a change-of name when it was brought to their attention that the word “common” had unsavory connotations, a circumstance made particularly agregious by the fact they already had a reputation as noisy little tits. Despite its name, the Bushtit is not a well-endowed member of a prominent American political family.