Bird Neighbors [24]
the short time he spends with us before travelling to the far north, where he mates and nests. A nest has been found on Slide Mountain, in the Catskills, but the hardy evergreens of Canada, and sometimes those of northern New England, are the chosen home of this little bird that builds a nest of bits of root, lichens, and sedges, amply large for a family twice the size of his.
BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPING WARBLER (Mniotilta varia) Wood Warbler family
Called also: VARIED CREEPING WARBLER; BLACK-AND WHITE CREEPER; WHITEPOLL WARBLER; [BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, AOU 1998]
Length -- 5 to inches. About an inch smaller than the English sparrow. Male -- Upper parts white, varied with black. A white stripe along the summit of the head and back of the neck, edged with black. White line above and below the eye. Black cheeks and throat, grayish in females and young. Breast white in middle, with black stripes on sides. Wings and tail rusty black, with two white cross-bars on former, and soiled white markings on tail quills. Female -- Paler and less distinct markings throughout. Range -- Peculiar to America. Eastern United States and westward to the plains. North as far as the fur countries. Winters in tropics south of Florida. Migrations -- April. Late September. Summer resident.
Nine times out of ten this active little warbler is mistaken for the downy woodpecker, not because of his coloring alone, but also on account of their common habit of running up and down the trunks of trees and on the under side of branches, looking for insects, on which all the warblers subsist. But presently the true warbler characteristic of restless flitting about shows itself. A woodpecker would go over a tree with painstaking, systematic care, while the black-and-white warbler, no less intent upon securing its food, hurries off from tree to tree, wherever the most promising menu is offered.
Clinging to the mottled bark of the tree-trunk, which he so closely resembles, it would be difficult to find him were it not for these sudden fittings and the feeble song, "Weachy, weachy, weachy, 'twee, 'twee, 'tweet," he half lisps, half sings between his dashes after slugs. Very rarely indeed can his nest be found in an old stump or mossy bank, where bark, leaves. and hair make the downy cradle for his four or five tiny babies.
DUSKY AND GRAY AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS
Chimney Swift Kingbird Wood Pewee Phoebe and Say's Phoebe Crested Flycatcher Olive-sided Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Canada Jay Catbird Mocking-bird Junco White-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch Loggerhead Shrike Northern Shrike Bohemian Waxwing Bay-breasted Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Myrtle Warbler Parula Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler
See also the Grayish Green and the Grayish Brown Birds, particularly the Cedar Bird, several Swallows, the Acadian and the Yellow-bellied Flycatchers; Alice's and the Olive-backed Thrushes; the Louisiana Water Thrush; the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; and the Seaside Sparrow. See also the females of the following birds: Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Red Crossbill; Purple Martin; and the Nashville, the Pine, and the Magnolia Warblers.
DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS
CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chaetura pelagica) Swift family
Called also: CHIMNEY SWALLOW; AMERICAN SWIFT
Length -- to 5.45 inches. About an inch shorter than the English sparrow. Long wings make its length appear greater. Male and Female -- Deep sooty gray; throat of a trifle lighter gray. Wings extend an inch and a half beyond the even tail, which has sharply pointed and very elastic quills, that serve as props. Feet are muscular, and have exceedingly sharp claws. Range -- Peculiar to North America east of the Rockies, and from Labrador to Panama. Migrations -- April. September or October. Common summer resident.
The chimney swift is, properly speaking, not a swallow at all, though chimney swallow is its more popular name.
BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPING WARBLER (Mniotilta varia) Wood Warbler family
Called also: VARIED CREEPING WARBLER; BLACK-AND WHITE CREEPER; WHITEPOLL WARBLER; [BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, AOU 1998]
Length -- 5 to inches. About an inch smaller than the English sparrow. Male -- Upper parts white, varied with black. A white stripe along the summit of the head and back of the neck, edged with black. White line above and below the eye. Black cheeks and throat, grayish in females and young. Breast white in middle, with black stripes on sides. Wings and tail rusty black, with two white cross-bars on former, and soiled white markings on tail quills. Female -- Paler and less distinct markings throughout. Range -- Peculiar to America. Eastern United States and westward to the plains. North as far as the fur countries. Winters in tropics south of Florida. Migrations -- April. Late September. Summer resident.
Nine times out of ten this active little warbler is mistaken for the downy woodpecker, not because of his coloring alone, but also on account of their common habit of running up and down the trunks of trees and on the under side of branches, looking for insects, on which all the warblers subsist. But presently the true warbler characteristic of restless flitting about shows itself. A woodpecker would go over a tree with painstaking, systematic care, while the black-and-white warbler, no less intent upon securing its food, hurries off from tree to tree, wherever the most promising menu is offered.
Clinging to the mottled bark of the tree-trunk, which he so closely resembles, it would be difficult to find him were it not for these sudden fittings and the feeble song, "Weachy, weachy, weachy, 'twee, 'twee, 'tweet," he half lisps, half sings between his dashes after slugs. Very rarely indeed can his nest be found in an old stump or mossy bank, where bark, leaves. and hair make the downy cradle for his four or five tiny babies.
DUSKY AND GRAY AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS
Chimney Swift Kingbird Wood Pewee Phoebe and Say's Phoebe Crested Flycatcher Olive-sided Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Canada Jay Catbird Mocking-bird Junco White-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch Loggerhead Shrike Northern Shrike Bohemian Waxwing Bay-breasted Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Myrtle Warbler Parula Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler
See also the Grayish Green and the Grayish Brown Birds, particularly the Cedar Bird, several Swallows, the Acadian and the Yellow-bellied Flycatchers; Alice's and the Olive-backed Thrushes; the Louisiana Water Thrush; the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; and the Seaside Sparrow. See also the females of the following birds: Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Red Crossbill; Purple Martin; and the Nashville, the Pine, and the Magnolia Warblers.
DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS
CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chaetura pelagica) Swift family
Called also: CHIMNEY SWALLOW; AMERICAN SWIFT
Length -- to 5.45 inches. About an inch shorter than the English sparrow. Long wings make its length appear greater. Male and Female -- Deep sooty gray; throat of a trifle lighter gray. Wings extend an inch and a half beyond the even tail, which has sharply pointed and very elastic quills, that serve as props. Feet are muscular, and have exceedingly sharp claws. Range -- Peculiar to North America east of the Rockies, and from Labrador to Panama. Migrations -- April. September or October. Common summer resident.
The chimney swift is, properly speaking, not a swallow at all, though chimney swallow is its more popular name.