Spring has sprung!! Winter is already hard enough for the birders (cold weather plus fewer birds = don't wanna go outside - brrr) add to that my adjusting to a new job and you get a whole lot of not going outside in general. Spring will always bring out the birder in me though - my favorite season for a reason. On a visit to my parents house I decided to head to the OSU botanical gardens on my way back to the city. Because it was a weekday, very few people were out there - so I had the opportunity to sneak over the fences to the wooded area that is probably off limits to the public. As I was ducking through the bush I saw quite a few american goldfinches and tufted titmouses (mice?), I decided to try to climb around some throney brambles to get deeper into the woods - and the slight scrapage I incurred was well worth it because I got to see the subject of this post for the very first time!

The brown creeper is one of those wood skimming birds that can climb upsidedown, and I got to watch its distinctive feedimg behavior that anyone familiar with the bird could recognize in an instant. What it did was starting at the base of a lone tree, it climbed upwards in a circular motion, I guess skimming the bark for unsuspecting insects. Then, when it reached the first branches of the tree, it flew to the next ones base and started again. It's a very dark brown color - almost black - and I almost mistook it for a downey woodpecker. OH! Their beak is ever so slightly curved downwards, and when it stood still the curve of the beak looked so elegant with the way it continues where the brown and white meet on its body. Such a beautiful bird.

Today I decided to take a walk (even in the heat advisory) to the gas station near my house to get a slushie. I prefer the cherry flavor to be honest, but today I got coke because sadly all the other flavors were out of order. On my way back home, I was sad to realize that the only bird-life That was brave enough for the heat were the ever present Mississippi Kites that circle my neighborhood at all hours. Luckily for me, when I got to my door, I saw a shadow of a small bird fly from the bush in front of my house to the tree right by my door! I spent a few minutes combing through the branches with my eyes to see this little creature about a foot from my face! It was none other than a Bewick's Wren!

I realize that this isnt exactly a rare bird, but I have never been able to positively ID this bird before! This time, I was able to get close enough to spot the white eye stripe and get a good look at the the coloring. I have definately seen this bird before though. The eye stripe is what sets it apart from a house wren (which lack it, but are otherwise VERY similar) and I believe that this bird is a little bit smaller and more greyish than a Carolina Wren. It was actually way smaller than I expected. Pictures don't do justice to bird sizes in my opinion, but you can trust that wrens are little bitty birds.

These little birds are so precious to me for one reason alone: they sound like a miniaturized COPD patient. It's a sort of wheezy call that is unmistakable (at least to my ears) I always hear them before I see them. Last summer was the first sighting I have ever had of these guys, and it wasn't a very good one to be frank because I saw like a flap of wings in the trees that was approximately the right size for this bird I had been hearing for my entire walk.

More recently, I was able to actually observe the behavior of a pair of these fellows when I was on a hike with two friends at Lake Thunderbird. They were very high energy and were flying high up in the canopy (? the top part) of the trees. They kind of reminded me of kinglets in how they seemed to always be moving from one branch to another. I'm trying to find the words to describe how these guys fly - they flutter very gently like a little hummingbird. They can hover in place for a little while and it looks very cool. I wish I could have watched these guys longer but alas! I had to continue my hike. It's almost too hot to hike these days... but not quite yet.