BUSHTITS IN MY HAWTHORN TREE.

by James K. Sayre.

Copyright © 2002, All Rights Reserved

 

If you are out walking on suburban residential streets in western North America, you may hear a series of high-pitched squeaks coming from inside a shrub or low tree. These calls or chattings are probably from a small flock of Bushtits. The Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus, is a small very active gray-brown bird. It typically feeds on insects that are found in many local trees and shrubs. The Bushtit is smaller than a House Finch or an English Sparrow, and can sometimes be confused with a Chickadee, due to the similarity of its acrobatic maneuvers in its search for insects. Their insect fare typically includes aphids, beetles, caterpillars, scale insects and leafhoppers.

 

Bushtits are permanent residents of the western North America, ranging from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada south into Baja, Mexico. They also range from the Great Basin region and the Rockies south into the mountainous central plateau of Mexico and into Guatemala. Bushtits that live in suburban areas that have ornamental shrubs and trees usually find in them a plentiful supply of small insects available on a year round basis.

 

Their calls, which have variously been described as "tsit's," "lisp's" and "pits" are used by flock members to stay in contact. They are probably also used to note an especially good supply of insects and probably also used to discuss the weather, politics, sex and other Bushtit topics. Who knows what thoughts lurk in the minds of birds?

 

In their nesting period in the spring and summer, mated pairs build large elaborate hanging pouch-nests. These nests are initially woven from grasses and small roots and bound together with sticky strands of spider webs. Typically the nests hang from tree branches from six to twenty feet above the ground. The outside of the nest is camouflaged with feathers, lichens, mosses and leaf fragments. The lower inner part of the nest is lined with down and other soft materials. The nest has a small opening near the top. The nests soon come to hold several very small white eggs. Soon eggs hatch and the busy parents must find enough bugs to feed their growing brood. Several years ago, I was treated to the sight of four juvenile Bushtits sitting on a branch of a low tree growing within the courtyard of an apartment building. The eternal trick of the parent birds is to get their juvenile offspring to play "follow the leader" in the search for insect food. Eventually the young birds get the idea and are soon finding their own insect delicacies. When the young birds are able to fly well and find their own food, they and their parents form a small flock along with some other local Bushtits. They remain in small flocks all year round, except for the breeding season.

 

At my home in coastal California, the Bushtits seem to alternate feeding in the old unkempt English Hawthorn tree (Crataegus laevigata) that grows along the street and in the Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), that is set against the house. The English Hawthorn is a deciduous tree, that is to say that it drops its leaves in the autumn and sprouts a new set of leaves in the next spring. The English Hawthorn tree, a member of the Rose family, is native to England and Europe and has been widely planted as an ornamental in North America. This thorny tree grows to about twenty-five feet high. It has lobed oval-shaped dark green leaves and produces clusters (corymbs) of pretty white-to-pink small open flowers in the spring. The flowers are followed by small rounded dark red fruits (pomes) that contain small hard seeds. The fruits have been considered edible in England, but it should be noted that these same fruits have been used in folk herbal medicine and contain contains chemical compounds (glycosides) that affect the heart (caution is advised). Hawthorns have traditionally used in England to create living hedgerows (long rows of hedges) used to enclose fields and prevent livestock from wandering. These hedgerows provided excellent habitat for many wildflowers, birds and small animals. The English Hawthorn is best cultivated in USDA hardiness zones 5-8 in North America, although personal observation shows that it thrives in coastal California (zones 9-10). Several cultivars exist. The Pilgrims' ship, the Mayflower, which landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts in 1620, was named for the tree.

Returning to the Bushtit, it can be easily observed that they seem to tolerate the nearby presence of people, although they are probably not so tolerant of peoples' pet cats. Several years ago I was treated to the sight of four young Bushtits sitting close together on a low tree branch. They were still hoping to be fed by their parents before they had to join the family flock in searching insect food.

 

I have never seen Bushtits at a bird feeding station, but this is probably because they typically eat insects rather than seeds. They do eat leaf galls and some seeds and small fruits in the fall and winter, when insect prey is less abundant.

 

My first book, North American Bird Folknames and Names, (Bottlebrush Press, 1996) lists several names for the Bushtit: Black-eared Bushtit, Black-tailed Bushtit, Common Bushtit, California Bushtit, Coast Bushtit, Lead-colored Bushtit, Lloyd's Bushtit and Plumbeous Bushtit. In addition the Bushtit found in lower Baja, Mexico, has also been called Grinda's Bush Tit. Actually, our Bushtit is the only member of its Long-tailed Tits and Bushtits Family (Aegithaalidae) present in North America. The Bushtit is considered to be related to Chickadees and Titmice. The name Bushtit was formed by adding Bush to the English term tit. There are several species of Tits in England, and all are closely related to our Chickadees, sharing the genus name Parus with them.

The English Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) and two other Hawthorns are described botanically and for their medicinal qualities in my second book, Ancient Herbs and Modern Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference Guide to Medicinal Herbs, Human Ailments and Possible Herbal Remedies (Bottlebrush Press, 2001).

 

So, if you aspire to have a flock of Bushtits in your neck of the woods, plant a Hawthorn tree in your yard. There are several different cultivated species, some are from Europe and Asia, others are native to North America. All Hawthorns will undoubtedly provide good feeding and nesting habitat for Bushtits and other birds.

 

End.


Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please feel free to Email the author at sayresayre@yahoo;com. sayresayre@yahoo.com


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Web page last updated on 7 May 2003.