SMALL, SUBURBAN-NESTING BIRDS

     Several kinds of small birds nest in suburban areas in southeastern Pennsylvania, and across much of the northeastern United States.  Some species traditionally nest in deciduous woods, some in conifers, and others in shrubbery.  All these habitats exist, in miniature, in suburbs, including ours, thus drawing in the birds.
     Each bird species is as attractive and interesting on lawns dotted with trees and bushes as they are in their original habitats.  Because each kind of bird has its own niche and foods, there is little competition for food and nesting sites among these species.  And through their adapting to suburbs for raising young, these birds have higher populations and we humans have the joy of experiencing their beauties at home.
     Song sparrows are adaptable thicket birds that rear offspring in suburban shrubbery.  This species ingests invertebrates during warmer months, but eats seeds in winter and regularly comes to bird feeders.  Like all sparrows, these are brown and darkly-streaked, which camouflages them among bushes.  Male song sparrows sing lovely, lively songs from warm afternoons in mid-February into the middle of summer.
     Downy woodpeckers, chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches and house wrens, being woodland birds, nest in used woodpecker holes and other tree cavities, and boxes erected for them to hatch youngsters.  All these kinds of small birds are permanent residents, except the house wrens, which are migratory.  These species don't all nest in every suburban area.  Each suburb has its own community of nesting birds.
     All these birds are camouflaged among trees and consume invertebrates during warmer months.  Male titmice whistle "Peter, Peter, Peter ........" while male house wrens sing lively, bubbly songs.  All these types of birds, except the wrens, visit feeders in winter.  
     Many pairs of migratory chipping sparrows and permanent resident house finches build nurseries in planted arborvitae, or northern white cedar trees, on lawns.  The look-alike genders of chippies have rufous crowns, while male finches have pink on their heads, chests, wings and tails.  Female house finches, however, are gray with darker streaking, which camouflages them.
     Male chippers regularly sing a dry trill that identifies them.  Male house finches, however, sing bubbly, cheerful songs as early as warm afternoons in February.
     American goldfinches and ruby-throated hummingbirds hatch babies in petite, beautiful cradles in sapling trees on some lawns.  Male goldfinches are bright-yellow with black wings and tails, and a jaunty black "cap" on their foreheads.  They sing lively tunes, often while in roller-coaster flight.
     The olive-yellow female goldfinches build their lovely nurseries of fine grass, thistle down and spider webs, and attach those nests to crotches of twigs with more spider webbing.  Goldfinches feed their young a regurgitated porridge of pre-digested seeds, particularly thistle seeds.           
     Female hummers make lovely, tiny nurseries of plant down and spider webs, and attach those cradles to the tops of twigs with more spider webbing.  Then they camouflage their charming creations with bits of lichens.  Those petite cradles aren't generally noticed by humans from below.  Mother hummingbirds feed flower nectar and tiny insects to their nestlings.
     And there are a few other kinds of small birds that build nurseries on buildings and other human constructions.  These birds are Carolina wrens, house sparrows and chimney swifts.
     Permanent resident Carolina wrens build cradles in all kinds of odd places, including inside garages and sheds, under porches and decks, inside outdoor grills and so on.  They also build nurseries in firewood piles and rock fences.  What they are seeking, of course, is shelter for their babies, which they feed a variety of invertebrates.
     Resident house sparrows raise young in crevices in buildings and other, human-made objects.  One house sparrow nesting site that's been used by them for many years is a metal box with a hole in it on an utility pole.
     But the neatest nurseries in suburbs are those of chimney swifts down the inside of certain chimneys.  This type of swift winters in northern South America, but migrates to the United States to raise young.  Each swift flies about most of each day, all summer, in pursuit of flying insects to ingest and feed their young.
     Chimney swifts in flight snap off tiny twigs from trees.  They fly down inside their protecting nesting chimneys with those twigs and glue each one to the inside wall to create a platform, using their own saliva as a glue.  They lay their four eggs per female on those twig cradles.
     These small, adaptable birds make suburban lawns more appealing and interesting.  And these species have higher populations because of increased nesting sites in the human-made habitats they adapted to.