The other day a reader asked, "Are there any birds that don't leave for the winter?
This was an unexpected question -- but a good one.
It's a good question because getting to know what birds to expect at a given time is a good way to learn the birds.
The answer is, yes. About two dozen species are reliable year 'round residents here.
One of these is the white-breasted nuthatch. These appealing birds are reliable at feeders offering black oilseed sunflower. I've also had them come to thistle seed. They also take suet.
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The nuthatch is an acrobat capable of hanging upside down and, even, scouting head first down a tree trunk.
Overall, the nuthatch is a blue-gray bird with a white breast --sometimes stained a bit -- and black extending from the top of the back over the forehead to the bill. The face is white.
A second species, red-breasted nuthatch, belongs to the group of birds that comes to the Red River Valley for the winter. This is a smaller bird, but quite similar, except that the breast is a rusty orange color and there's a black stripe through the eye and across the face.
White-breasted nuthatches make a kind of nasal call that's quite distinctive -- and hard to overlook on a cold, clear, quiet morning. They are not common, but they are regular and conspicuous, so they are easy to find and to get to know, and fun to watch.
Learn the white-breasted nuthatch and you'll recognize the red-breasted species when it shows up, because a close look reveals the differences.
The black-capped chickadee is another resident bird that's actually seen more often in the winter than the summer. Chickadees are tiny birds, resembling tufts of gray cloth with distinctive black crowns.
Like nuthatches, they come to feeders for sunflower. Sometimes chickadees travel in small flocks, sometimes with other species. These are called "parties."
Most often, nuthatches travel alone.
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Two species of woodpeckers are common winter residents here, and both come readily to suet and sunflower feeders.
The downy woodpecker is the smaller of these, and its distinctive small bill gives it away.
The hairy woodpecker is very similar, but it has the kind of bill you'd expect on a woodpecker, a chisel-like appendage capable of making a big hole and a big noise.
Pileated woodpeckers are also resident birds, at the northwestern edge of their natural range in the Red River Valley and the Devils Lake area. This is a huge bird, about the size of a crow. It's also a loud bird. Its size and its noise contributed inspiration for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.
Still a fourth woodpecker species has become a regular resident here. This is the red-bellied woodpecker, more often associated with the southeastern states than with the Midwest and Great Plains.
In contrast to the other winter woodpeckers, which are patterned in black and white, the red-bellied woodpecker appears paler with quite an intricate pattern of alternating stripes on the back. Males show more red on the head than females. This is true of our other winter woodpeckers, as well.
Blue jays are fairly common wherever there is adequate forest cover. Black-billed magpies, a close relative, are fairly common in open country, especially to the north and east of Grand Forks. This is one of the few areas on the continent where both these species are common.
American goldfinches have lately taken to spending the winter here, probably in response to the increase in bird feeding.
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In open country, gray partridges and sharp-tailed grouse are permanent residents.
Grand Forks County also has a resident population of greater prairie chickens. Ruffed grouse occur in forested areas, mostly in Minnesota.
In cities and some farmyards, house sparrows remain common enough to be considered pests. In Grand Forks, my impression is that numbers have fallen sharply, but this isn't true in Walhalla, for example, where huge numbers are found on each of the Icelandic State Park winter bird counts.
This brief list doesn't exhaust the birds that stick around year 'round, but it's a good start.
