Quiz Results – Black-crested Titmouse

July 26, 2014 by Bob Zeller

Yes, folks it was a Black-crested Titmouse in that previous quiz. Click here to see original post.

Results of the voting:

Black-crested Titmouse 99

Tufted Titmouse 45

All of the above 4

In a sense, everybody was right. The Black-crested and the Tufted are hybrids of each other. The Tufted Titmouse is found in most of the eastern United States. The Black-crested Titmouse is found in central and west Texas. The dividing line is somewhere down the center of Texas. There are areas there that one may be able to see both.

We had 148 participants in this contest. We get a few more with each quiz. I am working on another and I will publish it in a few days. Thanks to everyone that voted.

They’re Titmouses, not Titmice

June 23, 2013 by Bob Zeller

Catchy title to get your attention. I was sitting here trying to decide what to post about. I have been idle, just goofing off for the past week or so. Time to write, but what to write about. Time for the old “throw the dart trick”. I threw the dart, it bounced off the wall and fell to the floor. So much for that deal. So I flipped a coin, and it came up Titmouse. Don’t ask…..

I haven’t written about Titmouses, not Titmice, in quite some time, maybe never. I don’t recollect. Anyway here in the west we have the Black-crested Titmouse, and in the east they have the Tufted Titmouse. Same bird except the difference in the tufted little crown. It’s grey in the east, by the way. The dividing line is somewhere around the center of Texas, and you’ll see each of them around there. To be truthful, they don’t go any farther west. Hmmm..

I dug through the old archives; actually old files, but I like to call them archives. It sounds more impressive, don’t ya think? You would think from that, they are carefully stored for generations to come. Not. I actually just file them away in my image file, where they may or may not get lost, depending on how careful I am with tagging them.

In those archives, I found these images that you might enjoy.

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse being hassled by a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse

And there you have it. My best collection of Titmouses. I need to get out more. I need to sharpen that dart, too.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Thanksgiving Day Odds and Ends

November 24, 2011 by Bob Zeller

First and foremost, I want to wish all of my faithful readers and bloggers in the United States, a Happy Thanksgiving Day. For you who live all of those other 116 countries, please have a Happy Day.

In my post about the Eastern and Spotted Towhees, check out this AOU link. The American Ornithologists Union is the official authority about classifications of birds. The are responsible for the renaming of the species as they see fit. As I was saying in that post, the two above species were once one, the Rufous-sided Towhee.

Another bird that causes similar confusion is the Tufted Titmouse, or the Black-crested Titmouse that is found here in the western United States. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says on it’s AllAboutBirds website, “The Black-crested Titmouse of Texas and Mexico has at times been considered just a form of the Tufted Titmouse. The two species hybridize where they meet, but the hybrid zone is narrow and stable over time. They differ slightly in the quality of their calls, and show genetic differences as well.”

I would have liked to have had a nice photograph of a tom turkey, posed in it’s strutting position, with all of those tail feathers spread out, but I only have one it it’s normal pose. Well, okay, I lied. I do have one in the mating pose, but the light was bad and it isn’t as great as I would have liked. I’ll show you both.

Wild Turkey - male strutting

Wild Turkey - male

Now, how about a little turkey humor to give you a little chuckle. You all know about Chicken Little and her sky is falling tale. Well, Mrs. Turkey Little was walking along and she saw a man dropping from the sky in a parachute. She yells, “This guy is falling, this guy is falling!!” 🙂

Okay, I know you’re saying, “Bob, where in the heck do you come up with this stuff?” Heck, I don’t know. My imagination partly, and partly stealing jokes from other people. But I do know that if you smile, you will live longer. 🙂

So keep on smiling along with me, and we’ll be blogging for many years to come. 🙂

Feisty Black-crested Titmouses

September 23, 2011 by Bob Zeller

The Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus), is the western version of the eastern Tufted Titmouse. A cute, but feisty, little bird that is one of my favorites. I took the following photographs a couple of years ago with my Canon 40D camera. I came across the images when sorting through a few this morning and I thought you’d like to see them.