The peepingest marshmallow peeps. A bug of a bird. There’s a trend in evolution that the adaptable base of a family tree is drab brown things that lack extreme specializations. Merely being a minuscule flying dinosaur is a pretty extreme specialization, but within that, there are some birds that are more flexible than others. For all I know, a bushtit is so specialized they’ll go extinct when left-handed buttercups fall to invasive ultrageraniums. But colorwise, this feels very basal. Everybody knows tits (haha, heyo heyo) have strong black and white marks on their heads and showy songs, fierce attitude. So how is this timid tittering beige bug-bird a tit?
I looked it up. They are not tits at all! They’re in a mostly Eastern Hemisphere group that includes other bushtits and long-tailed tits, which are not even in the same branch of Passerida as the bold and familiar tits. Sheisty. American bushtits are the only members of the clade in North America, in all their beige glory.
I can’t emphasize enough how drab these birds are. What color is their head? Slightly reddish beige. No, slighter than that. It’s the Lacroix of reddishness. It’s essenced. How about the belly? Yellowish beige. No. Less yellowish than the reddish essence on the head. It’s all beige, man. With beady lil black eyes. If you don’t demand color in your birds, this is a cute look. They have a nice shape – a borb with a long tail, just about kinglet sized. Puny as hell. They fly like those practice footballs with the little rocket part sticking out the back, almost always in a small flock.
I don’t remember the first time I took note of them, but while working as a security guard way back in the elevatorgate era, I started noticing them flying from one short tree to another, usually in the winter and usually when it was less busy with traffic or people on foot. I have seen them in other seasons. Maybe they’re more obvious in winter because that’s when they flock the hardest?
They don’t even sing boldly. They squeak, like a chickadee that isn’t brave enough to get past chicka. Not a lot to say here. Cute little birds are cute, but unremarkable. This series calls for remark and now I remarked. Mark another one down. American Bushtit.
–