by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Editor’s Note: The smaller images on this page may be enlarged by clicking on them.
Beautiful West Valley is the chosen home of many species of birds thanks to the varied agricultural uses, ponds and wetlands, and forested areas. Locating an appropriate homesite and constructing a new nest every year must be a daunting task for animals with a beak and two wings as principal tools! Observing birds making nests and raising their families every spring is a delightful time of discovery for me. In the following pages, I will share some of the avian nesting activities I have been fortunate to observe in our area.
CAVITY NESTERS
Small birds with little bills like the Mountain Chickadee and House Wren find dead Birch trees manageable for their construction tools. Birch bark provides a long-lasting seal around the inner woody tissues, holding in moisture and creating an environment for rot fungi to break down the sugar-rich cellulose. I watched the pictured Mountain Chickadee make many trips across a trail in a forested area before I figured out what it was doing! It would dive into an unobtrusive hole in a Birch snag and come out a few seconds later with chunks of wood it had pried free, fly 25 feet across the trail, drop its debris, and zip back to make another haul. Distributing its building scraps away from the nest helps to disguise its location and keep predators away.
The House Wren on the right had selected a smaller dead birch tree along the edge of an overgrown field as appropriate for its little family home. Amazingly, the Wren flew straight into the hole it was working on without even a second’s pause at the entrance; a few seconds later, it appeared at the opening to expel its load of sawdust without leaving the tree. I watched it dispose of a number of beak-full loads of fine debris. Too bad my to-do list cut short my time with the one-bird construction crew! When my travels took me past this future home several times in the next few weeks, the number of wrens I observed increased from one to 5! I took that as a sign of a successful nest!
My grandson and I were exploring a lowland trail system in June; suddenly he stopped abruptly. “Shhh! I hear birds inside of this tree!” He had heard baby birds in the cavity nest making noise; we glimpsed the flash of a bird that apparently entered the hole and quieted the residents. We kept our eyes and camera focused on the hole and in a few minutes, an adult Red-naped Sapsucker popped out and flew off and the nestlings recommenced their chatter.
In May last year, I visited a back-woods pond frequently to enjoy the avian activities. I had looked at this birch often and wondered if that hole with a curious russet-colored circular stain below it had a story to tell. Finally, I was there at the right time to learn some history. The Hairy Woodpecker arrived but didn’t enter; its barbed tail feathers stabbed into the bark while the parent delivered food to the family inside. The sharp barbs that serve as a prop had worn the bark smooth and the white outer bark was worn away from the repeated visits. On this occasion, there was no sound from inside. It’s possible that the mate was still brooding the eggs and this bird made a food delivery. I believe I figured out part of the story!
Many cavity-nesters have become accustomed to living in manufactured bird houses. That certainly is a convenient way to avoid all the construction tasks! The Tree Swallows at left compete for the prefab houses around the ponds on Clark Road and other places. Bluebirds like the one at right also like ready-made houses. The pairs share the tasks of defending the property and making the interior comfortable with their chosen materials – grass, twigs, feathers, etc.
If we provide the housing, it’s really important that we clean out the boxes before they are re-used. Flathead Audubon members have made and placed the houses near the Ponds in the West Valley. In 2025, members realized that annual cleaning had been neglected for a couple of years, so when they came in March, they found the boxes full of nesting materials and feathers from two or three sets of occupants. Note the house at right was full to the brim! Leaving debris from one year to the next can be a way of transmitting diseases or infections, so if you want to put up birdhouses, think about making them easy to open and conveniently located for your annual job!
The Violet-green Swallow above has built a nest under the overhang of the garage roof for several years – while it’s not technically a cavity, it’s tucked in so tightly that it serves the purpose. No matter, each year they collect new nest lining materials and make a place that holds the eggs and hatchlings securely – and leave the clean-up to the house owners. The Black-capped Chickadee at right was picking up hair a deer shed from their winter coat; it would make good lining for a Chickadee nest in a tree cavity.
The tiny Pygmy Nuthatch above found a cavity that didn’t need much remodeling in an old Ponderosa for its nest hole. Perhaps the best feature was a little limb stub near the entrance where one parent always seemed to be perched.
Not all cavity nests are in trees! Bank Swallows, as their name suggests, find – or make – holes in banks where they can excavate a nest cavity, line it with dry grass and other found materials and their start laying eggs. Often, several Bank Swallows nest nearby. Bank Swallows gather insects on the fly over wetlands and ponds; they like their nests nearby.
Williamson’s Sapsuckers excavated this nest themselves with their strong chisel-like woodpecker beaks. As I passed this tree on my morning walk, I heard the drumming of a woodpecker nearby; after a few unproductive minutes of trying to locate the drummer, I noted the area and continued on. On my return, the woodpecker was still rapping; I sat on a nearby stump to eat my snack and watch. Before long, I noticed this freshly excavated hole in front of me and realized the drumming was coming from inside of that tree! When a woodpecker’s head appeared I abandoned my perch for fear my presence could cause them to abandon the site. A few weeks later, I observed the parents bringing beaks-full of ants to their nestlings; and even later in the season, I saw the male feeding a male fledgling in a nearby birch sapling!
Williamson’s Sapsuckers depend exclusively on sap from conifer trees for their nourishment from the time they arrive in spring until their eggs hatch. They drill holes (above right) into the deeper Xylem tissue to tap into the sap rising from the roots to feed the growing tissue and needles. They construct wells (above left) in the Phloem tissue nearer the bark to capture the sap that carries carbohydrates manufactured by the needles for storage in the roots.
Growing baby birds require high protein diets. Williamson’s Sapsuckers harvest ants to feed their young. I suspect that they make use of the sticky sap in capturing and delivering those ants.
Another day, another walk in another woodland…I’d recently discovered Three-toed Woodpeckers and had become acquainted enough with their habits of chipping bark from insect-infested dead trees that I seemed to find them frequently. On this day, I noted a female Three-toed doing her wood-chipping job on a small dead leaning tree. Farther along my route, the sound of a baby bird caught my attention. I had no clue as to what species of bird might be making that sound, but thanks to its repeated calling, I was able to locate a small hole where the bird was located! A juvenile Three-toed Woodpecker was encouraging its mother to return with some breakfast! What a treat for me!! (Note: Adult male Three-toed Woodpeckers have a yellow spot at the top of their head; adult females have a few white feathers mixed in with the black on the top of their head. Juveniles of both sexes have yellow spots as seen above).
Pileated Woodpeckers are big, noisy, and hard to miss at any season. When they are excavating for food, their holes are big, messy, and usually rectangular. In spring when they are nesting, their chiseling seems more precise and purposeful. The nest hole opening is oval, customized to allow their entrance – barely – and to keep predators out. As I watched the progress on this nest hole one spring, the male arrived early and worked intently; later on, the female would arrive as if to check on progress and encourage the builder; occasionally I saw her go inside for a short time, and the male resumed work when she left. Pileated Woodpeckers are a keystone species: their carpentry provides housing for many other birds and animals that don’t have their skill or equipment.
As I write this entry, a Red-Shafted Northern Flicker interrupts the quiet with his unmistakable rat-tat-tat on the metal vent right over my head! I guess he doesn’t want to be overlooked here, as well as by a female!
Every year, this big Woodpecker is one of the most-frequently heard in almost any wooded area as he vocalizes in search of a mate. On 4.24.20, my grandson and I were enjoying a sunny morning near our house; he was working on his fort; I was looking for early-blooming flowers. Right over our heads, a pair of Flickers were courting! They ended up raising their family in a cavity in a nearby Ponderosa. On 3.27.25, I spotted the flicker at right pounding away on a tall fence post on Clark Road. 5 days later, I drove by that place, and there he was, pounding away again. By the size of the hole on this day, it looks like he’ll have it big enough to move in – if he comes up with a mate!
