Bird of the Week: Bushtit
Yeah, you read that right.
How’s your sleep been lately? I never sleep well, to be honest, but lately, “sleep” has become something more akin to a brief, fitful nap followed by a period that could best be described as the section of the day when it’s dark out, and I’m in bed. My thinking time. I can only assume this will work itself out in the aftermath of next week, but we’ll see!
Anyway, as a consequence of this shift, I’ve had some quiet moments of discovery. I’ve discovered that there’s a time of night where, if I scoot all the way up to the wall behind my bed, I can see the moon through an opening in the blinds. There are a few stars dotted around it too, as if in orbit. It’s a really nice sight to behold during those insomniac moments that are somehow both blunt and soft, stark and gentle. In that glimpse of the great beyond, I’ve occasionally found some calm. There is truly nothing like staring at a teeny little twinkle that’s actually an enormous ball of explosive fire hundreds of light years away to obliterate your sense of importance, and your anxiety over that thing you have to do tomorrow. Your mileage may vary here.
I’ve also found out that during this part of the year, just as the sun starts to rise, a light blanket of fog sits low on my street and hovers just so at the top of the hill outside the window. It feels weighty and significant, but as the light turns from blue-gray to pure gold, it disappears almost imperceptibly. It’s gone so fast that you question whether it was really there.
I hear my neighbor leaving their house every day at around 6:30. I don’t know whether they’re going to work, or just taking a morning walk. Knowing that they’re a morning person to this extreme has somehow radically altered my sense of them. Like they had this secret they’d been keeping all along. What other powers do they hold?
Finally, I’ve also discovered that one of my cats, Quinn, has a compelling morning ritual. A few weeks ago just as dawn started to break, I stirred into consciousness and spotted sitting in his cat tree by the window. As every cat owner knows, 99% of the time, when a feline clocks that you're awake, the begging begins and doesn’t let up until breakfast is served. On this morning, I watched Quinn clock that my eyes were open, and then turn his head back toward the window. I furrowed my brow. I did my quietest “pspsps” to as not disturb my spouse. He looked at me again, then looked away.
This simply wouldn’t do. I hate the begging, but I hate being ignored more. I got up and started to approach when he gave me a look I’ve never seen before. It was like he was a tween and I was approaching him at school when all his friends were around. It was a look that said, “mom what are you doing” and “mom, not now” and “mom, PLEASE stop.” I closed in, stretched out my arm, and he chirped in a very specific way that told me something else is up. I looked out the window.
There, in the bush just outside the house, was what I can only describe as a full-on swarm of small gray birds. Realistically, there were maybe 10 of them, but it felt like 100. They were flitting about, chirping, flapping, hopping, and generally going ballistic. I realize this might sound boring as hell, but I really cannot overstate how absolutely startling and enthralling this sight was. I stood at the window and stared for several minutes, gobsmacked at this small wonder, observing every movement while knowing I could barely keep up. I looked back at Quinn, and he looked back at me, knowingly, before returning his gaze to the window.
I crawled back in bed, plugged the info into the Merlin Bird ID app, and bam, I had my guy: the bushtit.
The bushtit! The bushtit? The bushtit!
I have to admit, as agog as I was about this encounter, I was fully prepared to be let down by the actual bird. It’s cute and chaotic, but in contrast to some of the birds we cover here, it doesn't seem to be that remarkable. Oh boy was I wrong. This bird rules.
First of all, let’s get this out of the way. This video approximates the early morning rave I first witnessed weeks ago, and have observed whenever possible in the weeks since:
It’s MADNESS. I still feel compelled to try to describe the IRL vibe here, but I feel it’s probably futile. IYKYK and if not, get thee to the west coast sometime (anywhere from Canada to Mexico!) so you can witness this freakfest in person.
Next, yes, let’s get it out of the way, too: Bushtits have an unfortunate (or fortunate??) name, but I don’t really want to spend time talking about that here. It’s really the least fascinating thing about them! I wouldn’t normally offload research onto you, but in this case I gotta say: If you want to know where the name comes from, look it up. It’s not that interesting.
What IS interesting about bushtits is that they’ve somehow flown under the radar for us in terms of being very socialist birds. These guys hang out in large groups and are generally very sociable beings, even happily communing with different species to hunt and find shelter. They’re so friendly, they even cuddle for warmth in cooler months. It’s a necessary measure because bushtits don’t really migrate or change their location as the seasons change. These birds care about the places they live! They are committed to their community!
I’ll also note that while American bushtits are all on a gray-brown scale, there are subtle variations in coloring depending on where you are regionally, which tracks for birds that tend to generally stay in one place.
Enough of that. They’re also sooo cute when they cuddle:
Bushtits also exhibit the very rare quality of aiding each other in raising babies (petition to change the phrase to “it takes a flock”). Perhaps my favorite thing about bushtits though is that they’re among a handful of the world’s “songbirds” that don’t actually sing. Sure, they tweet their little hearts out but it’s not exactly to a tune. They’re shouting! We love shouting here.
Bushtits are also ruthless when it comes to their prey (insects), which maybe isn’t so community-minded, but how can we fault them? These cuties gotta eat! And again, SO CUTE:
American bushtits are the only one in their family on this continent—all of the other seven birds in the Aegithalidae family are found in Eurasia and yes, they’re also cute:
It’s lucky that I discovered bushtits in October, because they’re basically little bird bats, who often hang upside down while foraging. Unlike bats, they are arts and crafts kings, with incredible nest-making skills. Seriously, look at what they create! They’re DIY beasts!
I noted earlier that, perhaps shamefully, I didn’t expect to find much when I searched around for information about the bushtit. Not only did I discover a world of interesting facts, I discovered many others like me who were awestruck by this tiny gray bird. There were many other odes, declarations that it’s the “greatest bird in the world,” and exclamations of appreciation for this itty bitty marvel.
It an occupational perk of writing Bird of the Week to stumble upon the corners of the internet where bird fanatics flap their wings and write ecstatic prose about the avian world, but it stuns me anew every time. It’s a true gift to be able to access that feeling, and to see it in others.
The world is hell, but occasionally it’s nice to discover that miraculous universes exist outside your bedroom window. That an adorable swarm of birds that frankly look like a ball of feathers with a face entertains your cat (also a ball of fur with a face) every morning, babysitting him through his morning hunger. The bushtits are helping me raising my kin, and in return, I’ll be mindful about keeping the shrubbery nice and hospitable for them. It’s the least I can do.
*record scratch*
Okay time to end this blog on an unhinged and psycho note because I may have found beauty and peace in the bushtit, but it’s still four days until the election and I’m also absolutely losing my grip on reality. This is not the first time I’ve mentioned Batman Returns in the pages of this blog and it likely won’t be the last: the bushtit also rules because it’s the animal manifestation of Danny DeVito as Penguin.
Okay good luck out there everyone. Touch grass, look at some birds. What the hell, watch a movie from 1992. Be well. We’ll be here to continue to lose our minds together next week.
A reminder: you can check out our complete Bird of the Week list here, and get in touch with your bird suggestions at hello@discourseblog.com.
Bushtits are utterly fantastic and always a treat to see when my spouse and I are out on the west coast.
Our usual joke is something along the lines of one of us spots a bushtit and the other says, "Where there's one, there's a dozen." Yes, we're total dorks with a whole bunch of inside jokes about birds and yes, bushtits always travel in numbers to overwhelm you with their cuteness.
I like to learn. Thank you!