A mystery of nature in the Flathead

Thomas Kuehl

It is in my biologist nature to see mysteries in the natural world. Like so many in the Flathead, I too have placed bird houses around my property, a mixed species conifer forest, in the mountains at the edge of this valley that we call home. I know you do the same. I see your bird houses on fence posts and trees in our state parks and the homesteads throughout our valley.

Most, except those special platforms for osprey, are loosely based on the standard bluebird design. I suspect we all looked up the same library book or internet site. I also suspect we originally longed to entice those insect lovers into our neighborhood, but become satisfied with whatever feathered friends show up.

Of course, I am curious, just like you, as to which birds show up to call my houses their summer homes. At the end of the season, I take on the task of cleaning out the houses with excitement as I try to identify the bird type from the nest and my observations of the residents over the summer. My area seems to be a draw for mountain chickadees which flit in and out of the pine trees making their distinctive call. They have nests of soft materials several inches deep inside the houses. However, this year produced a surprise. As the summer progressed, I noted small sticks of pine protruding from the openings of a number of the bird houses. What small bird makes a nest of sticks inside a bird house? Adding to the mystery was a small forest of Canadian thistle that sprang up in the loose dirt of a recent construction site. I know, bad weeds, but many critters have been using this patch as a food source during the summer. Deer and rabbits make a salad of the lower green leaves while bees and hummingbirds feast on the nectar from those purple flowers. Then, as the seeds attached to those cotton tuffs began to appear, there came the small short-beaked brown birds working the bush and clearing the ground. I guess the natural thistle seed is a draw just like the stuff we put in our feeders over the winter months. Those little birds have a couple of interesting habits. For example, they are flying acrobats diving and chasing each other in and out of tree limbs and thistle branches. They love thistle seed, and when they nest the female tends to the eggs while the male brings home dinner.

You guessed it, the pine siskins make nests of pine twugs woven together and place within this matrix a cup of grass, feathers and soft material for their eggs. A month after they start, out pop three to six new little brown dive bombers hungry for that thistle seed, pine tree buds, and the occasional aphid. Now, I have a neighborhood loaded with the brown birds. As I plan to clear away the thistle, I have to wonder what about next year?

Dr.Tom Kuehl is a professor of reproductive biology at the Smith-White Clinic in Temple, Texas. He maintains residences in both Kalispell and Texas.