Bushtits

Bushtits

If you sense this cloud of cheaping tiny birds passing over you as if checking to see if you are a tree for landing purposes, it is most likely a cloud of Bushtits. They build nests that rival hummingbird nests, hanging in a pendulous fashion from a branch, with the entrance in the top.

The boys and I call them "birdy mice".

At left is a bushtit nest, (behind leaves and branches), that housed at least 12 babies in the year this was taken. The nest is too delicate to last past a year as rain and snow basically destroys the nests once they are empty. It is interesting that these nests are so similar to hummingbird structures as the bodies of bushtits are not much larger than larger hummingbirds.