“Just when you’re beginning to think pretty well of people, you run across someone who puts sugar on sliced tomatoes.” – Will Cuppy
I Was Determined to Identify the Culprits
Plain gray and white juveniles. — Photo by Pat Bean
I hung a nectar feeder for hummingbirds from the roof of my third-floor balcony. The hummingbirds came, but then so did a flock of birds that clearly weren’t hummers.
I’ve had orioles drink from my hummingbird feeders, but these clearly weren’t orioles. They were tiny things, which from inside my living room, through a glass door and a screen, appeared non-descript.
I suspected they were some species of warbler, but didn’t know which one.
Yesterday, I decided to find out. Going outside and watching through my binoculars, I saw several of the gray and white birds gather around the feeder, and then a slightly larger one landed. It was an adult with a yellow head and a rust-colored splotch on its shoulder that immediately let me know I was looking at a verdin.
But when a more colorful adult landed, I finally knew my nectar thief was a verdin. — Photo by Pat Bean
I had only seen one other, and that was during a guided bird tour just south of Tucson. According to the range map, their North American habitat only extends to the southern portions of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Neither my guidebook, nor the Cornell Univesity bird website, mentioned anything about verdins, which are a member of the tit family, drinking from human nectar feeders. Wikipedia, however, mentioned that they sometimes go for the dried sugar crusted on a feeder.
Well I want to tell you, that my verdins are drinking the sugar water just like the hummingbirds. And they scrabble with both their own species and hummers for a choice spot on the feeder.
Have I discovered a new bird behavior?
The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.
Bean’s Pat: Birding in Peru http://tinyurl.com/q2hwe5g More birds for those of us who are crazy about these fantastic winged creatures.
Pat Bean's blog 
Pat, love your photos and your blog! Your post gave me just the lift I needed this morning. Thanks so much!
Verdins are common at my feeders during certain times of the year. Finches are too – but they are clumsy and end up spilling a lot of the juice. Best one was watching a young Gila Woodpecker trying to get juice. He watched the hummers and tried to hover with poor results. But he tried and tried until…. Wow! There are perches available! Breakthrough! Then the juice really got spilled to the ants’ delight.
Ive been wondering if its because the nectar feeder is hung so high, or that it has places for the verdins to perch that so ravenously drinking the hummingbird nectar. They literally emptied the feeder yesterday. Every time I glance out they were going at it.
Interesting. I’d never heard of a verdin. Thanks!
Well those little verdins are emptying my hummingbird feeder on a daily basis. What a delight to watch. Have a good day, Bob