Black-crested titmouse pair spotted
By Brad McBee
A few months ago, I sat at the labyrinth across from the Old Jail Art Center with my Bible and devotional. It was a beautiful early morning, and I was enjoying the day and my prayer time.
Suddenly I saw a flutter high up in the tree in front of me. I couldn’t quite make out what it was. I knew it was a bird, a small one of some kind, and then I saw the distinguishing mark, and I knew right away what it was.
What I saw that morning was a titmouse – a Black-crested Titmouse to be precise. The crest on its head was the giveaway to what I was seeing. The titmouse, like the larger cardinals and blue jays, has longer feathers on the top of its head that form its crest and help to identify it.
Desiring to get a closer look, I hurriedly opened my phone and played a recording from YouTube of the titmouse. Within seconds, not one but two of these beautiful birds were perched just a few feet from me on the branch of the tree next to me. They hopped from one limb to another as the song played and seemed to be wondering where their kinfolk were hiding.
The Black-crested Titmouse was once thought to be a subspecies of the Tufted Titmouse, but in 2002 it was recognized as its own species. In Texas, the Black-crested is found in the west, whereas the Tufted is found in the east. The main difference between the two is the black coloration on the crest of the Black-crested, hence its name. From about 5½ to 6 inches long, with a gray body, a whitish belly, and of course a black crest, it eats insects, spiders, and some seeds and berries. In the winter it will often come to a feeder and also enjoys suet. These are fun birds to watch, and it is worth one’s time to try to attract them to a feeder.
After seeing this pair of birds, I went back a couple days later to the same spot at about the same time. Once again, I played the recording and within a minute or so, there was a pair of birds looking at me on the same branches. But it wasn’t the Black-crested, it was a pair of Carolina Chickadees, a close relative to the titmouse. They, too, seemed to be rather confused by the song coming from the funny looking rectangular bird.
