Flattened Fauna, Revised

by Roger M. Knutson

  Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica)

  5-inch body, 10-inch wings

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE Since this bird never sits or walks on the ground, it is not commonly a part of the road fauna. It is often seen in the air over cities, but the occasional road specimen may provide almost the only opportunity to see the bird at rest—it nearly never stops flying unless intercepted. It even collects twigs for its nest while in flight. The swift usually feeds on insects in the air, and occasionally follows a potential meal into the headlight beams of a moving car at dawn or dusk, when it feeds most actively. Morning then finds the swift’s gracefully bowed wings permanently impressed into the roadway. The bird’s extraordinary speed on the wing prevails against hawks or owls, but it is evolutionarily unprepared for anything that moves as fast or looms as large as an automobile.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE This graceful bird is found only during the summer in the eastern half of the U.S., where it lives close to civilization. Vaux’s swift is the slightly smaller West Coast equivalent, but it is not an urban bird and is found only in dense forests. It has never been reported on the road. Chimney swifts once roosted and nested in caves, but they have found the brick chimneys of the urban East a nearly ideal habitat. Examples on the road are charcoal gray to black with a short body and long wings usually held in a crescent shape. No legs or feet are ever visible in road specimens. The usual highway silhouette is similar to that of the swallow or purple martin, but the martin is larger, with a longer body, and the swallow has much less gracefully curved wings and a much longer forked tail. The chimney swift is easily one of the most beautiful road birds.

  While a swift in the air is common as dirt, a swift in the dirt is a finding rare enough to stop for and get a closer look. Resist the temptation however—especially at dawn or dusk. While you may be able to see the bird, other drivers may not be able to see you.

  Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris)

  8-inch body, 12-inch wings

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE This European immigrant has made a place for itself, both in cities and countryside, more rapidly than anyone would have thought possible. In 1880, about eighty birds were introduced into New York City; now you can find that many in your back yard. Reportedly they were brought in to satisfy the whims of a Shakespeare Society that wanted all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to live everywhere on earth where the plays might be read or performed. We should probably continue to honor Shakespeare, but not necessarily his fans. By now, the starling is at home in the most thoroughly urban settings, and it is noisy, dirty, and pugnacious enough to drive other birds out of the neighborhood. (Its Latin name, Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris, fits both its commonness and its habits.) Many people view a starling on the road as worth at least two in the trees. Sheer numbers help explain why they are so abundant in the road fauna, but their catholic eating habits also contribute. Like many insect-eating birds, they feed on the road when pickings are slim in other places. Starlings are especially likely to be found spread out on the street during the nesting season, when they collect large numbers of insects to feed their developing young.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE Starlings live nearly everywhere in the U.S., and they are present year-round over all but the northernmost parts of that range. If bill color can be determined at usual urban speeds, it is the best single field mark during the summer months, when the starling is the only black bird with a yellow bill. In winter the bill is dark, and the bird is heavily speckled. The mottled plumage, smaller size, shorter tail and urban proclivities will distinguish it from grackles and cowbirds. Most grackles and cowbirds migrate, however, so they aren’t around when the starling is black-billed. Young starlings are only slightly mottled and nearly brown with lighter underparts. They are much more likely than adults to be found on the road. In most urban situations, any uniformly dark to slightly speckled bird about eight inches long is likely to be a starling. The wings, which are uniform black in the summer and brownish in the winter, often flap for days in the airstream of passing cars and trucks.

  Northern Orioles (Icterus galbula)

  7–8 inches

  Some east-to-west variation in the details of color and pattern characterize this bird, but these details rapidly disappear on the road. Collectively, the orioles make up the most colorful and recognizable feathered road-residents.

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE The oriole builds its woven, hanging nest in tall trees overhanging open spaces. In a forest, this is just picturesque; in older neighborhoods, however, it is an invitation to disaster. Most of the appropriate trees extend out over residential streets, which brings the oriole into unwelcome contact with traffic—not frequently enough to produce caution but often enough to produce fatalities. The young, when hatched, set up a most persistent and audible call for food, and both parents may hear that particular note more clearly than the throaty murmur of an approaching Firebird.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE An unmistakable combination half orange and half black, with only a few white lines visible on the occasionally flapping wings, mark this urban resident on the street surface. The oriole is found all across the country and into southern Canada in the summer. Although the oriole is found in both rural and urban areas, it is common enough on town and city streets to deserve designation as an urban bird. Small towns are the preferred place to look for well-developed specimens, although older city neighborhoods with mature trees are a good second choice.

  Robins (Turdus migratorius)

  10-inch body, 12-inch wings

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE In the northern U.S., the robin is most likely to find its way into the flattened fauna beginning in March, when it spends most of its time on lawns searching for insects and earthworms. When it attempts to cross the street to the next lawn, it is likely to be concentrating on the worm not yet in hand (or beak) rather than on the flow of traffic. Unfortunately, robins almost never fly across the street in spring—they run. This pedestrian approach to local travel keeps the robin population in check. During the winter months, large flocks of robins are characteristic in the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast. They often feed along roadsides and are at risk, like any flocking bird. The bird at the end of the group follows along and is wiped out (or wiped onto) the road surface. In the early part of the century, robins were hunted for food in the South (“Collect twenty-four robins, prepare a pie crust.…”).

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE The robin is found all across the country, and seasonally over most of North America. Some ornithologists distinguish a western variety, which is slightly different in color and somewhat larger, but none of the differences are observable by the time the fifth vehicle passes over the body. Any road robin found from west of the Great Plains to the Pacific Coast could be classified as the western variety without careful examination. Most often flattened male and female robins are about half medium brown and half red-orange, while juveniles are half brown and half speckled. The characteristic white eye-ring is not likely to be visible unless you are stopped for a traffic light.

  Domestic Pigeons (Columba livia)

  12-inch body, 16-inch wings

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE These common birds are almost synonymous with cities, although they are also frequent residents of farm buildings in rural areas. We are all familiar with wheeling flocks and feeding hordes of pigeons, but those permanently on the street receive less attention. Road pigeons are most common near parks and open plazas, demonstrating again that familiarity with humans and their artifacts can be unhealthy for animals. Pigeons don’t usually feed directly on roads and streets, favoring sidewalks with discarded (or provided) popcorn. These birds are nonetheless at serious risk because of their numbers, their nearness to traveled roadways, and their flocking behavior. Individual birds in flocks are less wary of oncoming vehicles. Now and then a pigeon will simply lose track of its surroundings and fly into the side of a truck, having followed the flock to the point of no return. Pigeons are one of the few members of the road fauna likely to be intercepted
by bicycles. Like many city birds, pigeons have come to regard humans as no threat, and a human on a bicycle must seem much like a human on the sidewalk. Pigeons are trusting creatures, to their detriment.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE Pigeons are found everywhere in the U.S. and well into southern Canada. They do not migrate, but overwinter even in the northernmost parts of the range. They are thus one of a small number of birds as likely to appear in winter road inhabitant counts as summer ones.

  Pigeons have been domesticated and selectively bred for centuries, so the color variation is enormous. However, nearly all have some bluish iridescence around the head and a black terminal tail band, both of which survive the severe flattening on urban streets. A small number of pigeons are white and lack both marks, but any totally white bird of this size must necessarily be a pigeon or a very small wandering chicken. No other bird of this size (about a foot wide—or slightly more in the second week) is so common on city streets in all seasons.

  BOTH URBAN AND RURAL BIRDS

  Common Crows (Corvus brachyrynchos)

  18–20 inches

  Like much of rural America, the crow has moved to town. This is the largest all-black bird to be found on the road; and while the rural representatives of this species are numerous, they are sufficiently cautious to be nearly unknown as permanent road fixtures. The growing urban crow populations of the past decade have developed the incautious habits of many urban birds and are now found in some numbers on city streets near parks and in tree-lined neighborhoods.

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE The crow eats anything from other, smaller birds, to eggs, vegetable material of many kinds, and most importantly for us, carrion found on roads. Rural crows are notably cautious, and in open country they will feed on road carrion and leave it well before any approaching vehicle threatens danger. In fact, crows are often one of the major reasons that other flattened birds and mammals do not remain on the road for very long. In cities where crow populations have increased dramatically, they seem to lose their rural apprehension and walk about on the street with some arrogance. Arrogance on the road is fatal. Young birds are particularly susceptible since they are slower and less agile flyers than adults. The last bite of a departed sparrow is often the last bite of anything for a young crow, if the rush hour coincides with the dinner hour. I have seen an urban crow spend ten minutes searching for and finally locating a discarded piece of pizza under a pile of autumn leaves on the edge of a busy street. Such persistence is fulfilling but hazardous.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE The crow is abundant year-round in nearly all of North America and has taken to urban living (and dying) with a vengeance. Anything feathered, all black, larger than a pigeon, and on a city street is certain to be a crow. Watch for them in late May and early June when the young are fledged but not informed.

  Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus)

  20-inch body, wings never outstretched on the road

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE This most widely distributed of the gulls is a scavenger that will eat very nearly anything easy to get. Herring gulls commonly frequent the parking lots of fast-food emporiums and shores with picnic tables. Because of proximity to people, gulls have little fear of people, cars, trucks, trailers, or other fast-moving products of civilization. Herring gulls are exceptional flyers; but immature gulls (the only ones found on the road) often are less adept than they think and may find themselves caught in the downdraft of a passing truck. They are semigregarious, and many birds may often be found within a few hundred yards of one another.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE The herring gull is found across the northern U.S. in the summer, and farther south along the coasts (where it is called the winter gull) in the colder months. The adults have a white head and tail, and gray wings with black tips. That striking color pattern is almost never seen on the road. For the first three years, the young are more or less mottled. Only in their third year do they begin to bear something more like their adult color. In no other bird is the preponderance of young on the road so great or so obvious. Any large, mottled white and dark bird on the road is likely to be an immature, no longer careless, herring gull. The feet, if visible, are pink.

  The herring gull is neither genuinely urban nor committedly rural, but more a resort or vacation bird. It lives in all the places we would like to but can’t afford. Maybe a diet of rotten fish and the hazards of the road are worth it.

  The ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis, is more common inland, especially around the Great Lakes. Adults are similar to the herring gull, but smaller (16-inch body), and the immature birds have a narrow black tail band often visible as separate dark-tipped feathers.

  RURAL BIRDS

  Red-winged Blackbirds

  (Agelaius phoeniceus)

  7–8 inches

  If roads that border marshes are good places to look for much of the road fauna, they are the perfect places to look for the red-winged blackbird. From early spring until late summer, these birds are solitary; but during the rest of the year they form huge flocks.

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE The very common and active red-wing needs only a small patch of cattails, tall grasses, weeds, or shrubs to claim as its own, and it often selects a roadside. The male (the only red-wing gender recognizable on the road) vigorously defends its small territory, and the females (up to six) nesting there. It will verbally abuse and even physically attack birds, mammals, and even people it views as potential threats to the space. Often the red-wing’s concentration on an invading bird blinds it to other, more significant threats. A red-wing attempting to drive off a threatening crow may itself be driven on to the road by a passing Skylark. Since red-wings never feed on the road, they are likely to be intercepted in the air and may be carried some distance—the only explanation for their presence on the road a half mile or more from the nearest marsh. During the nesting season these are stay-at-home birds, except for the occasional summer auto trip on the front of that Skylark. At migration time they travel in huge flocks, but roost in marshes and are seldom near roads. No matter what their Latin name suggests, once flattened, they rise again from the road as only a few wing feathers catching the breeze from passing trucks.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE The red-wing’s bright red-orange patch, with its thin yellow margin, can be seen on almost any road in the U.S. and much of Canada. The rest of the bird is a uniform black in any presentation. A red-wing cannot be flattened without one of the shoulder patches showing, which allows for instant recognition at any legal speed. In western California the tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), common on some marsh-bordered roads, is distinguished from the red-wing only by the white edge on the red shoulder patch.

  Red-headed Woodpeckers

  (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)

  9-inch body, 12-inch wings

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE The redhead is the most domestic of woodpeckers because it typically frequents forests that border human habitation. This preference creates a serious problem for the redhead when the forest edges and human dwellings are close to roads. The price of familiarity with humans is this bird’s presence in the road fauna. Without question, the redhead is the most abundant woodpecker on the road, rivaled only by the yellow-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus), which can be distinguished from the redhead by its larger size and gold-colored underwings. (See this page.) The feeding habits of the redhead set it apart from most other woodpeckers and help to explain its preeminent place in the road fauna. While it will chip a beetle out of tree bark like its fellow woodpeckers, it frequently hauls its catch to some flat surface to soften it up before feeding. The redhead will also commonly eat insects that live on the ground (it enjoys ants, especially) or pursue flying grasshoppers and eat them on the wing. Corn on the cob is a favorite vegetable in season, which it finds along the roads. All this and a slow acceleration place the redhead at greater risk on the road than any other woodpecker. In 1932, Dr. Dayton Stoner reported thirty-nine redheads on 211 miles of highway.

  FIELD MARKS AND RANGE Commonly pres
ent anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains, especially near open woods and fields, it is the only bird of the road fauna with a completely red head. The rest of the body and wings ordinarily show about equal amounts of clear white and deep blue-black. No matter how flat the bird may have been pressed by the passing parade, if you see something on the road that has feathers and is about equal parts of red, white, and black, you are looking at a red-headed woodpecker. Its ease of identification and abundance make the redhead a likely candidate to begin your death list of specimens. (See form on this page.)

  Meadowlarks

  (Sturnella magna [eastern] and

  Sturnella neglecta [western])

  9 inches

  Although their song is one of the important features that distinguish the two species, all meadowlarks are indistinguishable on the road. The state bird of Kansas, the meadowlark is one of the most common of the road fauna encountered in the summer there, and one of the most easily recognizable. Its beauty on the road is surely one reason why it is the state bird of five other states as well.

  HABITS AND ABUNDANCE This bird’s original home was in the tall- and short-grass prairies of the Midwest. As most of its grassy habitat was converted to corn and soybeans, and as hayfields disappeared when tractors replaced horses, more and more meadowlarks nested and fed in roadside ditches (the only habitat that remains unmowed during the nesting season). Their proximity to the highway, rather than any specific habits, produces the numbers of flat meadowlarks we commonly see. Young birds in this hazardous roadside habitat are particularly susceptible, and are most abundant on the road during June and July and again late in summer, since most meadowlarks attempt two broods in one season. Most of the young birds live only long enough to fly to the road.