Verdin

Other Names: Gold-Tit, Yellow Headed Bush Tit, Spanish name: verdín

A delicate, tiny, living bird about 4 1/2 inches in length is the Verdin that appears common when first seen. The Verdin is smaller than the largest North American Humming Bird. The beak of the Verdin is much shorter than their head with a sharp tip. Their wings are long and rounded.

It inhabits areas of the desert in Southern Arizona and some environments south. It is a common bird in the dry sections of Northern Mexico, the southern portions of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and in Lower California. The Verdin has no relation to any other bird in the western hemisphere.

Birders observe the Verdin in the deserts of southeastern California and the Colorado Desert. It also inhabits areas along Mexico, is less common in the Mojave Desert and it is a bird of the Tortolitas.

The Verdin is a common bird in the Sonoran Desert in the mesquite thickets at lower elevations. The Verdin will often inhabit many Southwestern municipal areas. Also birders find them in open flats where the plants are few.

The Verdin is a small bird with a gray back, white stomach and chest, a yellow head and throat, and a cinnamon spot on its wings. The young birds do not have the yellow and cinnamon colors like the adults.

Usually during the year the Verdins are tolerant of people except the during the nesting season. Other than when the Verdins pair up for nesting they usually go their own way by themselves.

Despite its little size it constructs an outstandingly large nest. The Verdin's nest is big and awkward, and a spectacle of bird architecture. Bird watchers of the Verdin say their nest is fairly easy to find in its home habitat. Birders look at the ends of the branches of low, prickly trees or shrubs for the Verdin's nest. They also look for the nest in cacti and thorny bushes that grow in their chosen habitat. Usually when a bird watcher sees the Verdins carrying nesting material it is a sure sign they will lay eggs in the nest soon.

The nest is round, with a long neck similar in shape to a bottle. The Verdin builds the outside of the nest with thorny branches woven together and they line the center of the nest with flower stems and feathers. The entrance to the Verdin's nest is a tiny, round opening. The Verdins live in the nests during the cold winter desert months.

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