I've never seen Bushtits in a pile, but I'll bet they learned this as fledglings. I do know that their huddling together is not confined to subzero winter conditions.
On a chilly mid-May Sunday morning four years ago, I saw what appeared to be five recently fledged juveniles huddled in a row on a juniper tree branch in Denver City Park.
The two "bookend" birds faced one direction and the three in the middle faced the other -- all shoulder-to-shoulder, side-by-side.
What may have been their parents were fluttering around the trees and on the ground foraging, I believe to feed them. (Adults continue to feed fledglings for two weeks after they leave the nest.)
I managed to get a mediocre shot or two through the thick tangle of branches.
At the time, I thought it unusual, too, but I found photos online later with even more numbers of Bushtits huddling together in a row for warmth like this.
Cornell's Birds of the World remarks on just-fledged or recently fledged Bushtits as perching with others and "usually" huddling.
Good birding,
Patrick O'Driscoll
Denver
On Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 6:21 PM Willem van Vliet <wwillem@gmail.com> wrote:
--Same here in Central Boulder. Feeding longer and more frequently than usual and keeping warm in a little clump. Interesting that they arranged themselves side-by-side, alternating head-tail-head-tail; maybe to minimize seams in between?Willem van VlietBoulderOn Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 3:06 PM Donna Stumpp <donna.stumpp@gmail.com> wrote:How interesting! I had the same experience in NW Denver (Jefferson County, just east of Standley Lake). I've never seen them huddled up like this. I noticed this bunch earlier today. I couldn't believe it when the center one just jumped on top of the others. Temp was -6 at the time.Also, we only usually see them about every week or two at our feeders, but yesterday and today they have been here 4-5 times per day. They must be hungry because they didn't budge when I had to step outside and just kept eating.
Donna StumppWestminster (Jeffco), CO--On Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 2:44:31 PM UTC-7 Steve wrote:Hey COBirders,
Doing the GBBC this weekend at home in NW COS, and mostly seeing the regulars, but this behavior was new to me. We see our local flock multiple times per day, year round, but I guess it was never as cold as the past two days when we observe them. Yesterday we saw groups of 2, 3, and even 5 huddled together in the cold, but this pic today was the best.
Enjoy togetherness. Happy Valentines Day,
Steve Brown
Mountain Shadows, Colorado Springs
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