A FIELD GUIDE TO THE
COMMON BIRDS OF
ANDALUSIA
40 BIRDS: THEIR LIVES AND INFLUENCE ON THE WORKS
OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR
COMPILED BY BEN ASHWORTH
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Introduction
Using the guide
Map of all bird habitats at Andalusia
Map of mixed forest habitat
Map of open fields habitat
Map of open canopy forest habitat
Map of pine forest habitat
Map of ponds and streams habitat
Map of wetlands habitat
American crow, American robin, Barn swallow, Barred owl
Belted kingfisher, Black vulture, Blue jay, Brown-headed nuthatch
Brown thrasher, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, Chipping sparrow
Downy woodpecker, Eastern bluebird, Eastern kingbird, Eastern meadowlark
Eastern phoebe, Eastern towhee, Great Blue Heron, Great crested flycatcher
Mourning dove, Northern cardinal, Northern mockingbird, Northern parula
Pine siskin, Pine warbler, Red-bellied woodpecker, Red-shouldered hawk
Red-tailed hawk, Ruby-crowned kinglet, Red-shouldered blackbird, Tufted titmouse
Turkey vulture, Whip-poor-will, White-eyed vireo, White-throated sparrow
Wild turkey, Wood duck, Yellow-rumped warbler, Wood thrush
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
In the early 20th century, the city of Milledgeville bestowed upon itself
the designation of “Bird Sanctuary”. Subsequent signs were posted
around the downtown area proclaiming “Milledgeville, GA: A Bird
Sanctuary.” Some of these signs exist around town to this day. This
concept is not lost at Andalusia( a 544-acre plot of land north of the
downtown area), which is the land that Flannery O’Connor resided at
while writing her most endearing works. Today the land serves as a
preservation location for the legacy of O’Connor as well as some of the
bird species that influenced her works.
While O’Connor’s love of peacocks is well-known and iconic, her
works were also influenced by bird species native to the area. In these
works, birds sometimes serve as symbols, items that enhance the setting,
or for the purposes of describing an idea. For example, in the short story
“The Displaced Person,” O’Connor describes Mrs. Shortley’s first
encounter with the Guizacs as follows: “Her look first grazed the tops of
the displaced people’s heads and then revolved downwards slowly, the
way a buzzard glides and drops in the air until it alights on the carcass.”
Such a detailed description suggests that O’Connor was very observant
of her surroundings and seized opportunities to derive inspiration from
the natural world. Indeed, the author mentions some of the forty
following birds (and some of their close relatives) in twelve of her works
as well as one of her essays.
3
USING THE GUIDE
This guide is designed for its user to better identify birds seen at
Andalusia, understand their life stories, and to include references to their
mentions in O’Connor’s works. The birds chosen to be included in this
guide aren’t necessarily the definitive forty most common birds found
on the property, but they do represent individual species from a wide
array of families as well as those mentioned by O’Connor.
The features description as well as the profile picture of each bird
describe the male of the species, unless otherwise noted. Bird habitat
descriptions for each species correlates with the habitat maps found on
pages 5-11. Diets descriptions are not always 100% comprehensive but
do represent the main food sources gleaned by each bird species.
Vocalizations listed represent the most common sound heard from each
bird. The FYI section includes an interesting fact about each bird.
Descriptions of each bird may use terminology from the following bird
parts:
1- Crown
2- Bill/Beak
3- Cheek
4- Throat
5- Chest
6- Belly
7- Tarsus
8- Toes
9- Tail
10- Back (upperparts)
11- Eyebrow
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
AMERICAN CROW
Features: Large, all-black bird with a straight bill.
Present: Year-round.
Habitat: Open fields near forest edges.
Diet: Varied (grains, seeds, fruits, insects, mice, fish, etc.)
Vocalization: Heavy “CAW” sound
FYI: Crows are among the most intelligent of birds. As
such, they are able to solve puzzles and have good
memories.
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Lame Shall Enter First”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Corvus brachyrhynchos
AMERICAN ROBIN
Turdus migratorius
BARN SWALLOW
Hirundo rustica
BARRED OWL
Strix varia
• Features: Medium-sized bird with a gray-brown back
and orange-colored undersides.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests. Also a common backyard bird.
• Diet: Invertebrates and fruit.
• Vocalization: “Cheerily cheer-up cheerio”
• FYI: Often find worms by standing still, watching the
ground with a titled head (most likely looking for signs of
digging).
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with a long forked tail. Back an
iridescent blue.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Frequently nests in man-made structures.
• Diet: Flying insects.
• Vocalization: "chi-dit, chi-dit” and "wit-wit"
• FYI: When making their nests (which are made out of
mud), both the male and female make over 1,000 trips
collecting mud.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Features: Large owl with no ear tufts.
Present: Year-round.
Habitat: Mixed forests, bottomland swamps.
Diet: Small mammals, rabbits, birds, amphibians, reptiles
and invertebrates.
• Vocalization: “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for youall?”
• FYI: Their right ear is higher than its left ear, which helps
them better pinpoint the location of prey.
• In O’Connor’s works: “Wise Blood,” The Partridge
12
Festival,” “Parker’s Back”
•
•
•
•
BELTED KINGFISHER
Ceryle alcyon
BLACK VULTURE
Coragyps atratus
BLUE JAY
Cyanocitta cristata
BROWN-HEADED
NUTHATCH
Sitta pusilla
• Features: Medium-sized bird with a large head and a
reddish band on chest of female.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: By streams and ponds.
• Diet: Mainly fish with some aquatic invertebrates, as
well as insects and small vertebrates.
• Vocalization: “Machine-gun” rattle
• FYI: Belted kingfishers are known to dive into water to
avoid being eaten by hawks when necessary.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Large bird with black covering its body
except for its underside wing tips, which are white.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests.
• Diet: Carrion.
• Vocalization: None.
• FYI: The Black vulture soars on thermal convection
currents that minimize its energy expenditure.
• In O’Connor’s works: “A Stroke of Good Fortune, “The
Life You Save May Be Your Own”, “The Displaced
Person”
• Features: Medium-sized bird with blue upperparts and
light gray/white under parts and a crested head.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests. Also a common backyard bird.
• Diet: Varied, including insects, nuts, seeds, grains, etc.
• Vocalization: Most common vocalization is a harsh
“JEER!” sound that is repeated.
• FYI: Sometimes mimics hawk vocalizations when
approaching feeders in order to scare off other birds.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with a brown crown, grey
upperparts and white under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Pine forests.
• Diet: Insects and pine seeds.
• Vocalization: Reminiscent of a squeaky toy.
• FYI: Pries open bark on trees to expose insects with
another small piece of bark.
• In O’Connor’s works:
13
BROWN THRASHER
Toxostoma rufum
CAROLINA CHICKADEE
Poecile carolinensis
CAROLINA WREN
Thryothorus ludovicianus
CHIPPING SPARROW
Strix varia
• Features: Medium to large bird with a long tail, yellow
eyes, and brown upperparts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Thickets and beside streams.
• Diet: Insects, fruits and nuts.
• Vocalization: Series of short mimicked songs of other
birds.
• FYI: Has the largest repertoire of songs out of all North
American birds and is able to vocalize 3,000 distinct
songs and is also is the State Bird of Georgia.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Very small bird with black crown and throat,
white cheeks, and grey upperparts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Mixed forests, swamps, by streams and is a
common backyard bird.
• Diet: Insects and spiders most of the year.
• Vocalization: “PHEE-bee, PHEE-bay”
• FYI: Associates with flocks of birds during winter and
migration, such as Tufted titmice, Ruby-crowned
kinglets, and Brown-headed nuthatches.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with distinct white eyebrow, brown
upperparts, and rusty under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests, swamps, and a common backyard
bird.
• Diet: Insects and spiders.
• Vocalization: “Jimminy, jimminy, jimminy”
• FYI: Is known to build multiple nests to confuse
predators.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with a long tail and reddish-brown
crown.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Open forests, particularly evergreen forests.
• Diet: Seeds most of the year and insects when
breeding.
• Vocalization: Evenly spaced trill
• FYI: Known collectively as a "tournament of sparrows.”
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Geranium”
14
DOWNY WOODPECKER
Picoides pubescens
EASTERN BLUEBIRD
Sialia sialis
EASTERN KINGBIRD
Tyrannus tyrannus
• Features: Small, black-and white woodpecker. Males
have a red patch on the back of the head.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Mixed forests, by streams, and a common
backyard bird.
• Diet: Fond of beetle larvae and carpenter ants.
• Vocalization: Trill that descends in pitch.
• FYI: Calls by drumming against pieces of wood. The
Downy's drumming has nothing to do with feeding
(during which they make little to no noise).
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with blue upperparts, rufuous chest,
and white under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Open areas around trees. Also a common
backyard bird.
• Diet: Insects.
• Vocalization: Jumbled-sounding song.
• FYI: Populations have declined due to competition for
nesting sites with two non-native species, the European
startling and the House sparrow.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Medium-sized bird with dark upperparts, white
under parts, and a terminal white band on the upper
side of the tail.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Fields and forest edges.
• Diet: Flying insects and also eats fruits during the winter.
• Vocalization: "Ti-t-t-t-ti-zeer."
• FYI: A highly aggressive bird that is known to attack
hawks and other predators around nest sites.
• In O’Connor’s works:
EASTERN MEADOWLARK • Features: Medium-sized bird with a brown back
streaked with black, a black spot on its chest, and
yellow under sides.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Open fields.
• Diet: Insects.
• Vocalization: “Spring is here.”
• FYI: Males usually have two mates at one time, while
some have up to three.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Sturnella magna
15
EASTERN PHOEBE
Sayornis phoebe
EASTERN TOWHEE
• Features: Small bird with grey-brown upperparts and
lighter under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests and by streams/ponds.
• Diet: Flying insects.
• Vocalization: “PHEE-bee”
• FYI: The Eastern phoebe is a loner bird that rarely
comes into contact with other members of its own
species.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bird with black upperparts and chest,
rufuous sides, and white under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Dense shrub and by forest edges.
• Diet: Varied, including seeds, fruits, insects, snails, etc.
• Vocalization: “Drink your tee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee”
• FYI: Is a ground forager and tends to hop while looking
for food.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Pipilo erythrophthalmus
GREAT BLUE HERON
Ardea herodias
• Features: Large wading bird with blue-gray markings,
as well as long legs and neck.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Streams, ponds, wetlands.
• Diet: Fish, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and
small mammals.
• Vocalization: Deep croak.
• FYI: The Great Blue Heron is the largest heron in North
America.
• In O’Connor’s works:
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER • Features: Small crested bird with brown upperparts,
Myiarchus crinitus
light yellow under parts, and a grey throat.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Mixed forests, swamps, by streams, and is
sometimes a common backyard bird.
• Diet: Insects, other invertebrates, and some small fruits.
• Vocalization: A high-pitched “creeep!”
• FYI: Often likes to place crinkled objects in its nest,
including snake skins, cellophane, and plastic wrappers.
• In O’Connor’s works:
16
MOURNING DOVE
Zenaida macroura
NORTHERN CARDINAL
Cardinalis cardinalis
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD
Mimus polyglottos
NORTHERN PARULA
Parula americana
• Features: Medium-sized tan bird with black spots and
a long, pointed tail.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Open fields.
• Diet: Seeds.
• Vocalization: “Whoo-OOO-ooo-ooo-ooo”.
• FYI: Mourning doves eat up to 20% of their body weight
every day.
• In O’Connor’s works: Mentions of pigeons- who are in
the same family (Columbidae) are found in “The
Germanium” as well as “The Displaced Person.”
• Features: Medium-sized bird that is mostly red with
black around the eye and an orange beak.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Dense, shrubby areas. Also a common
backyard bird.
• Diet: Mainly seeds, fruits and sometimes insects.
• Vocalization: “Birdie, birdie, birdie”
• FYI: Males of the species are known to attack their
reflections in windows, which they believe to be
another male intruding on their territory.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Medium-sized grey bird with a white wing
band on each wing.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: A common backyard bird.
• Diet: Insects in the summer and fruit in the fall and
winter.
• Vocalization: Series of short mimicked songs of other
birds.
• FYI: Males may learn up to 200 songs in their lifetime.
• In O’Connor’s works: Mentioned in her essay “The
Regional Writer”.
• Features: Small bird with blue-grey upperparts/wings
and yellow chest. Also has a broken white eye ring.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Mixed forests, bottomland swamps.
• Diet: Spiders and insects.
• Vocalization: Rising trill with a final sharp note.
• FYI: Is one of only a few birds that sometimes nests in
Spanish moss.
• In O’Connor’s works:
17
PINE SISKIN
• Features: Small brown streaked bird with pale yellow
wing bars. Light-colored under parts.
• Present: Winter.
• Habitat: Pine forests.
• Diet: Small seeds; also tree buds, insects, and spiders.
• Vocalization: Harsh “zreeeeeeet”
• FYI: Nests in loose colonies.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Carduelis pinus
PINE WARBLER
Dendroica pinus
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
• Features: Small bird with yellow throat/chest and
white wing bars.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Pine forests.
• Diet: Primarily arthropods as well as some fruits and
seeds.
• Vocalization: Musical trill.
• FYI: Rarely found in deciduous forests, except
during migration.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Medium-sized woodpecker with red crown,
black/white checkered back and light under parts.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Forests.
• Diet: Insects, spiders, acorns, nuts, pine cones, etc.
• Vocalization: “Quuuur” trill sound.
• FYI: Sometimes jams large nuts in tree crevices and
breaks them open with its beak.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Melanerpes carolinus
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
Buteo lineatus
• Features: Large hawk with a striped black and white
tail, reddish barred under parts, and reddish head.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Mixed forests, swamps, by streams.
• Diet: Small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and
crayfish.
• Vocalization: “Kee-ahh” scream repeated.
• FYI: Has the same prey base as the Barred owl. Since
the owl is nocturnal, direct competition is avoided.
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Enduring Chill,” “Parker’s
18
Back”
RED-TAILED HAWK
Buteo jamaicensis
RUBY CROWNED KINGLET
• Features: Large hawk that is brown above, has light
under parts, and a reddish tail.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Open fields.
• Diet: Mainly mammals.
• Vocalization: One note “kee-eeeee-arr” scream.
• FYI: Chances are that when you hear a bird of prey
call in a Hollywood movie, it’s from this species.
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Enduring Chill,” “Parker’s
Back”
• Features: Very small bird with olive-green upperparts,
white wing bars, and males have a red crown.
• Present: Winter.
• Habitat: Forests.
• Diet: Spiders, pseduoscorpions, and insects.
• Vocalization: Jumbled-sounding song.
• FYI: Lays up to 12 eggs per clutch despite its very
small size.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Regulus calendula
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD
Agelaius phoeniceus
TUFTED TITMOUSE
Baeolophus bicolor
• Features: Medium-sized bird that is almost all black
besides red and yellow patches on shoulders.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Pine forests and open fields.
• Diet: Insects in the summer and seeds in the winter.
• Vocalization: “Konk-ga-reeee”
• FYI: One of the most common birds in North
America. The species is thought to number some 200
million individuals throughout the continent.
• In O’Connor’s works:
• Features: Small bluish-grey bird with a tufted head.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Mixed forests and is also a common backyard
bird.
• Diet: Insects, spiders, snails and seeds.
• Vocalization: “Peter, peter, peter”
• FYI: Sometimes lines nests with hair picked
from live animals.
• In O’Connor’s works:
19
TURKEY VULTURE
Cathartes aura
WHIP-POOR-WILL
• Features: Large black bird with a mostly un-feathered
red head. Also has white spanning under its wings.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Open fields.
• Diet: Carrion.
• Vocalization: None.
• FYI: Highly dependent on its sense of smell to locate
carrion.
• In O’Connor’s works: “A Stroke of Good Fortune, “The
Life You Save May Be Your Own”, “The Displaced
Person”
• Features: Medium-sized brown/black/grey bird
with whiskers and a large mouth when opened.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Mixed forests.
• Diet: Insects, especially moths and beetles.
• Vocalization: “Whip-poor-will!”
• FYI: Lays eggs in phase with the lunar cycle.
• In O’Connor’s works: “A Circle in the Fire,” The Violent
Bear it Away
Caprimulgus vociferus
WHITE-EYED VIREO
• Features: Small bird olive upperparts, yellow sides,
yellow spectacles and white eyes.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Mainly in deciduous scrub.
• Diet: Insects with some fruit.
• Vocalization: Short, rapid song.
• FYI: Bathes by rubbing against wet foliage.
• In O’Connor’s works:
Vireo griseus
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
Zonotrichia albicollis
• Features: Small bird with a white throat, black and white
striped head, and a brown streaked back.
• Present: Winter.
• Habitat: Forests.
• Diet: Mainly seeds.
• Vocalization: “Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody”
• FYI: Occasionally mates with the Dark-eyed Junco to
produce hybrid offspring, even though the two species
are not closely related.
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Geranium”
20
WILD TURKEY
Meleagris gallopavo
WOOD DUCK
Aix sponsa
WOOD THRUSH
• Features: Large ground bird with an iridescent green
sheen, fanned tail, and featherless head.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Mixed forests.
• Diet: Acorns, nuts, seeds, fruits, insects, buds, etc.
• Vocalization: Familiar gobbling sound
• FYI: Due to over harvesting, the population of turkeys
in the wild was thought to have reached 30,000.
Today, their population is thought to be over 7 million.
• In O’Connor’s works: “The Turkey”, “A Circle in the Fire”,
“The Displaced Person”
• Features: Medium sized duck with a green head, brown
chest and buffy sides. Has black on the tip of its bill.
• Present: Year-round.
• Habitat: Ponds and wetlands.
• Diet: Seeds, fruits, insects and other arthropods.
• Vocalization: “aw-eek, aw-eek” from the female in
flight.
• FYI: The only duck that breeds naturally in Georgia.
• In O’Connor’s works: Geese (which are in the same
family, Anatidae) are mentioned in “A Circle in the
Fire.”
• Features: Medium-sized bird with brown upperparts and
a spotted chest and belly.
• Present: Summer.
• Habitat: Mixed forests.
• Diet: Insects and fruits.
• Vocalization: "ee-oh-lay”
• FYI: One Wood thrush can harmonize with itself due to
its syrinx, or sound box.
• In O’Connor’s works: The Violent Bear it Away
Hylocichla mustelina
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER • Features: Small bird with blue-grey upperparts and a
yellow throat and rump.
Present: Winter.
Habitat: Pine forests.
Diet: Insects, spiders, and fruits.
Vocalization: A soft and gentle trill.
FYI: Males tend to forage higher in trees than females of
the species do.
• In O’Connor’s works:
•
•
•
•
•
Dendroica coronata
21
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All photographs were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
Image Library or were explicitly released into the public domain by their
creator unless noted below:
- Barred owl credit: Dick Daniels (carolinabirds.org)
- Black vulture credit: Ben Ashworth
- White-eyed vireo credit: Derek Bakken
Information for each bird was derived from The Cornell Lab of
Ornithology, Whatbird.com, and The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen
Sibley.
Special thanks is extended to Dr. Melanie DeVore, Dr. Christopher
Skelton, and Dr. Doug Oetter. Thanks is also extended to the Georgia
College and State University Special Collections.
Finally, special thanks is given to the Flannery O’Connor - Andalusia
Foundation, who so diligently preserve the legacy of Flannery O’Connor
and made this project possible.
22