Verdin

About the Verdin

A tiny, restless desert songbird, the Verdin is gray overall with a bright yellow head and a small chestnut shoulder patch - a splash of color easy to miss as it flits through the thornscrub. Barely larger than a kinglet, it is all energy, hanging acrobatically from twigs as it hunts.

Verdins glean insects and spiders from desert shrubs, sip nectar, and take berries, and they are constantly on the move. They are notable nest-builders, weaving conspicuous, bulky ball-shaped nests of thorny twigs in mesquite and other desert plants - and they build extra roost nests to shelter in through the year.

In Texas the Verdin is a year-round resident of the arid western and southern brush country, from the Trans-Pecos through the South Texas thornscrub, wherever mesquite, acacia, and cactus grow.

A note from behind the lens: that yellow head is the prize, but Verdins rarely hold still. Stake out a flowering desert shrub or a favored nest bush, prefocus on an open twig, and be ready for the split second the bird pauses in good light.