By Gail Cochrane

Liberty Wildlife Volunteer

Perched imperiously on the topmost branch of a mesquite tree, the male phainopepla tosses his shaggy crest. Ruffling shiny black feathers, he casts his red eyes about the area for intruders. Phainopepla is ready to take on any who would threaten his food source. He is guarding his mistletoe.

The bird and the plant live in a closely intertwined relationship; each ensures the survival of the other. Phainopeplas eats as many as a thousand of the tiny desert mistletoe berries every day. Scientists have discovered phainopeplas have a specialized gizzard, which separates the berry skin from the rest of the fruit for more efficient digestion. Berries are the main food source for the phainopepla from fall through spring when insects become more important.

Desert mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows in messy clumps in the midst of legume trees such as mesquite, Palo Verde, ironwood and acacia. In the spring, juicy red berries cover the clumps of mistletoe. Phainopeplas gorge on the berries then spread the seeds, either by defecating on a tree branch or by wiping their bills, rubbing sticky seeds onto the bark. Seeds that lodge on branches send roots into the wood, where they draw nourishment from the tree.

The marvelous word phainopepla comes from Greek for shining robes. The glistening feathers of these birds are inky black on the male and dusky grey on the female. Her black wing feathers are edged with white. A pair I watched at Patagonia State Park flew loops around a giant mistletoe in the branches of a lakeside mesquite. Both flashed square patches of white wing feathers as they chased around the nest and out over the lake.

Often solitary, phainopeplas cluster in groups in breeding season.  Birds circle in flight as females check out the males and the nests and territories they offer. Males bring the females offerings of mistletoe berries. Once the female has chosen a mate, she begins to make improvements on the nest he’s constructed. The pair works together to shape the nest and lay down a soft lining. Together they incubate and feed the young. They catch insects for their nestlings, but after about two weeks of this protein diet they begin regurgitating mistletoe berries for their young.

Down at Patagonia State Park, near the water’s edge, the air rang with a great variation of phainopepla calls. When threatened, or perhaps in the thrall of courtship, the phainopepla often runs through imitations of other birds, mimicking a dozen different calls.