We just had a flock of 9 Band-tailed Pigeons fly into the yard. We haven't seen them for quite sometime. Usually they are gone by now and return in late February.
One of the nine in the tree.
I could get 4 in this photo. They were all over the tree, though.
I believe there are 6 pigeons in this photo. It was a great treat to see them so late (early?).
Here are a few pics in the yard from the last couple of days. The yard has been getting busier and busier over the last couple of weeks. Lots of Juncos, American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches, Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-Rumped and Townsend's Warblers, Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, a Red-Breasted Sapsucker, Scrub and Steller's Jays, Bewick's Wrens, Song, White- and Golden-Crowned Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, Bushtits, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Cedar Waxwings, and Anna's Hummingbirds are all common visitors right now. We have heard the Varied Thrush a couple of times, but we haven't spotted him yet.
Wishing everyone a great birding winter season!
We have tried in vain to ID this gull. We think we ID the gull and then we notice a marking that rejects our theory. Any ideas?
A Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Both the Sharpie and the Cooper's hawks are starting to visit the yard more and more.
Well, the good people at the Flora and Fauna Nature Company have started stocking their shelves with our suet! We are very excited and we look forward to growing a small business.
Our suet is (we think) the highest-quality suet on the market. Our Everyday Blend has rendered fat, peanut butter, black oil sunflower seeds (whole), sunflower chips, filberts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, nyjer seed, oats, cracked corn, crushed oyster shells, millet and flour. Every cake is stuffed full of seed and nuts. We have tested it against many other suet cakes and it is far and away better than any other we have found. The Flora and Fauna Nature Company is selling it right now for $3.99 a cake or 3 cakes for $9.99.
Bushtits
The suet in our yard has been enjoyed by Bushtits, Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, many types of Woodpeckers, many types of Warblers, White-Breasted and Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Wrens, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Juncos, quite a few species of Sparrow, Scrub and Steller's Jays, and Black-Headed Grosbeaks.
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
We have shipped suet to many parts of the country and has been popular with birds everywhere.
An odd looking American Goldfinch
We don't know if this was just left over from his summer colors or a permanent marking. But it looked cool!
Here are a few photos of some regular residents in our yard. Hope you enjoy them!
An Oregon Junco deciding which sunflower seed looks the best. We are getting about 20-25 juncos a day now. In winter, we usually have around a 100 or so in the yard at any given time.
One of the many Flickers we get in the yard.
We had 5 in the yard at the same time yesterday. Last winter, we had nine at once! Yes, we go through lots o' suet.
A Black-Capped Chickadee that was nice enough to pose for a couple of photos.
Today, Michelle and I went out to Commonwealth Park in Beaverton. It was just supposed to be a quick stop, but we ended up being there for quite a while.
Among the variety of birds, were a juvenile Green Heron (who let us get really close) and a Horned Grebe!
So here are some photos from the trip and a few others from the yard.
Good birding to all.
Here is the gorgeous juvenile Green Heron! He has been one of the most elusive birds for us. We catch quick glimpses, but we have never been able to stare at him.
Here he is staring right back at us!
Such a cool looking bird!
Please don't ask how many photos we actually took of this little guy.
Here are a few photos from the last week or so. The Band-Tailed Pigeons are still hanging around. The most we counted at one time was 7! It was awesome to see so many at once.
The American Goldfinches are slowly starting to return, but they have lost most of their summer colors and are now the more muted yellows. They will winter with us by the hundreds.
Of note, this last week we saw, not only the Common Nighthawk (see post below this one) but a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher also stopped by! That's only the second Flycatcher we have ever had in the yard.
So, without further adieu, here are a few pics...
We have really enjoyed playing host to these Band-tailed Pigeons.
They are great fun to have around.
They are usually resting atop this telephone pole/wire in the mornings. This pole, strangely enough, is actually in our backyard. Here you can see 5 of them.
Here are four of them in one of our homemade fly-thrus.
We just had a Common Nighthawk circling above the house! This is a life list bird for us and we certainly never expected to see one here. Here are a couple of (really) bad photos we just took.
Hello to everyone and thanks for being so patient with us. We took a little blogging hiatus for the last few weeks, but we are back and ready to start blogging like crazy.
Here is a collection of photos from the last month or so, and please forgive us, they are not in any real order.
We hope you enjoy the photos and we will be posting more later this week. Take care and good birding!
An Osprey flying right over us at Ridgefield NWR.
A Flicker defending his suet from a Starling.
A juvenile Flicker camping out on a feeder. She wasn't quite sure how to hang on the side.
This photo is of a Cooper's Hawk in our yard. He flew in, and because of the shade, only his eye was really visible. It stood out like a bright, red berry.
We have had a pair of Band-Tailed Pigeons hanging out in the yard over the last couple of weeks!
