More pics from the yard

Here are some photos from the last couple of days. As always, we hope you enjoy them and have a great week!!


A Red-Breasted Nuthatch. We have seen him starting to excavate a nest we have for him in the yard. How cool would that be??


One of the 433,629 Scrub-Jays that visit the yard daily.


A Downy Woodpecker being stealthy.


2 Chestnut-Backed Chickadees grabbing some suet.

Here is a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee on one side, but if you look closely, you can just see the top of a head of a Downy Woodpecker on the backside of the suet.

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee tongue!

A House Sparrow checking out our tool shed. I think that might be too big of a nest box for him. We shall see.

14 days and counting...

...until the Great Backyard Bird Count of 2009! Starting February 13th and running through the 16th this is a great chance (and excuse) to get out and count some birds. Whether it's in your backyard, a local park or even your favorite Wildlife Refuge, you can count for as little as 15 minutes or as much as you want! Just check out the GBBC's website here and have a look around. Please see below for more information! Thanks and we hope you all are ready to count!


This little Townsend's Warbler wanted me to remind you to check out last year's Great Backyard Bird Count Top-10 lists. Just go here!


This beautiful Male Downy Woodpecker stopped by and told me (between bites of suet) to ask you if you would please participate in this years GBBC? What should I tell him you said?


Oh, the Townsend's Warbler is back and, again, wanted me to remind you that you can look up all the numbers from any state on the GBBC's website. You'll find that here.


Then, the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet swooped in for a bite of suet and to ask me to tell you that you can look up last year's Photo Contest Winners. Just check this out.


(voice of the Townsend's) ...you are getting very sleepy... you are so relaxed... so tired...now, I want you to count for the GBBC on Feb. 13th-16th... remember...you WANT to count... you NEED to count... that's it...so relaxed... now, when I click my bill...you will wake up feeling relaxed and rested...but when the calendar reaches the 13th of February...you will become a counting machine...you will count birds all day long and you will go to the GBBC website and enter your counts.... 'CLICK'

Warblers and Bushtits and Woodpeckers

I feel awful for not posting more the last couple of weeks. It has been a weird month. I was laid off (due to budget cuts) at the end of December and I have been scrambling trying to find a job. If I could be a bird blogger and get paid to do it, I would be just fine. But since that's not going to happen, I haven't spent much time birding lately.

So here are a few photos and I hope to post more in the next couple of days. We hope you like them and have a great week!

One of the many Townsend's Warblers we get on a daily basis.


They are such fun to watch.


A photo of our BirdCam taking pics of a Downy Woodpecker.


Bushtits have been swamping the yard lately. The ones with the light-colored eyes are the females.


We always enjoy their visits. You can't help but smile when you hear the little, high-pitched "peep, peeps" from a flock.

Woodpeckers, Sparrows and Nuthatches

Hi all! Well, let me start off by saying that we have now moved into the 21st Century! Yep, that's right, we got high-speed Internet! Christmas came a little early this year. Maybe we will be inclined to blog a little more now (since it won't take 5 hrs to post)!

Now, onto the yard! The first thing this morning we noticed a Downy Woodpecker fly into the yard. Then we saw a second one. It's always fun to get a couple of them in the yard at the same time. What happened next, we had never seen before. They both flew into the same apple tree and started "sputtering" vocalizations and (what looked to be) fighting with each other. Then, one of the Downy flattened himself on a limb of the tree and sat absolutely motionless for about 5 minutes, while the other foraged around the tree. Then, both Downy started bobbing their heads up and down, doing a bill-waving dance, practicing a full wing threat displays and fluttering around from limb to limb. This went on for about 15 minutes before they abruptly stopped and flew into another tree and started foraging for insects again.

This is odd to us because this seems to be a mixture of courting/mating rituals and some type of rival/threat behavior. Also, I do know that the male and female Downy Woodpeckers maintain different feeding locations during the winter, but we constantly see the male and female in the yard at the same time. So, we just aren't sure what t think. Has anyone witnessed anything like this? If so, we would love to hear from you.

This has been a busy few days in the yard. We have had First of Season: Golden-Crowned Kinglets, Yellow-Rumped and Townsend's Warbler and Fox Sparrows (pics below)! The Golden-Crowned Kinglets are actually the first ones we have ever seen in our yard! Fun stuff!

On to the pictures...hope you enjoy and good birding to everyone!



Here is the male Downy. He flattened himself on this limb and didn't move at all for 5 minutes. The female is down towards the bottom of the tree (not in view) foraging in the bark.


After becoming active again, this male Downy climbed to the top of this tree branch and started bobbing up and down and splaying his tail feathers.



He did this for quite a few minutes while the other Downy was fluttering around the same tree.


He would stop every once in a while and hold still for 15 or 20 seconds before resuming his odd behavior.


It was incredible to watch. We felt lucky to see this "act".


Here's the male getting closer to the female.


He was still watching her from this perch.


He would not sit still after a while. He kept changing positions and seriously bobbing his head.


"Look at me!! I'm so pretty"!!


Finally, they got close enough to each other for me to get them in the same frame.


This is where they both started bobbing up and down and spreading their wings and tails.


Fluttering from branch to branch.


The male hopped to a branch right above me.


After I took this photo, he flew off into another tree and started acting "normally".


Later, the female came back for more suet.


While she was feeding on one suet block, the male went to another.


We noticed an odd acting "sparrowlike" bird by our bramble pile yesterday. As I got closer, I saw that it was a Fox Sparrow! It's about time!


The can look so much like the Song Sparrow, and yet, so different.


Notice the "diamonds" on the breast. A very tell-tale sign that it's a Fox.


The Fox is also slightly larger than the Song Sparrow.


The Fox and The Song finally decided to get close enough that I could photograph them both at the same time. Thanks guys!


You can start to see their differences. But remember, these are just 2 specimens. Each Song and Fox Sparrow can look so much different than the next.


A very blurry shot of the Golden-Crowned Kinglet. It's the only usable photo that I took of the little spazzes!


One of our bramble-pile Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch is always fun to photograph.

So photogenic!

Look at that upturned bill. What a snob!

A Yellow-Rumped Warbler attempting to land on a suet feeder.

It takes him 4 or 5 tried before he seems to feel comfortable enough to land on it.

And here is yet another blurry shot. This is also a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Me thinks me needs to work on my camera skills!

Pumpkins, Birds and the GOBC

Michelle and I carved pumpkins this weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch 2 weeks ago and selected only the finest of the orange, round orbs. After trying to decide how to carve them, Michelle came up with a wonderful idea to make her pumpkin from only things that we have grown in the yard and the garden (pic below). I thought that was a terrific idea! Then that led me to my idea which, although not as cool as hers, still allowed me to do the 2 things that I love most...spend time with Michelle and birding!

Well, the Great October Bird Count is almost over :( It has been a wild ride! There is only 4 days left and it's been a little slow. Sunday was a gorgeous day but INCREDIBLY windy! Not too many birds were braving the gale force winds. We are still hearing a couple of new birds but they have yet to show their little feathered butts! I guess we shall see...



Here is Michelle's pumpkin!
Hair: Grape leaves
Eyes: Sunflowers
Nose: Agapanthus seed
Mouth: Anaheim pepper
Ears: Scarlet Runner Bean seeds
Earrings: Fuchsia Tree flowers
Flowers above the ear...we think are Coreopsis. All of this came from the yard and I think it's the best pumpkin I have ever seen! Talk about recycling!


Here is my pumpkin. I thought I'd see if the backyard crew would like to have a holiday feeder. It turns out that they like it quite a bit! It probably wont last more than a day or two but it will be fun while it lasts.


Here is a Song Sparrow that apparently is from the Eastern part of the state. We noticed him right away because of his stance, behavior and markings. We have 5 or 6 Song Sparrows that visit everyday and this guy was definitely different. We actually thought that this was a Lincoln's Sparrow at first. But, after posting on OBOL and Flickr and getting some great advice from some experienced and knowledgeable birders, we now know that this is a Song Sparrow but not from these parts. Still kind of exciting to have an out-of-town visitor!


Lots of House Finches in the yard lately.

Look at the mammoth House Finch in the back! He was flying around the yard last night and he was twice the size of the other House Finches. We thought that it might be some other species but he had all the markings of a House Finch. Albeit a large House Finch, but still a House Finch.

Squirrels, squirrels and more squirrels! Suet thieves is what they should be called!

Now here we have a squirrel that knows it's place. We set the table for him and he comes to dine! No stealing suet. Not eating sunflower seeds. This corn is for him (and the Jays) and he knows it.

We always love a visit from the Downy!

Lots of Lesser Goldfinches, American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins in the yard now.

Oh, and Juncos, too!