A few photos

Sorry that we haven't been posting lately! We have been crazy busy with our suet company and our community organization. We are going to be gone all week, so we wanted to post a few photos before we went. We're traveling to New York City this week, so when we get back we will post some east coast birdies! Hope you enjoy!

Also Scott Lukens, the owner of the Backyard Bird Shop chain here in the NW, was on Garden Time TV this week and he mentioned NePo Suet! Thanks Scott! You can watch the short video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/QIt7tcKnaKk

One of our resident male Anna's Hummingbirds on his favorite feeder.


A Townsend's Warbler taking a quick bath.


A small flock of Bushtits bathing together!


A Brown Creeper in our Mountain Ash tree! This is a very rare visitor to the yard!



A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet taking a dip!

The first of season Spotted Towhee!

New yard photos!

Here are a few recent photos from our yard. The Rufous Hummingbird still comes around everyday. The Juncos, Pine Siskins, Towhee and Varied Thrush are still hanging around. Pretty late in the year for them to be around, but we'll take them!

Here is a very odd looking Bushtit. Notice how brown his head is and how distinctive the line between his head and body are? Is this normal?



A male Anna's Hummingbird at one of our feeders.



2 male House Finches eating some black-oil Sunflower Seed.

A Yellow-Rumped Warbler through our office window. I wish it was more clear, but the rain and double-pane glass wouldn't afford that.


A Townsend's Warbler feeding on the ground.


One of the many Hawks that come through the yard on a weekly basis. This one is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.


A Robin getting ready to bathe.


A Robin bathing!


A small flock of Bushtits.

Around the yard

We have been watching the Flicker box with great interest! There have at least 3 different Flickers checking it out. This Flicker, a hybrid (see the red on the nape of the neck?), actually did a little excavating. He pulled out quite a few of the wood chips and spent some time drumming on the box itself. How cool would it be to have a Flicker family?!?!?!?


The Townsend's Warbler is still very active in the yard. There are 3 or 4 of them and they spend most of the day here.


I guess the squirrels gotta eat, too.


Bushtits! There have been some huge flocks (60-80) in the yard lately.

Snow...Round 2

Well, it snowed again here in Portland. About 2 inches fell last night, and boy, did it bring the birds in! We woke up this morning to a yard overflowing with birdies. The Lincoln's Sparrow was back (he hasn't been here since the last snow) and the Warblers were back in force. It's over half melted now but it was sure pretty while it lasted. Here are some photos from the yard. Hope you enjoy.

For the last week or so, we have only been seeing about 5-10 Juncos in the yard. Today, we easily had 40. We just need to snow to come in and fill the yard back up.


2 of the 5 or 6 Yellow-Rumped Warblers that are in the yard full time.


A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet was nice enough to pose for a close-up.


We are now getting 4-5 Townsend's Warblers in the yard during the day, too.


Such gorgeous birds.


The Yellow-Rumped Warblers feed more on the ground than they do on the suet.


The House Finches seem to be getting their breeding plumage.


A Chestnut-Backed Chickadee and a Red-Breasted Nuthatch sharing some suet.


We have been seeing more of the Bushtits recently. They weren't coming around very much in the last month or so.


This morning, there were dozens and dozens of Pine Siskins and Lesser and American Goldfinches on the thistle feeders. I know the thistle sacks look dirty, but I assure you that they are washed regularly.


A Song Sparrow, 2 House Sparrows, Golden-Crowned Sparrow and a White-Crowned Sparrow.


This morning, Michelle heard a loud crash against our living room window. A Pine Siskin had struck the window pretty hard. When I went out to get him, we were both sure that he wasn't going to make it. He was on his side and his legs looked mangled. We picked him up, put him in a box and gave him some food and water. After about 20 minutes, I opened the box to see if he was still alive and, WHOOSH, he flew out of it and into the garage. It took us about 10 minutes to catch him and release him in the backyard. He flew off and seemed to be completely recovered.


A Towhee, Golden-Crowned Sparrow and a House Sparrow.


As we were in the office watching birds through the window, we heard another crash against the window, but this time, the crash came from the inside. Apparently, our cat Gem didn't like the idea of a squirrel on our window ledge. So she threw herself against the window got tangled in the blinds and made one heck of a racket while doing it.


Then, one of our dogs, Black Top, got in on the action. At first, he didn't seem to know what it was or what to do.

Then, he threw himself against the window. The squirrel shot of the ledge and ran into a nearby tree, thankful to have made it out alive!

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.

Pine Siskins are back!!

We were so excited last night to see a small flock of Pine Siskins fly into the yard. We have missed them in their absence. There were about 15-20 Siskins in the yard and they stayed for quite a while. I hope they are here for the winter! Last year, we didn't see any Pine Siskins until Dec 1st. It's great to have them visiting again.

Other than the Siskins, we have also noticed the Cedar Waxwings hanging around again, White-Crowned Sparrows are daily visitors and we even had a Black-Crowned Night Heron fly over the house 2 nights ago!

So, here are some pics from the yard this week and we are keeping an Eagle-eye out for new visitors ('tis the season). Good birding.


The first Pine Siskins that we have seen in months! They have quite a bit of yellow on them this fall.


They were always one of our favorite, and most numerous, visitors.


They didn't hesitate about going to the birdbath. They weren't in the yard more than 1 or 2 minutes and they swarmed the water.


The Downy Woodpecker is also a daily visitor now. He prefers this suet log more than any of the other feeders (obviously, I have not been putting enough suet in it).


A female Bushtit holding very still for the camera.


After making a "pishing" noise, she came out to see what all the fuss was about.


A large flock of Cedar Waxwings over the house.

Our newest resident Male Anna's Hummingbird. He seems to have claimed the yard.

His life is much easier since the Rufous Hummingbird has departed.

I like the little lightning stripe down the side of his head.

This is (I'm assuming) a House Finch. He just has the oddest tail I have ever seen on one. He seems to have the tail from 2 different birds. Weird.

A Lesser Goldfinch bathing while 2 Pine Siskins look on.

The Lessers will only drink this way now. The will use the water to bathe but, if they want a drink, they fly up to the drip line and drink.

The are always fun to watch.

A Scrub-Jay begging for peanuts.

A Scrub-Jay not begging for peanuts.

I just liked the odd look of this American Goldfinch. His plumage change is really striking.

The photo doesn't show it too well but, his head is almost white, while his body is still winter Goldfinch yellow.