Monday, April 11, 2011

1st Offspring of the Season

Sunday was a good day for watching the backyard birds. Oriole activity is way up (easy if it goes from none to 5 or 6). I am a bit shocked to see the 1st juvenile of the season since I just saw the 1st female a couple weeks ago. But those birds may have been hanging out somewhere else and stopped by here only now. The lower shoot shows the males bib a little more clearly. The youngsters are much more skiddish than the adults, hard to get good photos yet. Reminder - click on images for larger view!






Here is a photo of Mr. and Mrs. based on a short observation. They are definitely adult female and male, at any rate. There are a couple of on lookers as well.
This shows the coloration difference between male and female a little better.





A couple of adult males playing in the 'jungle gym' or briar patch depending on your age maybe.

2 males, one at feeder - the other in plum tree, another favorite hangout - especially when the plums ripen, oh well.


Lots of activity during the day and odds of catching orioles on the 'live' cam are getting better.

Here is a photo of a couple orioles perched - with a bonus 3 hummers caught in flight. They are a bit hard to see (click to get the larger view). The webcam can just be seen on the right side of the photo.



Bonus, if off topic, photo from front porch of tent that we stayed in overnight at San Diego Zoo's Safari Park during Roar and Snore event. Excellent time was had by all. A couple clicks to enlarge reveals rhinos resting across the way and giraffes strolling.


Sunday, April 3, 2011

First Female Oriole This Spring

It's a gray start to the first Sunday of April and the first sighting of a female Hooded Oriole has  been made - no photo yet. Yesterday I saw 4 males for the first time, slowly, the birds are returning. I suppose 'returning' is the proper term, could be first timers - I wouldn't know. Most are returning, I would guess.
A couple photos of males playing/hanging out in the dead ceanothus.
Zoomed out a bit for this one, the guy on the left is hanging down.
May be seeing the first batch of youngsters in a month or so.