Tuesday, March 4, 2014

March is here, So is the First Oriole

March 31, 2014

Almost the end of March - looks like three families of orioles hanging out (3 adult males seen at once, anyway).

Here is a capture from the 'Hummercam' this morning -


March has arrived, seems like it has been Spring for a while. Finally, some rain for San Diego county. We have been woefully short of normal rainfall and March is really the last chance.
The first sighting this year for Orioles was Sunday Feb 2. A bright orange and black male visited the backyard 3 times. That precipitated looking for a few good feeders, a little cleanup and fresh fill-ups. As a few more show up, I should get some fun new photos!

The hummers are still sipping 1-2 gallons/day, a pretty constant rate over the last 3-4 months. Still mostly Anna's. I did see a Rufous male zipping about a month or so ago. And I think I saw a Costa's male yesterday, those purple swooped back gorgets are striking!


Feb 14-17 was the Great Backyard Bird Count organized by the Audubon Society and Cornell Labs! I did a couple sessions in the backyard, and of course, the regulars made a good showing - common ground doves, mourning doves, lesser finches, hummingbirds, crows, ravens, red tail hawks, scrub jays, and turkey vultures. But a couple of new birds showed up - A dark eyed junco and a Great Blue Heron! He was standing on the neighbor's roof. He's almost 4 feet tall!

Sometimes, the hummers get very territorial, and here is an older male Anna's who is guarding 'his' feeder. All other males get chased away, I don't usually see them resting so close to the ground as this guy. The photo was from in the house, not very sharp image.


Here is a not too shy dark eyed junco catching a snack as I was walking by, he kept snacking!