Saturday, March 14, 2015

March and the Return of the Hooded Orioles

It's the middle of March and almost Spring.... Well, it's felt like spring or summer all winter long. We have had about 50% of the normal rainfall for the season (July 1 to June 30) and the season really only has two more weeks. That is only slightly better than last year. Does that mean anything as far as migratory patterns of the orioles and hummingbirds that frequent this area?

The first Hooded Oriole returned to the backyard a couple weeks ago, right on par with the last few years. But confirmation of a second oriole did not come for two weeks, usually several show up within days. But that is only a couple weeks, may be not significant. Now I have seen at least four at once - 3 adult males and 1 female. This weekend was the first time they have been chattering up a storm as they come in for a drink. I have seen confirmation in the San Diego newspaper that others have seen the orioles coming in also.

I've seen at least one Rufous hummer over the last couple weeks as well, so the migrating hummers are showing up, too. Time will time if the whole migration season is per usual - I hope so!

The honey bees have really not taken off any time this year, usually they are not around in big numbers over the winter - oh yeah, we didn't really have winter this year.

I installed a new 'Hummercam' recently and am pleased with the image quality.


Here is a late evening photo of the rufous male, a bit grainy in the low light, but his brown back is evident.


The last several days have been unseasonably warm, let's call it hot since it has been in the 90s. Care must he taken to keep the feeders fresh - meaning cleaned every few days to keep the sugar water from going bad. I don't use commercial mixes that may contain anti spoilage ingredients for two reasons - I am not sure the hummers/orioles need anti spoilage ingredients and at 1-2 gallons a day it is too expensive.


A couple photos of male Anna's I have taken over the last few weeks. The Anna's have stayed in pretty large numbers of the winter - they are generally not migratory but some must shift their range around a bit judging by the summer/winter numbers of them.



Here is a fun evening photo of hummers at dinnertime.



Here are a couple of regulars around here, at least there are Red Tail Hawks to be seen here all year long. I have seen a couple doing close flying quite often lately.
None of the smaller birds (doves, hummers, orioles, juncos, red wing blackbirds) seem to be concerned at all when the big hawks are flying overhead. But the small Sharp Shinned Hawk sends them all heading for cover!

2 comments:

  1. I am really impressed with the new Hummer Cam. I don't think I have seen the orioles look any better.

    You are getting some wonderful photos, whether from that spiffy new cam or from a regular camera, either way, they are a joy to see.

    Through a window, I watched some courtship rivalry between a couple of feisty rufous males this afternoon. You inspire me to see if I can't capture some of that with my camera, although I don't know if I can be fast enough to "shoot" that miniature version of Top Gun.

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    1. Thanks Linda! I need to get a few photos for the blog that you haven't seen elsewhere ;-)
      That would be cool to see a little rufous rivalry in a photo.The one here is doing a pretty good job chasing away the Anna's at 'his' feeder!

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