A good time to post an update - Spring birds are here!

 This Pandemic has made for an odd 13 months. Fortunately there are birds to keep us company! Here are a few of the birds showing up in our yard over the last month, some for the first time since last summer.

It is mid April, Spring is in full swing and the birds are coming to visit!

The blog title is Hummingbirds and Orioles - but I get a little off topic depending on who shows up ;-)

We'll start with a male Allen's hummingbird - he is looking very sharp in his fine brown, red, and green. Allen's and Anna's hummingbirds are here year round - much to our pleasure!

A viewing hint for those who might not know - click on an image to see a large view!

The Hooded orioles have just recently arrived from their winter hangout in Mexico. They are so entertaining once several show up and get playful! First is a young male - noted by his dark gray but not quite black bib and his pale yellow and light gray coloring.

Next - an adult male Hoodie in full color (bright yellow/orange with black and white). He seems to be deciding whether to go for the grape jelly - spoiler - he did!

Another favorite backyard bird is the California Scrub jay. Very vocal, friendly, and has a big taste for mealworms!

Back at the jelly feeder, a Northern mockingbird has become very fond of the grape jelly as well! It seems to be singing its praise in this photo :-)

Also just showing up - this male Black-headed grosbeak. I think this is quite an over the shoulder 'come hither' look! Probably using it on a nearby female grosbeak ;-)

Still another bird just arriving from a winter home in western Mexico - a Lazuli bunting. I call him Mr Lazuli and I have been waiting since the end of last summer for his return.

Still with wings - but a little off topic (I warned about that!), the first pale swallowtail butterfly this season! We will also get Western Tiger swallowtails. Hint: it pays to plant a nice butterfly/pollinator garden ;-) We also have a year round population of Monarch butterflies that visit. The Spring/Summer numbers are bigger than over the winter. 

Back to the feathered friends - this is a juvenile Cooper's hawk, could be a juvenile Sharp-shinned hawk, I'm not positive. The young ones are harder to ID, so sometimes I just say a Shooper (combination of Sharp-shinned and Cooper's)  ;-) We have a few of both species that will stop by the yard in hopes of a quick meal. Fortunately, for the smaller birds, the hawks miss most of the time. 

Thanks to all that stop by and peek 👀 at the various visitors we get!

September Draws Near

It's almost the end of oriole season for San Diego county. The hooded orioles that have been chirping, beeping, chattering over the summer will not be here much longer. Soon they will have all left for parts south and east - Arizona and Mexico mostly. But there are still a few showing up!
The first sighting this year was mid March, now 5 months later it's about time to go - new families in tow. 

Here is a capture off the 'hummer cam' in the backyard. Adult male (bright yellow with black and white wings and tail) and female (more subdued color).

 

Between the hummingbirds, orioles, and bees - the sugar load has stayed around 25 pounds a week for the last month. I expect that will drop a bit as the orioles leave and the weather cools leading to less bees. We should start to see a few more returning hummers from parts north as the migration south begins.

Here is an occasional visitor too the backyard - geococcyx califorianus - greater roadrunner, or speedipus rex meep meep, as the kids might know him as.

Although usually know for eating lizards, snakes, scorpions - but they are 'opportunistic foragers' and will go after small birds at feeders and nest boxes. This guy was setting up below a feeder.

He's not resting in the shade, but ready to spring up at an unsuspecting snack. I watched as he tried once, but the feeders are too high and the hummers get plenty of warning.

Labor Day Breakfast

Oct 17 Wed 2012
Orioles are long gone, plenty of Hummingbirds and Lesser Finches. Bees are still a problem. Temperatures are up and down a lot - 70s last week with a bit of rain, upper 90s to 101 last couple days but maybe 70s by the weekend. Once the night temps drop another 10 or more degrees, the bees should be less of a problem.
We had a new visitor to the backyard today. I missed it, but my better half got a photo -

Hope it did not catch any of the several lizards we have running around back there!


Sept 15 Saturday 2012

I just looked back to last year September to check when the Orioles left. In deed, it was mid September, BUT last year Labor Day we were having cool drizzly weather. A far cry from the extended heat wave we are having now. This afternoon while filling hummingbird feeders and a couple of the oriole feeders that the hummers use, I heard the unmistakeable oriole chatter from the back corner of the backyard where the oriole favorite feeders are. So there is at least one, and I think maybe a couple, orioles left since they generally chatter when there is a group.



Sept 12 Wednesday 2012

It has been a day since I have seen any hooded orioles, last sightings were a couple females near the plum tree. Vary consistent, mid September was the last of the orioles last year. Lesser Finches seem to be taking up the slack. Time to take down the oriole feeders and concentrate on hummingbird feeders that bees can not get to.

Sept 3 Labor Day -

A week into the 2 day heat wave, a few more days to go..

Labor Day breakfast for the birds is attracting at least one hooded oriole, too many hummers to count, and 15 or so lesser finches. Here is an encounter I call Beak to Beak!

Update Sept 2 Sunday

September is the end of Oriole season here, I've only seen one adult male and one female today.
I rotated but did not crop the out of kilter photos.  

Update August 20th - Here is a link to a video from a friend taken in his backyard of a 'birdie in the birdbath' http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=ULsT6t58XCPp0&feature=player_detailpage&v=sT6t58XCPp0 . The birdbath video is short, then a short night video of 'Kitty' plays in rotation.


 It's the middle of August and it's been above normal hot for almost two weeks. A lot of the hooded orioles that visit for the summer have left. There are a few left, have seen males and females.

 This morning saw lots of action at the fountain. Usually I see lesser finches splashing or drinking, this morning it was hummers and a oriole.

 

 The finches kick it up pretty good!

 Rub a dub dub, three hummers in a tub..

Sad to see that the orioles are heading back to Arizona and Mexico, over the winter will be a renewed effort at bee resistant oriole feeders..

Hummingbird Madness

It's the middle of July and the hummingbird population is close to maximum. Feeder mix is going at 2 1/2 to 3 gallons per day, phew! Several male Allen's hummers are spotted so probably as many females. They are a bit small than Anna's and the males have a lot of brown, especially on the tail feathers as well as breast area. They really stand out when sighted in the right sun direction.

Several families of Hooded orioles still visiting the backyard. Seems fewer than last month but not sure, they may be getting annoyed with the bees.

A nice group of Lesser finches are regularly visiting the 2 socks and making good use of the fountain for drinks and baths.

The web cam views have been down for a while but are up again. Not sure what the issue was, maybe the indoor network switch which is outside with the indoor cams locked up.

I have a big gap in the sugar log, will fill that in as I can from receipts.

Update July 26 - a snapshot from one of the yardcams. A couple adult male hooded orioles snacking.