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!

First Day of Summer or more globally correct - The Solstice!

Happy Solstice everyone! And for those that qualify - Happy Father's Day!

It has been a couple months since the last update from the backyard, here in San Diego county, U.S.

Eventful in the backyard and work, as well - thus no updates recently ;-)

It has been a very big season for the orioles so far, though it seems of late, some of the families may have moved to a less crowded area! At one point, I counted a solid 8 maybe 9 adult male Hooded Orioles at a single time, very hard to keep track.This was after some of the fledglings began to show up, so not a huge leap to imagine 18 to 27 or more birds. At any rate, more adult males than I have seen before. The antics have been very entertaining :-)
Here is a male caught just this afternoon.

From last post, the number of Rufous hummers was at a high, though I think now all I am seeing are Allen's. The Rufous are probably further north, may see them on the way back south the end of summer.

Another first for the backyard - though we have had a pair of Scrub jays hanging around snagging peanuts for a couple years now, this year we have fledglings!
Here is a shot of the pair squabbling at the fence, as siblings do! They are notable for their gray heads, adults have blue head feathers.

Back to the orioles for a moment - another first is seeing 2-3 of them climbing around in a blooming Mallow plant in the yard. They seem to be picking bugs off the branches, clearly not getting near the flowers.
Here is a shot of the mallow, have not managed to catch them while camera was in hand - of course! The mallow is the thin branchy? plant with purplish blooms. The orioles tend to weigh the branches way down almost curving to the ground, if they work their way too close to the ends!

Here is a shot of a few soggy lesser finches enjoying bathtime.

I'll leave with a comment - Ernie Cowen, longtime contributor to our local papers (now San Diego Union-Tribune) wrote a very cool article this weekend about Spotted Towhees, shy, but found in this area. I have not seen them for a little while, but have heard one regularly Saturdays at the Safari Park.