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 11, 2010

A good day to look back and remember those gone...


It's almost the middle of September and the hooded orioles that stop by for the spring and summer are mostly gone now. I thought maybe they were all gone, but this afternoon I saw a female on the fence next to a feeder. Could not tell youngster or Mom. Update: Sunday morning - 2 females at feeder.

We are still having a cooler than normal summer, much to my pleasure, but this does not seem to be impacting the hummingbirds in any way I can see. There are plenty around, 2 gallons a day worth anyway!

The 2 feeders below hold 1/3 gallon each, they are emptied every day.

Just when I think the 'old guy' Anna's is not around, the feeder he guards starts draining very slowly and a male Anna's is chasing off all comers. But I can not tell if it is him, older for certain, but less bold toward me so I can not get too close.

This is the 'hummingbird tree' next to several feeders and behind the webcams. It's hard to see, but if you click on photo to enlarge, there are 30 or so hummers in the dead Ramona lilac bush. I would take it out but the hummers really like perching there.

I am waiting to see a few Rufus hummers as they make their way back south, none identified yet.

We have always had a few black phoebes flitting around, lately one has taken up bug patrol along a fence below several hummingbird feeders and flies back and forth between a coyote bush and a small Tacoma Stans (Yellow Bells) shrub. The coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) is blooming, such as they do, and there are extra bugs attracted to it.

Almost June

Update on the 'lbb' or little brown birds raising a brood in the bluebird box. The breakthrough came while browsing our local native plant nursery website (www.laspilitas.com). Since they cater to creating natural settings in landscaping, their site suggests plant types to lure birds and butterflies and has a nice section on local birds. There near the bottom - a photo matching the squatters, House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). Just about the same size as most of the hummingbirds and about as energetic. With just a quick glance, they could be mistaken for a mouse as a frequent behavior is running along the ground and hopping between low branches of shrubs in search of insects. Here is one of the parents coming out after dropping off a bug.

Incoming food! one less bug in the yard or garden.

I am only seeing Anna's and Blackchin hummingbirds at the moment, they seem to be more resident. The Rufus and Caliope hummers are more migratory and thus have passed through heading north. They should be back toward the end of summer on their way south.

The orioles still the loud ones on the block, flying between the tops of the avocado trees next door and the pepper trees and the feeders. They are, as expected, very fond of the grape jelly in the converted feeder. Last year the orioles were few and far between by September so they should be hanging around for 3-4 more months before heading south and east.