First Oriole of 2012

A week earlier than last year, first sighting of our spring/summer visiting orioles was Saturday, March 10. As last year, the first oriole to the backyard was a colorful male Hooded Oriole. He is probably scouting for  reliable food supply for his future family. Hooded Orioles are most likely sighted in most of San Diego county, Scott's orioles tend to be in the more arid parts of the county. Looking forward to the chatter and antics of several families of orioles spending the next few months hanging around.
I have a few feeders converted from hummingbird configuration to oriole friendly. Hopefully, there are still bee unfriendly. Seems as though this year may be more of a challenge regarding bees possibly due to the warmer than usual winter and much less than normal rain. We will see how the year progresses.
Speaking of spring visitors, I may have seen the first Rufus or Allen's hummingbirds at the feeders. The sighting was of a female so coloration is much more subtle and thus more difficult to ID, but there seemed to be a lot of brown on the chest to tail area. The non migrating Anna's have very little brown, being more green and gray with slight patches of red on the throat for the females. Of course, the male Anna's have the very striking head coloration that looks either black or brilliant red depending on the sun angle.

Update - March 11 Sunday
We saw 2 Hooded Orioles at the same time today, good evidence of the birds making their spring showing. Also, pretty confident sighting of a male Allen's hummingbird - notable for being one of the 2 hummers that are mostly brown.

Awaiting The Return

It's the second week of March - if last year is an indication, the Orioles should begin to arrive in a week. I thought they may be early this year - what with the mild winter/early spring. Last year a colorful male was first to be sighted in the backyard. I need to start preparing the feeders for the orioles. Only one 'Oriole feeder' is configured for orioles. The rest have been modified for bee resistance. Speaking of which, typically, the bees are not a problem until closer to summer. They have been more consistently a problem this year.
Update March 9, reading yesterday's local paper last night - Scott's Orioles have been sighted in Escondido as well as Western Bluebirds. Hoping to see the orioles in my backyard soon.

A bit off topic - Rice Paddy art (not quite crop circles!)

Early Afternoon

Feb 19 - a little more like winter, cloudy cool - 60s for today. We took a 4 day get away last weekend. The most active feeders ran dry after a couple days and quite a few hummers left for sweeter pastures. A week later, half or so have returned, over all activity is still down. but rising. It is harder than I imagined to have someone take over filling feeders, especially when you have a variety of types.

Another beautiful day in January, the hummers are out in force.

 A bit crowded, no collisions!

 Monkey Flowers (mimulus), hummers are often seen checking out the blooms.

 Where are the girls? Some male Anna's filling up and showing a bit of color.

Zoom Zoom!

We have a bit of inclement weather coming in for a day, then back to sunny weather for the birds.

I have about 15 one gallon jugs loaded with sugar ready and waiting. If the feeding pace keeps up, should last about a week. I keep meaning to move the time lapse camera closer to the feeders to see how that views. Next week, maybe.

Evening Hummers

Beginning of sugar log - Jan  27 50 lbs

I got a few better photos from the next day.

Just waiting their turn!

Bad luck to say the bees were gone, lots today..  ggrrrrr

Summer in January

It may be the weather - or just a few weeks later. The local population of hummers in the backyard has gone up lately. As of a month or so ago, feeder volume was around a gallon a day spread among the dozen or so feeders. That has gone up to 2-3 gallons per day now with very active dinner crowds around 5 PM. I was surprised yesterday and did not prepare soon enough for the photo op. Today I will expect a crowd and try to get better photos. Here are a couple -

Hoovering room only!

This is the favorite feeder tree.

Last dinner bell!

There are a couple locations around the yard with feeders that have been taken over by very territorial Anna's again. These smaller feeders will last for several days while the larger ones shown (obviously being shared!) will last a day or less.
I need to find a way to convey the sound in this corner of the yard when it is dinner time - a surprisingly loud low droning hum (imagine that, described as a hum!) fills the air.

At least for a while - the honey bees have moved on, the little bit of rain and cooler weather (until the last couple days and next few) may be keeping them closer to the hive and farther from the feeders.
OK, that was bad luck to say because today there are lots of bees back - I did say the weather has been super nice and warm though.

End of Another Year

It's mid December, another year gone. This fall has been cooler than most, about average for rain. The Hummingbird population feeding in the backyard has taken a drop over the last month. Feeder drainage has almost cut if half, from 2-3 gallons per day to around 1 gallon per day. I thought all the migrating birds had left by October, but maybe there were more waiting until late November to move on. That or a few regulars have become very territorial and are chasing a lot of birds away. I do not see a lot of evidence for the latter.

There are still a fair number of bees around, especially when the weather warms up and there is an abundance of sun.

On other small bird news, for the last few months, a House Wren has taken up overnight quarters on top of one of the 'birdcams' in the back corner of the backyard. His own personal heater on the chilly fall/winter nights. This may or may not be the same Guy who helped raise a family in the Western Bluebird box in the same corner as the hummingbird 'feeder trees'. I decided to clean out the mass of twigs and debris inside of the box about a month ago in prep for the new season. I have not looked to see if there is new activity in there, but for sure, the same Western Fence Lizard that has been sunning on the box for a year or so is still there on warm sunny days. Wrens and lizards in the Bluebird box, but no Bluebirds!

Fall 2011

It is the end of October, temps are falling and the migrating hummingbirds are gone to the south. There are still plenty of Anna's and some Blackchins buzzing around. I have decided to more closely track the quantity of sugar used over the next year. This should give a better picture of population changes during the year.

The next two weeks will be an opportunity for our neighbors to enjoy the birds as much as we do as we head out  for a trip to Italia and they take over feeder duties.