Earth Day Orioles

Update April 29

A capture off of a blog by Ylee on Wunderground weather site who is linking to the Hummer cam.

It's Earth Day 2013, a good day to reflect on nature - and post a few photos of bird antics in the backyard. Bird activity is up as the weather warms up a bit.

Lesser finches and hummers hanging out together at dinner time.

Mourning dove scratching around for some seeds. 

Adult male hooded oriole snacking.

Birds in the Birds of Paradise! I did not see the female oriole at first, bonus 2 for 1!

It's getting late, the flash has given the hummers eye shine!

The elusive (and migratory) Rufus hummingbird. There may be one or two in the area, they are recent arrivals. Always nice to see visitors mixing with the local residents!

Adult male hooded oriole handing out on the back fence.

I see you! The orioles are very wary, peeking out from around the feeders after each sip.

Another? adult male getting a drink.

A blurry shot of a Rufus and maybe an Allen's (perching left side) and an Anna's perching right side. The Allen's are migratory also, but sometimes, one will seem to be here all year long.

A funny shot, possible siblings playing around with their food!

A young male hooded oriole, colors are not bright but his dark bib is showing up, not black yet.

First Hooded orioles of 2013

Update April 16
Pretty good activity at the feeders lately, both orioles and hummingbirds. Feeder refill rate is going up a bit, getting closer to 2 gallons per day. On a sad note - said goodbye to an old male Anna's hummer this morning. He passed away overnight. I could see he was slowing down lately, but he would still guard his favorite feeder and chase away intruders!
A fresh capture from one of the 'birdcams' in the backyard - an adult male hooded oriole stopping in for breakfast! Reminder - clicking on the image in the Time Lapse window will start a 24 hour video loop (maybe closer to 36 hours).

Update Saturday April 6
A better day today. And a couple of first sightings. First Rufus Hummingbird seen at the feeders. First male anyway, females are very hard for me to tell apart. And first hooded oriole offspring this year. A young male, same story with orioles - I may have seen a young female, wouldn't have known.
Also, First snake in the yard for several years. Probably 4 foot long gopher snake, very lumpy. Either carrying eggs or helping to keep mice population down. Hopefully, the latter - either way is OK.

 A blackchinned and Anna's hummers snacking

A couple of shots of diving hummers!

Update April 5
Sad day for orioles in the backyard. We heard a rustle then plaintive cries, then a female oriole was carried away by a sharpshinned hawk late this afternoon. Not an easy thing to hear and see.


Update
Giving the lady orioles a little blog time..

Afternoon break

Update March 24
Spotted 3 adult males this afternoon chattering at the feeder corner of the backyard. Hopefully that means at least three pairs/families this year.

Update March 17
The first 'pair' of hooded orioles have been sighted, adult male and female flew up to feeder while I was relaxing in the backyard. A short while after, a fairly confident sighting of 2 females. Could be up to 3 returning birds from last year.

March 15-2013 Just sighted the first Hooded oriole of this year on March 15th, Friday afternoon. It was a brightly colored male at one of the feeders. The arrival is  a week later than last year, but a day earlier than the year before that (2011). That's pretty consistent. 

They have been sighted about 10 miles north a few days earlier and a day earlier about 7 miles to the south. I knew they were in the area, but I have been worried about the sharpshinned hawk who has been hanging out in the backyard for a couple months. The hummers are not bothered (though a couple have met their demise), but we will see if the orioles stay.

No photos yet!
Still no photo - but a video capture from backyard webcam - not great resolution.

Hummingbird feeder has been 'converted' to  oriole/hummer feeder by removing the plastic flowers on the base. This works fine until bees start showing up.

Ten days later, Lunchtime!

The Slow Return

Update - March 4
A couple new photos at the bottom. Countdown to Orioles returning has begun. Should be soon and the Hooded Orioles ought to be back!

February
For almost a month the hummingbird population has been way down. Feeder mix levels went from 1-2 gallons per day to some days no need to fill, average volume was more like 1-2 quarts. No idea what the cause, may have been the small hawk frequenting the backyard - maybe not. There is evidence that it has caught at least a couple hummers.

 Okay, so this is a Western Fence lizard and not a hummer. But he likes hanging out in the western bluebird box (that has never had a western bluebird in it). This is at least 2 years now he has made himself at home.

 A Male Anna's

 Bit of a crowd at the oriole feeder (too early for orioles), a couple of female Anna's and a male Anna's

 

 I just thought this was a cool wing shot.

 Here are a couple female Anna's, Behind the birds is a manzanita is full bloom. The birds use the bush for cover as well as going for the flowers, small as the blooms are.

  Male Anna's showing some color as he sits in a favorite bush near the grouping of feeders.

 A couple of male Anna's sharing. Since the Anna's don't migrate, they are the vast majority of hummers right now. Too early for the migratory hummers to be showing up.

 He and his Shadow!!??

How many feeders can one hummer guard? This older male Anna's is turning away all comers from 3 to six feeders. The feeders are all within 5 feet of each other, but he has to stay busy to keep them all for himself!! The feeders in this corner of the yard are generally communal and this is the first time I have seen a hummer try to bogart this area.

A Pacific Chorus frog in neighbors backyard pond. Maybe an inch - max 1.5" not counting the long legs. Very loud regardless of size!!

 Regular visitor to backyard.

Disruptive Visitor

For the last few weeks we have had a new bird visiting the backyard. Normally, this would be a cool thing - a new bird to identify! Indicators, so far, lead me to think - Sharpshinned Hawk, immature by breast feather pattern and eye color.

Red Shoulder hawks and Red Tail hawks are common in our neighborhood, usually soaring, occasionally landing on the back fence. These two hawks are no threat to the hummingbirds. The hummers generally pay them no mind and a group of hummers will fly off after a red tail or red shoulder when they leave the fence!

But - the Sharpshinned is clearly trying to make a meal of the hummers and/or Lessor Finches that have had unthreatened access to the backyard for years. He did not seem to have any luck catching anything, but I noticed a small grouping of hummer feathers under our plum tree a few days ago.

This morning was the first time I can recall that I have not had to refill any feeders. And there were only a couple hummers to be seen or heard - normally early morning is a very busy time. And I saw the hawk flying out of a manzanita bush that is right next to the large group of feeders is next to.

Hawks are cool, but I am not feeding hummers to feed the hawk!

A day's picking from the garden near one of the feeders.

Christmas Eve With the Hummers

Day after Christmas and we have noticed a visitor the last 2 days hanging out on the fences near the feeders.

Best as I can id this guy - it's a sharp shinned hawk. Almost a foot head to tail, not a big guy. Description says they sometimes hang out at feeders, no kidding! I watched this guy dive from the fence into a small manzanita trying to get a hummer. He came out empty 'handed'. Not overly shy, I was only about 15 feet away.

 Not sure I appreciate his company as much as I might elsewhere.


It's Christmas Eve, a drizzly but slowly clearing day. Seems more wintry for the gray skies though Christmas will be sunny. I think I blinked and missed the fall migrating Hummingbirds this year. Did not see a Rufus or Calliope pass through. But lots of Anna's and an occasional Blackchin.

Here are a couple male Anna's lined up. The bottom one seems to be saying, "Hold it!"

An Anna's showing some seasons color!

2 turtle doves - no no.. a partridge in a - no no.. 3 hummers in a pear tree??

A little Christmas Eve feast!!

A few finches having lunch

I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday and prosperous New Year!

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.