Summer Heat

It's day 2 of our 100 degree weather, the hummingbirds seem to be holding up fine. The feeders are draining fast - 2 to 3 gallons per day now. I am not sure about the 'old guy', have not positively id him lately but 'his feeder' seems to be slowly emptying which is a good sign he may still be around.

The orioles are thinning out but there are still four or five coming to feed in the evening. They seem to be more skittish now so it is harder to tell if I am looking at adult females or this years young. It seems like I am just seeing adult or fledgling females now (no fledgling males) so maybe the second or last batch of eggs is mostly female? I have only seen one or two adult males (much easier to determine with their bright yellow and black).

I will miss the orioles but at least I will be able to more aggressively bee proof the feeders so the hummers will not have to fight off the bees as much. I have put out another large feeder to accommodate the increased number of hummers lately. Nice to see that neighbors on both sides have put up feeders as well, hope they get lots of activity too.

Mid Summer Update

It's almost the middle of August and the weather is still generally cool for this time of year. Every day, it seems, somewhere in the county is recording a record low. Sometimes it is low overnight temps, sometimes low afternoon maximums. The birds seem to be enjoying the cooler than usual temps as much as most people, the activity is high and feeding level is up about as high as I can recall - around 2 gallons per day. And this is with neighbors on one side also putting up feeders giving the birds an alternative location for snacking.

I am concerned that 'the old guy' may have met his end, as I have not seen him in a few days now. Here is a photo from this spring.

He has been a regular for a couple years and lately has been fiercely guarding his feeder against all other hummers. I hope he just found a spot he likes better, I am not optimistic.

Seems like all the orioles are still here, bees as well. This morning was very foggy and cool (55 degrees) and all feeders were pretty much loaded with hummers and the air was thick with the thrumming of wings.

1st of August

We made it to August and the weather is still below average for high temperature but slowly creeping up. It will be close to normal (85 degrees) for several days near the middle of the week but then it should cool again for the next weekend. The hummingbirds and orioles are still in high gear. I am still waiting for the Rufus hummers to show up.This may be the last month for the orioles here before they head back to Arizona and Mexico. Plenty of bees still, I suppose it is good that the local colonies have not crashed as is the case elsewhere. Speaking of bees and possible repellent schemes, I tried a hearsay technique which at first glance seems a total bust. Dryer sheets are supposed to keep bees away (what the heck, we had some collecting dust).

I will let you decide the effectiveness, but I see lots of bees! (They are all alive and buzzing, believe me!) Maybe the desire for grape jelly out weighs the repelling effect.

Here is a shot of a couple male blackchinned hummers at the top feeder (you'll have to take my word on it for the one with wings up) and a couple female (who knows which kind) hummers at the lower feeder.

To get a little off topic, a few weeks ago a fresh batch? of baby lizards hatched and have been running around the back yard. They are a bit hard to see since they are about an inch or 2.5 cm long. Here is a photo of a baby western fence lizard catching some morning sun on a garden hose.

As long as I am off topic - here is a photo a something I came cross while volunteering yesterday at the Wild Animal Park - I mean, Safari Park, as it is now officially called. Anyway, the visitors are warned to stay on the paths and be wary, although a sighting is rare. This was up in the native gardens (NativeScapes on your Park map and an excellent hike for those with the extra time), which is up past the Condor Ridge exhibit if you are familiar with the Park, not near the main section of the Park where most visitors explore. This guy was about 4 feet long.

He was just cruzin' along slowly and not in a bad mood as he went into some thick bushes not to be seen again. The Park security will catch and relocate these guys to the way-back acreage when they can, this one  avoided that for now. He is a red diamondback and has a  distinctive black and white ringing at the base of the tail near the rattles.

Delightfully Cool Again!

After 3-4 days of blazing hot weather, we are back to below normal (substantially) weather. The day after the last post, we hit 100 F for daytime highs for 3 days. Bird activity seemed to slow a bit during that time. Now we have had a week of below average temps, Nice! 

Both the orioles and hummers are in high gear. There appears to be an influx of blackchin hummingbirds all of a sudden. The males are distinctive with their tidy iridescent deep blue collars.  They are slightly smaller than the more common Anna's but just as friendly.

This season's oriole youngsters are showing up at the feeders in good numbers and catch on very fast to the feeder routine, although they are more timid than the adults. Chatter, chatter - especially around dinner time!

Anyone interested in a nice collection of hummingbird photos should check out this link - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hummingbirds&w=9486153%40N03

Not Delightfully Cool!

What a difference in just one week. We are getting a big shot of summer, today through Saturday we will be flirting with 100 degrees. I stocked up the feeders for the hummers and orioles and will flush them out daily until the high heat is done. Mold and fermentation are more aggressive in hot weather.

Have not seen recent action in the bluebird box from the house wrens. Maybe one clutch is all for this year. The bees are somewhat under control for the moment. Recent TV news blurbs have made a big deal about Africanized honey bees being well established in the county and a few people have been stung repeatedly lately. I can not tell which type of bees are clogging the feeders but they are not showing any aggressive behavior, but some caution is due nonetheless. Hive protection seems to be the major dangerous behavior.

There are two hummingbirds exhibiting over the top protectionism regarding their feeders. The 'old guy', as photoed in early June blog, and another Anna's at the opposite end of the backyard. Orioles pay little regard to the behavior but other hummers are driven off post haste!

Hello to all friends and family who stop by and visitors from Europe and Japan!

Delightfully Cool Week

It has been a nice week, if you like cool cloudy weather. Hummingbird and oriole activity is high - although the amount of nectar used seems a little less than last year still.
Here is a photo of a hooded oriole nest out at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Seems like an unusual spot, they often prefer stitching their nests onto the underside of a fan palm frond that is angled about 45 degrees above horizontal. This gives protection and allows sag of the frond.

The threads that they use to weave the nest are clearly seen, these are stripped off of the palm fronds in the surrounding area. Seems like it would be tough getting a hold on the wood to begin the nest. The male and female hooded orioles were seen making trips to and from on the last two Saturdays. The photo is of the underside of a shade ramada covering a picnic table and the top 'shingling' is a thatch of fan palm fronds and may be why it seemed appealing to the orioles! A couple fingers of palm frond can be seen to the right of the nest sticking out past the edge of the roof.

Bee control techniques are having some limited positive results. The best implementation has been to the exclusion of the orioles. More work to be done.

Lots of Bees

The honey bees are really going after the feeders now, I'm continuing  to work on bee discouraging while still accommodating the orioles. Speaking of which, although the hooded orioles prefer building their hanging basket nests (photo to come) on the underside of fan palm fronds, at least one female is nesting up in the avocado grove. I watched her make runs between our queen palms (stripping threads off of the fronds) and an avocado tree at the edge of the grove. 
Finally, a photo of one of this year's oriole offspring - a young male. Bib is clear if a bit small, and his wings are more gray than black and yellow is not as bright as an adult.

 A new backyard bird - brown headed cowbird. They have an interesting courtship dance. The male fluffs up his feathers while standing up tall in front of the female. Then he makes a bow while spreading his wings in a forward manner as if to scoop up the female as he takes a few steps forward. She just sits and watches. Ho Hum! The second photo shows the brown head more clearly. Also, a second suitor can be seen giving a little competition! She flew off a minute or two later with males in pursuit. On a negative note - These birds do not make nests, instead they are parasitic. Which is to say they lay an egg in the nest of another bird species, especially orioles. Apparrently, they sometime remove one of the host eggs to make room. The eggs hatch sooner and the chicks are bigger. In some cases, this distresses the host population. I hope this is not happening in my area.

No further brown hummingbird sightings, will keep an eye out. Little Brown Bird (aka house wrens in the bluebird box) update - a day or two ago I saw a wren around the box. It was a quick sighting, could not tell if it came out of the box but may indicate a second clutch on the way. Will watch for indicators. Update Sunday 13th, Spent some time this morning enjoying the birds in the backyard. I think the male house wren is house cleaning in advance of attempting to woo a female into the box. He would go in the vent at the stop side of the box and exit the front door with debris. This repeated 4-5 times.

A bit off topic, but tonight we felt an earthquake. One of a long string of aftershocks from the big Easter quake. This one was not big (4.4)  (update Sunday, there were two quakes - the first 4.9 which we felt, the second a minute later - 4.4) but was notable in as much as it was mostly one big short jolt that caused quite a bit of noise in the house but no signs afterward. They seem to working their way north from the original location in Baja toward Palm Springs where the San Andreas fault hangs out. Lets hope it just seems that way and not really whats going on!