Blog Archives

Western Bluebirds and their successful nestlings

5/30/2014

Male Western Bluebird with juvenile

Western Bluebirds are out with their fledged young, who are flying but still need parent birds to feed them.

The juvenile bluebird has less defined coloring, better for blending into the trees and background.

Juvenile Western Bluebird, lower orchard

Juvenile bluebird with adult, in apple tree, lower orchard

Baby bluebird "parked" on utility wire while parents hunt for insects

Male Western Bluebird, at edge of tree limb, on the watch for insects of any kind.

Juvenile Western Bluebird, near the farm and the lower orchard

Top of a fence post or any other high perch, or the end of a branch, is where you will see the Western Bluebird.

Also an insect catcher

Discovered this Black Phoebe while watching the bluebirds.

It was on a post, then flew to this faucet, a shop building near the farm in the lower orchard.

BLACK PHOEBE - flew back to the post, lower orchard

Orange & yellow finch, back yard

Hadn't seen one like this before!

BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK STILL VISITING sunflower feeder

ANYONE WANTING TO O.D. ON BABY NUTHATCH PHOTOS, CHECK OUT SLIDESHOW BELOW (white-breasted nuthatch fledgling(s) visiting the back yard)

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Busy time for birds

5/27/2014

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Dark-eyed junco fledgling, back yard

The adult dark-eyed junco was busy jumping ahead of and getting food for this fledgling.

Many of the baby birds, when they fledge, can fly some, but still depend on parents to feed them.

Protection is also part of the job for the adults, as a scrub jay went after this fledgling, and both me and the adult bird chased it away, fortunately.

The baby birds can fly, but they are not strong fliers yet, which the scrub jay knows.

This looks like a baby oak titmouse, but it is already feeding itself from the sunflower feeders.

House finch, too, are bringing their young to the back yard feeders.

Male house finch with fledgling, back yard

Immature finch, back yard

Then, of course, the nuthatch feedings continue...

White-breasted nuthatch fledglings still dependent on adults to feed them

Some birds are into their second nest of the year.

This is the starling, where I saw the nest before in the utility pole, but the baby birds then were big and close to leaving.

Today, I heard baby chicks again in the same nest, and this adult delivering a beak full pincher bugs.

California Towhee with a beak full of bugs, headed for a nest or fledglings, on the way to the old orchard

Entering the old orchard, I saw another ash-throated flycatcher - this migratory bird is also here to mate and nest

Of all the nest boxes I put up, this seems to be the only one definitely occupied (female tree swallow)

Male tree swallow is always close by when the female is in the nest box, and he keeps up a helpful chattering, alerting her to any dangers

ACORN WOODPECKER STILL IN OLD PINE TREE NEST

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The Upside-down World of the Nuthatches

5/25/2014

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White-breasted nuthatch fledgling at bird bath

The White-breasted nuthatch family have become regular visitors to the backyard.

The suet feeder is just too convenient not to take advantage of when one is being chased through the trees by a hungry brood.

One of the nuthatch fledglings loves the water, and every time the family drops by, it gets completely wet in one of the hanging water bowls I have placed among the tree branches.

White-breasted nuthatch adult on left, baby nuthatch perched near by, back yard oak tree

Closeup, baby nuthatch in tree, waiting for feeding.

Nuthatch adult chased by the fledglings demanding food.

A little piece of suet goes a long way...

...running along a branch..

Adult shooting back down to the suet feeder

Upside down or right side up doesn't matter much to a nuthatch

One of the fledglings safely parked on a tree branch, back yard oak.

Chestnut-backed chickadee waits for its turn at the suet feeder

On the ground below, the dark-eye juncos search for grass seeds.

Junco with beak full of grass seeds

STELLER'S JAY ALSO WORKING THE GROUND FOR FOOD- holds a bug in his beak

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Ash-throated Flycatcher

5/22/2014

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My first sighting of this bird - the ash-throated flycatcher!

It was in a back part of the lower orchard next to a stand of redwood trees where one of the few, small, grove of apple trees still remain - and an area rarely walked through by anyone.

There's a very light gray coloring from the throat down to the chest, and then the color changes to a warm buff. This must explain the somewhat poetic "ash" part of its name.

Ash-throated flycatcher

Anna's hummer in the old orchard, where a small group of the old apple trees still stand.

The scene at the grevillea hedge for the Allen hummers is pretty quiet, all the action now is adjacent to it along a fence where a large vine of honeysuckle is in bloom.

Allen's watching over the honeysuckle are sitting farther away (from my camera), in a eucalyptus tree.

Intoxicating honeysuckle vine in bloom, near old orchard

Acorn Woodpecker face peering from nest at the top of large, dead pine tree near house.

This might be the nestling, since it let me get pretty close. The adults always take off very quickly as I approach.

The recently fledged lesser goldfinch, back yard near the feeders, enjoying morning sunlight.

PACIFIC SLOPE FLYCATCHER

Another flycatcher, this one is very small, and very elusive (the Pacific Slope flycatcher).

Found him or her sitting among the lower branches of the old apple trees, in the lower orchard, early evening light.

Often gives a two-toned whistle call, the Pacific Slope flycatcher

GOLDFINCH

This goldfinch in the backyard has acquired quite a taste for the sunflower seeds.

Goldfinch at the backyard sunflower feeder

Ah, another peanut eater, the band tailed pigeon

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The sky seemed to darken, and the bluebird screamed

5/20/2014

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Was watching the bluebirds, the male had just arrived with a bug.

Drop off of bug at nest went smoothly, male shoots away from nest to a nearby tree, AND THEN...

...and then, the sky seemed to darken, and the male bluebird in a nearby tree began making a horrible noise, and suddenly this scrub jay pounced on the nest hole!!!!

Scrub Jay tries to reach into nest to access baby bluebirds....

Jay leaves, and his beak his empty, which is GOOD NEWS.

Traumatic event which all the birds understood!

With the bluebird in a nearby tree was also another bird putting up a racket and jumping up and down during the scrub jay attack, I thought it must be the female bluebird but discovered afterwards, it was a finch that had just happened to be in that tree eating blossoms.

Here's the finch afterwards...looking stressed, especially after jumping all around!

Male bluebird in same tree as the finch, after the jay had pounced, still in shock!

Very close to the bluebirds, is the large pine tree with the Acorn Woodpecker nest. As I return to the house, I see for the first time this little head peering from the top of the large tree.

One of the newly fledged white-breasted nuthacthes

In the early evening, a nuthatch family shows up at he feeders, they have three new fledglings with them!

SUET is what's for dinner!

Adult nuthatch takes advantage of suet feeders to keep all his new family members fed!

(This is an upside down hanging suet feeder, to keep the jays and crows out, but which small birds like the nuthatches can easily navigate)

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The Peanut eaters

5/18/2014

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White-breasted nuthatch with peanut

Came home one day to find three or four nuthatches doing peanut runs from the squirrel feeder. They would drop the nuts off in tree limbs nearby, and shoot back for more.

The nuthatches were replaced by an Acorn Woodpecker.

Steller's Jay gobbling down 5 or 6 peanuts at once

The Acorn Woodpecker was chased off and replaced by steller's jays

Acorn woodpecker looking for dive-bombing jays

Scrub Jay - after chasing off the Steller's, and jamming as many as possible in one trip

Finally, the intended critter arrived, and all the birds had to wait.

(This is actually a baby squirrel that's been using this feeder for the past few weeks).

Singing goldfinch in the back yard, joyfully oblivious of the peanut tussles.

Turkey eggs have already hatched, and babies are pretty mobile

Surprised this female turkey in the tall grass, she jumped up and acted very nervous, thought maybe she had a nest of eggs nearby, when suddenly three young turkey fledglings shot up out of the grass away from me, too quickly for a photograph of them, alas.

The wood pile quail couple out for an evening stroll

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Still seeing double

5/16/2014

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After not seeing any turkeys for over a week, these two turn up again, still completely synchronized

I thought all this display stuff was over and done with for the year...

Just had to add this photo, part of the seeing double theme...

At the sock feeders, male goldfinch brings fledgling for a quick dinner snack.

Isn't this like taking the kid to a fast food restaurant?

Fledgling goldfinch waiting by the nyjer sock feeder. back yard - hey Mom, it was Dad who brought me here!

Bluebirds still busy bringing food to their nestlings

Male bluebird shooting away from the nest after having made a delivery

This does look like an Acorn Woodpecker nest after all.
Sorry, long shot with the camera, if I got any closer, birds would have cleared out.

Pine siskin feeding on wild grass seeds, back orchard

Violet-greens on the ground, shopping for nest material straw from the fallen grasses.

RED HOUSE FINCH IN THE ORCHARD

The finches were eating the apple blossoms off the apple trees...

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How to build a nest

5/14/2014

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Tree swallow nest is still a work in progress...here's the female (possibly) tree swallow gathering dry grasses for the nest.

Here's the supervisor for the project, the other tree swallow mate, keeping up a helpful chatter for the one on the ground.

Tree swallow in flight to nest box with dry grass

Here's the hard worker leaving to go for another trip to bring nest material back.

You can see more grasses are sticking out of the box as the nest begins to take shape inside.

They build up a pile of dry grass or straw, and then line the top with soft feathers for the eggs to lie in.

The box on the bottom as been the busiest, but today I noticed some activity also in the top box!

At the bluebird nest, the male brings a big bug to the female, who is already inside.

Male bluebird leaves nest, probably with baby bird droppings, doing a little nest housekeeping.

Acorn woodpecker on top of the property's favorite utility pole

Hot day here, another heat wave. Purple finch female nibbles on wild grasses in afternoon heat.

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Bluebird family

5/12/2014

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Chicks must have hatched in wild bluebird nest, parents are starting to bring food to the nest.

Here is the female Western Bluebird parent just outside of the nest entrance.