Early spring and fall
can be exiting times here because migration may bring in surprises. That happened this week, when one of my favorites showed up, a Purple Finch. They can be hard to identify when you haven’t seen one yet - many birders mistake vibrant House Finches for them. I have learned to not trust the color and follow my instict. Usually you can tell right away that this is a different bird. One mark that is easy to see and check for is the streaks / stripes on the lower belly. The House finch has them, the Purple does not.
So there are
native sparrows migrating through my yard, namely White-throated, and I have seen and heard them and tried to get pictures. Cam on the ground. Here is my best effort, they are very skittish and camera shy, and other beings are also interested in the offerings. And a nice Blue Jay. Juncos are here, but activity is still low.
A fun visitor
arrived yesterday, a lone Robin. Today, I also saw one lone Grackle. Maybe there will be some fall migration sightings in this backyard after all. It is a weird fall, it is colder but the trees are not there yet, they are still all green! Calendars are still on the hold (except for desk ones) but I hope to get them all out by the end of the week.
It’s still lush and green outside
and the birds remain scarce. Only the MoDos have started coming in larger groups again. Better than nothing, and they look fun with their late molt. Summer will be back shortly next week, and then the weather seems to really cool down. A good time to take the pond out and set up the heated baths. And to get going with the calendars. This time, there will be two calendars, one with Grackles only 🖤
While I absolutely love
to have the Titmice back, them, Blue Jays and Mourning Doves continue to be the only birds visiting here currently. I do hear woodpeckers but they will not come down. There are mature Oaks as well as nut trees, Cedars and the like in the neighborhood, so I think many feast there while a huge group is still on the move too. This is a welcome break for my bird seed budget but I also really miss seeing birds. The critters are filling up as usual.
It continues
to be quiet in the yard, with very little bird activity. I haven’t seen a hummer since the 15th, so I may just as well put the hummer cam to a different use (I will still leave two feeders out for a bit for any stragglers.) Much to my delight, the Titmouse keeps returning, and the Chippies are happy to fill their winter pantry. Let’s see what today brings.
Back for fall
After a week of battling with Covid, I have finally taken the jelly down and set up this little feeder again. The yard has been very quiet, almost eerily so. I am also waiting for a bird food delivery, so I sacrificed some untreated hazelnuts from my baking stash and look who came 😍 I haven't seen a Titmouse in months. I think this is going to be a nice fall.
With this fantastic garden season,
nature is abundantly full of seeds, grains and fruit of all sorts. This and the fact that fall migration has begun makes for slim pickings when it comes to birdwatching at the moment, at least here. There is hardly any visitor apart from some MoDos, a bunch of Blue Jays and the occasional hummingbird. A good time for some maintenance and preps for the colder weather. Livecams will be down for a couple of days, and here are some recent hummers to hold you over. Happy September!
A little fall surprise
The other day, a flock of Pine Siskins visited. From afar, they are often mistaken for House Finches but they do differ in size - they are a lot smaller, more the size of a Goldfinch - in color - they wear fancy yellow stripes on their wings - and their beak is pointy rather than curved and thick. They are one of the most hyper and aggressive birds I have seen, this photo is typical 😆 I rarely ever have them here, so this was fun to see.
This unusually mild fall
has resulted in the latest Grackles and Redwinged Blackbird I have seen in my yard. These two are from yesterday and the day before. I have not seen any today yet, and we had the first snow here this morning. The Redwinged Blackbird is an immature male, and I totally love his markings. (Just as I am writing this, I am seeing a RWBB outside.)
We’ve had some fabulous fall weather
here recently, with foggy mornings and sunny days and wonderfully turning leaves. I am always getting excited to see a fog warning and try to get the cams out as early as I can to capture some of the misty magic and the glorious sunshine. There are still Grackles and Redwinged Blackbirds around, and I think this might be the latest I have seen them.
Video: Tiny feeder for the small crowd
I have seen these for a while now and always wanted one, and finally bit the bullet (I found the feeder on Etsy, with a seller named PKNKTreasures). This feeder is on the small side, and I love that I haven't seen a Dove on it yet. Well, and of course the adorable look! The Bluebirds found it pretty quickly too. Yay! I am livestreaming this cam currently on one of my channels over at birdsy.com. They have a sale going on right now too, you can get their camera for $149 right now.
I guess the first frost
was just the first load of “fake fall” because this weekend, temperatures rose again, and it was beautiful outside. The birds all enjoy what nature has to offer on these days, and there is not a lot going on at the feeder. I am trying to get the White-throated Sparrow to take a mug shot but haven’t been lucky so far. He does like the bird bath though. Anyways, here are some regulars and a traveler. The Redbellied Woodpecker I find most interesting, here for the second fall. Is it a boy or a girl? The Nuthatches are one of my favorites right now, almost divebombing me at the feeders and being very tame. Come good into Monday! (Redbreasted Nuthatch, Redbellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Redwinged Blackbird)
Video: They are back!
Two days ago, fall really started, with leaves changing colors and temperatures dropping. I closed the pond for the season and have set up three heated baths this year, one on the ground at the pond spot, one on a pedestal, and then this one, which is mounted above ground. It is smaller than the others, and it took the birds a bit to find it but now it is in good use. There was a group of Robins passing through that took to it, the woodpeckers seem to like it because it allowes them easy access, and the smaller birds enjoy it as well. Like the Juncos that have just started to return too. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Check out the calendar shop as well - from today until the 14th, calendars are 10 % off.
But there are of course
also still birds around. Apart from the large, lazy MoDo family, there are Blue Jays, Downy, Hairy and Redbellied Woodpeckers, Nuthatches (Red- and white-breasted), Finches, the occasional Grackle and Robin, Chickadees and Cardinals. I wish the youngsters of the latter would love the camera as much as their mother. But there is always a nice group of them visiting the bird bath in the evenings. So I am not really complaining but I hope that there will be some fun new visitors here soon. The video is a hawk attack that happened earlier. I still have two hummingbird feeders up because I have seen a couple every other day this week. The stragglers will be happy for some noms on their way south. Come good into the weekend!
Nothing much is happening,
but I am having a good weekend with very little work for a change. I got some knitting and watching tv done, which I usually do not have a lot of time for. I have had to wear socks for the last two days, it has gotten cooler. And things are slow in the yard. But there are some new visitors. The Red-breasted Nuthatches are here, and I am so happy because they are a complete delight. They sound like little beat boxes and have little to no fear of humans. I walked up to feeders earlier today and just watched with a big grin how they were watching me, doing their noises. A perfectly wonderful bird to cure the little void birdwatchers feel after the summer frenzy.
The light is changing,
the evenings are getting cooler, and there is still not much going on bird-wise. Yesterday I saw the Bluebirds, which was wonderful because it’s been quite a while. At least two Redbreasted Nuthatches have emerged and are competing with the Chickadees for material that is worthy to cache for the winter. I like the light at this time of the year because it feels less harsh. Here are some of the current regulars, look at that Woodpecker, all nice and pretty again! Have a great Tuesday.
Birds are clearly on the move,
and diversity has gone down to pretty much House Finches, MoDos, Blue Jays and Chickadees. But there are still some Gracks too. This is a nice time for the wallet, and I totally love the temperatures outside. I saw a Downy starting to pull things out of the Wren house, so hopefully there will be a roosting winter tenant there. We are all settling in a bit, I will start working on the 2023 calendar, and I hope there will be some fun fall migration sights.
And since things are calmer now,
with many of the summer guests gone, the regulars and smaller birds are starting to return to feeders. As sad as fall migration makes me, it is also nice that things are calming down a bit. There is still lovely weather ahead of us and of course the migration may still hold surprises too. This is also a good time to see the Goldfinches in their bright summer colors before they start to dull for the cold season.
And of course
I am trying to capture more Hummingbird photos while they are around. They are still the most magical little creatures to me and I am very happy to finally see a bit more of them. There seem to be at least three individuals. Two females and the male with the red feather. Below are the two females. The first one came right after a rain shower and has wet head feathers. I am also livestreaming two hummer feeders on BirdsyTV on my channel Ostdrossel3 there: https://birdsy.com/c/Ostdrossel3