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AMGO Invasion

I'm taking time out of my precious NFL viewing schedule to post here, as I neglected to do so last week.  (Actually, the only game on TV right now is HOU at ATL, and I'd rather watch a high school game than that.)  I've seen a couple of exciting things recently, but haven't been able to capture all of them for viewing here, as my wife took the digital camera with her when she went out of town on business. Large flocks (30-50) of American Goldfinches have been visiting lately. Two major changes have occurred since the last installment.  The first is the lower-than-usual-temperatures (it got down to freezing this past Monday morning) and ... (read more)

Migration Begins...

Rufous Hummers have finally left for the summer - a sure sign that migration has begun.  They were around constantly as recently as a few weeks ago, going through a full cup of sugar-water in just a few days.  Our immediate area also hosted a Western Wood-pewee for a week or so at the end of last month.  It could be heard singing rather loudly from treetops around the yard in the mornings and evenings - and the keen eye could observe it chasing down insects from atop its perch.  But it too has moved on to warmer climates. Another sign of the approaching Fall is the flocking of some species, particularly finches.  Lesser Goldfinches ... (read more)

The End of Summer Begins

Over the past few weeks, there has been a dramatic shift in our yard: birds are flocking, signaling the beginning of the end of summer.  As reported last time, Bushtits are raiding the suet feeders in flocks of 15-20 multiple times a day.  Lesser Goldfinches, which have been around all sumer in numbers of ~2-6, are now showing up daily in flocks of 7-10 and are emptying feeders much more quickly than usual.  Juvenile Rufous Hummingbirds have been almost constantly fighting over the nectar feeder, combining with Anna's Hummers to drink almost a cup of nectar over a three-day period.  Even Black-capped Chickadees are now moving around in ... (read more)

More Juveniles

No much has changed here since the last post, with the exception of the neighbors' cat going ballistic and attacking a family of Downies and also killing two juvenile Crows.  But instead of focusing on the white trash neighbors who rudely leave their belongings all over their backyard and have the IQ of cardboard, I'll discuss the positive... Some irregular old friends, Brown Creepers and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, were seen in the yard two weeks ago.  That was a welcomed surprise.  Fledglings and juveniles are still in high abundance, with an increase in Black-capped Chickadees and Bushtits from last time.  They and the Downy ... (read more)

Finches, Downies, and Jays - Oh my!

The past couple of weeks have been dominated by Downy Woodpeckers, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, and Scrub Jays.  I've never seen as many of these species before.  There is a Downy at the suet basket or birdbath literally every 10 or 15 minutes.  Aren't these guys supposed to eat insects during the summer?  In addition to the Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches have been bringing their offspring to the feeders maybe 7 or 8 times a day.  And as if the recent explosion of Scrub Jays to the suet and peanut feeders wasn't enough, they brought their juveniles to the yard last week.  To quote Bill Cowher, "That was a special ... (read more)

Young'uns

The past couple of weeks have been somewhat quiet in terms of new visitors.  Barely a day after my last installment, a female Black-headed Grosbeak was seen eating from the suet basket while perched on top.  A Downy Woodpecker tried to step up for a bite and the Grosbeak prompty frightened it off with threatening gestures (it looked as if she was "hissing").  She came back for seconds about a half hour later, scouted the area closer to the house, and then flew off.  Unfortunately, we haven't seen her since.  A male Wilson's Warbler was also seen foraging through the tree next to our livingroom window last weekend.  But ... (read more)

Droppin' Some Science

It's a good thing that I didn't try to put this together yesterday, because this software does not display its own tables (or even imported ones) properly.  And Acrobat isn't working with Word for some reason.  After about two hours of software updates, I gave up and realized that copying/pasting a table from Word into PowerPoint and subsequent conversion to a JPEG file seems to do the trick... Anyway, I wanted to organize some of my yard count data to look at how the number and identity of birds changes from winter to spring.  I decided to use my FeederWatch counts from January 13-14 (below-to-slightly-above freezing, light snow cover), ... (read more)

Pleasant Surprises

Feeder activity has been low for the past two weeks, with Rufous Hummingbirds MIA and even BC Chickadees making infrequent visits.  But there have been many interesting surprise visits.  The first began two Firdays ago with a female Mallard and a duckling trekking through our yard.  I don't know of any ponds or creeks in the immediate vicinity, so who knows where they were going.  A few hours afterwards, a Wilson's Warbler was spotted in the neighbor's yard.  And if that wasn't enough, a one-eyed Fox Sparrow was seen "double-scratching" for food under the Rhododendon bushes in the front yard the next morning.  What a ... (read more)

More Lessers

Feeder activity in late April and early May has been dominated by the Lesser Goldfinch.  Or, more specifically, a male/female couple who have shown up almost every day for the past two weeks.  The two of them alone have eaten about half of a tube feeder of thistle.  No matter how many times people come in and out of the front door, they come right back to eat.  They've been a treat and will hopefully continue to stck around for a while.  Strangely, American Goldfinches have been MIA for the past couple of weeks. Male Lesser Goldfinch dining on a warm April evening As was the case in the last installment, Rufous and Anna's ... (read more)

A Better Week

The beginning of this past week started off with more gloom.  A female Varied Thrush appeared on Tuesday and I was excited at the prospect of them being around a little longer.  However, when I saw her unable to fly the next morning, my optimism quickly turned to misery. Thankfully, things got A LOT better this weekend.  On Saturday, I saw a male Rufous Hummingbird make about five trips to one of the nectar feeders (not bad, considering that I was at work for most of the day).  This continued through Sunday, with a male Anna's Hummer feeding during sunset.  This was big, as my nectar feeders had been used very sparingly for the ... (read more)

A Sad April :(

The first half of April has been a bit of a bummer.  While a decline in feeder activity in Spring is understandable (due to the increasing abundance of natural food sources), it's difficult to see certain species leave.  Townsend's Warblers are completely gone now.  And it also appears that the Varied Thrushes have left as well.  The Rufous Hummingbirds that I saw just a few weeks ago have been MIA and I don't even see Anna's Hummers every day anymore.  Heck, I hardly see more than three Juncos at a time now! Varied Thrush (female).  One of the last seen this Spring. Fortunately, I am still seeing (and more often hearing) ... (read more)

Zzzz...

This past week was a snooze-fest.  The highlight was when a Northern Flicker couldn't wait for me to put a new cake in the suet basket.  It flew to the much smaller suet feeder hanging outside our from door and went to town, clinging to the bottom edges of the feeder via its feet and tail.  Goldfinches (American and Lesser) have been stopping by to feed much more frequently than before.  House Finches are still in high numbers as well.  Unfortunately, Varied Thrushes are on the decline and I haven't seen a hummingbird for almost a week now.  I'm not sure what's going on.  Neighborhood cats are also becoming more of a ... (read more)

Expanding the Empire...

In order to reduce feeder crowding and move some of the birds away from traffic (automobile, human, cats - eek!) on the tree-covered-but-busy west side of our property, a few investments were made this month.  First, in an attempt to "move" some of our regulars to the more-secluded back deck (and hopefully attract Black-headed Grosbeaks this summer) and to solve the problem of seed on the ground constantly getting soaked with rain, a new ground feeder was purchased.  A small bird bath with a solar-powered water fountain was also placed on the back deck.  We plan to exploit the running water and very dry Oregon summer to help achieve ... (read more)

Spring Is Here!

The first half of March has been action-packed.  Spring is definitely here, as evidenced by the flowering trees/shrubs, the constant chattering that marks the beginning of the breeding season, and the slow molting of American Goldfinches into their summer plumage.  In addition, migration has brought some changes.  A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, most likely on its way to cooler climates for the summer, was seen foraging through trees in our yard this morning.  The Townsend's Warbler - a regular at our suet feeders this winter - has not been seen for over a week now and probably won't be seen again until November.  This saddens me somewhat, as ... (read more)

February, 2007

February was a relatively good (and much warmer) month for backyard birding.  The Yellow-Rumped and Townsend's Warblers were still at the suet feeders every day.  House Finches  became regulars at the tube feeder.  While the RC Kinglets were still MIA, Brown Creepers were seen more often and it now appears that a smaller female and smaller male Flicker were visiting the suet feeder, in addition to the larger female seen previously.  Outside of another possible Merlin sighting and one sighting of two Starlings (they never came back, thank God), it was a relatively uneventful but very busy and enjoyable month. House Finches ... (read more)

January, 2007

January was a great month on several levels.  Varied Thrushes became more and more numerous in the mornings (I would typically see 4-7 under the suet feeder at a time).  Bushtits began to show up in flocks of 10-20 at our suet feeders (especially the one outside the front door).  While the RC Kinglets became much more infrequent, I saw my first Golden-Crowned Kinglet.  While taking the trash out very early one cloudy and rainy morning, I saw what was most likely a Merlin in the cluster of pine trees near our driveway.  Later in the month, I began to feed unsalted, roasted peanuts in the fly-through feeder.  These were not only a ... (read more)

2006 Highlights

OK, I've finally managed to have a whole two days in a row away from work.  Now that I'm well-rested and my chores are done, here are some highlights from 2006... Summer - Began feeding birds in May.  Started out with an expensive, squirrel-proof hopper feeder , a cheap tube feeder grom Albertson's, a pair of thistle stockings, and a hummingbird feeder.  Naturally, the cheap tube tube feeder was a massie hit with the Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, while the expensive hopper feeder was only occasionally used.  Interestingly, I would see Chestnut-backed Chickadees a couple of times a month as well.  The ... (read more)

Testing... 1, 2, 3...

Hello.  The purpose of this blog is document the presence (and absence) of wild birds in my yard in Western Oregon.  It is more or less an online journal, which is much more difficult to lose/damage than a notebook or computer file (if you've ever witnessed the clutter in my house or computer hard drive, you'll understand why).  Therefore, it is mostly for my benefit, although some people with eccentric taste and/or way too much free time on their hands may find it interesting as well.  My best camera is a puny Canon PowerShot, so you'll have to excuse the poor zoom/resolution in my photos.

Will update later...

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