Slackin' in July

Despite being almost four full days removed from my vacation (see the previous post) and having a ton of work to do, I'm still sitting on my rear, enjoying the sun, watching baseball, and engaging in bird-related activities.  Guess I'll be cramming in this work at the last minute...


A female Anna's Hummingbird feeding from a fuchsia.

Despite being gone for most of the first half of the month, there have been some noticeable changes.  The first and most obvious is an increased number of juvenile Black-capped Chickadees, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, Scrub-Jays, and American Crows.  They've all been frequenting our feeders and bird baths.  Without any substantial precipitation for well over a month now (which is typical for this region in the summer), the bird bath under the Rhododendron bush is being used quite heavily.


A juvenile Scrub-Jay takes a morning bath.


Juvenile Black-capped Chickadee - "Ahhh!  Refreshing!"


A juvenile Lesser Goldfinch picks at buds.

Some species that were MIA last month are now re-appearing.  These include Bushtits, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Northern Flickers, and Dark-eyed Juncos.  Juncos and Flickers typically breed in the hills, so it's interesting to see that some have bucked the trend and stayed put in the valley.  Oddly enough, I've seen two MALE Juncos (and only these two males) at the feeders.  I've seen less and less of my summer Pine Siskins, but did see them briefly three days ago.  And at the risk of jinxing myself, I haven't seen a Starling since the beginning of the month.  And I couldn't be happier about that.


Female Bushtit - Nice to see them again.


Female Northern Flicker - Didn't have any trouble finding the relocated suet feeder.

I've also done some remodeling around the yard.  The thistle feeder formerly hanging off of the fence was moved closer to the deck to avoid a potential mess with the neighbor's cat.  The Lesser Goldfinches seem to really enjoy the location (I don't know why) and are there frequently every day now.  I also got fed up with seed from our sunflower tube feeder spilling all over our cars.  So I made the bold move of relocating it to the former tube feeder location off of the carport.  Sadly, I had to remove the seed tray that the Black-headed Grosbeaks and Purple Finches seemed to like so much, in order to keep the squirrels from eating out of it.  Oh well, I'm sure that they'll be able to utilize the carousel or hopper feeder during their next visit.  I also moved the tail-prop suet feeder from near the front door to the sunflower tube feeder's former location.  This gives us a much better view and I'm sure that the birds appreciate being further from the front door.  I also splurged on a $10 squirrel baffle to keep the squirrels and rain off of it.  My next plan is to transition the peanuts from the carousel feeder to a new wire mesh peanut feeder that will be placed in between the kitchen and dining room windows.  This is to keep Crows from chasing away the birds in the front yard.  And since birds eat peanuts one by one (or by stuffing four or five in their mouths at once), placing it near a window shouldn't be a problem.  The only real negative is the (apparent) loss of the Mallards that were eating cracked corn off of our driveway every day.  I haven't seen them since the beginning of the month.


Lesser Goldfinches dine at the newly-relocated thistle feeder.  Unfortunately, the one on the bottom left appears to have an injured leg.


A male Dark-eyed "Oregon" Junco forages for seed on the walkway.


A Red-breasted Nuthatch playing "King of the Suet Feeder" early on a Saturday morning.

Well, that's all for now.  I'll write more in a couple of weeks, when the male Rufous Hummers should begin moving south and will be stocking up on nectar (with the females to follow later).  Black-headed Grosbeaks should begin migration sometime next month as well.  And birds will begin flocking in general, so it should be an exciting time.

• Posted at Saturday, July 19, 2008 01:52 PM
• In General Category | Permalink