Summer Solstice

Well, I was finally able to tear myself away from work for a day.  I'm going to be busy/vacationing for the next month, so the next update will most likely be in late July.

The days are as long as they're going to get now.  And with the youngsters out and about, this means lot of activity in the yard...


A juvenile Lesser Goldfinch on a sunny morning.


An "official" Summer (June 21) Pine Siskin.  I never thought that they'd still be here, much less breed here.

The big story right now is juveniles.  Fledgling birds are are almost constantly here, with Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches, and Starlings being the most numerous.  Also present in smaller number are juvenile Crows and Pine Siskins.  I imagine that we'll be seeing fledgling Scrub-Jays, House Sparrows, Bushtits, and Black-headed Grosbeaks in the not-too-distant future.  American Goldfinches have already paired up and will likely begin breeding later this summer.


A pair of American Goldfinches.


A tray full of juvenile Lesser Goldfinches.


Parent and fledgling American Crows.  Look at the size of junior (left)!


A juvenile Starling.  Not as ugly as mom and dad, but still makes those annoying, raspy calls.

Aside from all of the youngsters, most of the usual summer suspects are here.  House Finches, typically numerous at this time of the year, are at the feeders several times a day.  Their European cousins, the House Sparrows, have also been around in larger-than-usual numbers (which is somewhat typical of this time of the year).  Starlings were so numerous and eating so much suet that I've left the tree trunk basket empty and am just maintaining one suet feeder now.  Thankfully, their numbers have subsided somewhat over the past couple of weeks.  Both species of Chickadee (Black-capped and Chestnut-backed) are here at least once a day or so.  Pine Siskins seem less numerous than earlier this month, but I'm still seeing a couple at a time.  We're seeing Downy Woodpeckers once every day or two, but (not surprisingly) much less frequently than in the winter.  Anna's Hummers (almost always males) are still here, but not very frequently.  And as usual, Rufous Hummers are MIA, most likely unti August.  Lone Black-headed Grosbeaks have been spotted at the feeder on each of the past two weekends - most likely energizing up while dealing with the young'uns.  Two or three Juncos are still around (and we believe have a nest somewhere in the neighbor's yard), and there was a Song Sparrow bathing in our bird bath earlier this week.  Our buddies Quackers and Mildred (the Mallards) have been here every day, and are now showing up with what may be a juvenile (I'm not quite sure).  They stop by several times a day and are pretty tolerant of me.  We had recently not seen many Red-breasted Nuthatches at all, until Barney brought a dead one into the house earlier this week.  We're pretty sure that he simply found it dead (he has no front claws and is a complete wuss, to boot).  Thankfully, we've been seeing healthy nuthatches in the yard since.


Quackers: King of the Driveway.


Western Scrub-Jay foraging for food.


Female House Sparrow.


Female Downy Woodpecker: Also very happy to see fewer Starlings.

On the "milk carton" front, we haven't seen a Northern Flicker in several weeks.  They're most likely gone up into the hills to breed.  Strangely, Bushtits haven't been seen for over a month now.  They nested above our driveway last summer and brought their fledglings to our suet feeders.  Hopefully we'll be seeing them again soon.



And because I just hadn't spent enough money on all of this yet, I purchased a new bird bath for the back deck two weeks ago.  It's both stylish and functional - and the raccoons haven't knocked it over yet.  We've seen a couple of House Finches drinking from it already.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I hope to have more fledgling pics up in about a month.

• Posted at Saturday, June 21, 2008 04:24 PM
• In General Category | Permalink