They're Back...

With the cold and rain that October brings, some old familiar faces have also made appearances lately.  In addition to the year-round visits of Western Scrub-Jays, the closely-related Steller's Jays have come down from the hilly pine forests to dine on peanuts at our residence.  Their not-so-melodious "Blaaah, blaaah, blaaah!" call was a welcome, if imperfect, morning greeting this past weekend.  The sharp, piercing "Peer!" of the Northern Flicker, another species that breeds up in the hills, has also been heard over the past week.  The familiar large female ("Big Mamma") and a smaller male (presumably the same one that we saw this summer) have been around for the past week, although they still seem to be more interested in foraging for insects than raiding the suet basket.  And, of course, the beginning of Fall would not be complete without flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos hitting the feeders daily.  They're getting hungry enough now that they're actually eating off of elevated feeders.


A Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Dark-eyed Junco dining on sunflower seed.

American Goldfinches are still stopping by in flocks, although in fewer numbers than before.  Rather than the 40-50+ that I was seeing a couple of weeks ago, their numbers are now back down to a more manageable 10-15, with occasional flocks of up to 30.  It's nice to ONLY have to refill the thistle feeders two or three times a week.  Interestingly, the Lesser Goldfinches are almost completely gone now.  They are not migratory species, yet I only saw one this past weekend.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees are showing up somewhat more frequently now, but most of the other "usuals" are holding relatively steady in number.  However, I haven't seen any Bushtits in almost a week now, which is somewhat surprising.


An American Goldfinch and female House Finch eating sunflower seed.  The excessive Goldfinch poop on the roof was washed off by this afternoon's rain.


Steller's Jay getting ready to swoop in for some peanuts.  I couldn't get a picture of one this past weekend, so I'm recycling this beauty from March.

We should be seeing more winter birds within the next month or so, including Varied Thrush, Myrtle Warblers and, one of my favorites, Townsend's Warblers.  Stay tuned.

• Posted at Monday, October 15, 2007 11:56 PM
• In General Category | Permalink