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 outside of those sightings and the male/femle pair of American Goldfinches last weekend and the increase in Scrub Jays at our suet and peanut feeders, there haven't been any new species sighted recently.



However, what we have seen are a number of new fledglings.  These include Lesser Goldfinches (shown above) and Red-breasted Nuthatches.  The Lessers have been seen nearly every day at the thistle feeders and birdbath.  The Nuthatches tend to spend more time foraging for insects in the pine trees.  However, the Nuthatches still do stop in for suet and peanuts and they'll go to the peanut feeder even if I'm standing right next to it.  They are insanely tame and a real treat to have around.  And speaking of treats, we've also found a Bushtit nest hanging about 12' above our driveway in a pine tree.  The babies can be heard now and we hope to see fledglings in a few weeks.


Bushtit nest.

• Posted at Sunday, June 3, 2007 07:06 PM
• In General Category | Permalink