Sometimes there are 50 or more birds in our yard at one time, eating, hanging out…and the cacophony of bird sounds is pretty intense. Other times there are gentle chirps and buzzes…
Abert’s Towhees
Curve-billed Thrashers
House Finches (click to enlarge)
The Anna’s Hummingbirds are sipping from the plants I recently bought.
And perching and fighting and showing their colors…(click to enlarge)
And my little Orange-crowned Warbler happily winters here…
But they all need to watch out for this guy:
All of these photos are of male Anna’s Hummingbirds in our yard. We have some females, too, but they are keeping to themselves and don’t seem to want to pose long enough for photos. We have at least 4 males in the yard right now but I do think there is one in particular that poses the most…Comet. So here he and his friends are:
Waving to his friends
I just got some hummingbird (and butterfly) friendly plants to lure them in for pretty photos. So far, no go…Mexican Honeysuckle, Sage (salvia), and Lavender.
Imagine my surprise one recent morning when I went into the backyard and spotted yardbird species #51 at the birdbath! A Black Phoebe took a quick drink and then flew off. I’ve never seen it since, wish I would, but it seems an unlikely place since I usually see them by bodies of water. I was glad it waited til I ran inside and grabbed my camera.
I was doubly surprised 2 days later to see a Say’s Phoebe diving for insects which was yardbird species #52! I see these birds often in parks but never in my yard. Once again, I have not seen it since. Phoebes are such pretty birds, I hope they visit again.
As if all that wasn’t exciting enough, a couple days later, I saw my favorite little bird, Tink (an Orange-crowned Warbler), return to our yard for the winter for the 5-6th season. At least I think and hope it was her. She seemed like the same bird, going back and forth between the 2 jelly feeders. I saw her for a few days and now have not seen her again for a few so I hope it was her and she plans to stay the winter. I don’t sit in my yard all day everyday so I could easily be missing her…I hope…I really wasn’t expecting her this year as I know they don’t live forever but, right on schedule, she returned…or so I think.
So those were exciting days! Here are a few of the Verdins who inhabit our yard all year…cute, tiny, and busy…
Verdins have roosting nests all year long. I think it’s where they sleep at night and hang out. The opening of the nests are on the side or bottom. Here is one leaving its nest in our pine tree:
They love jelly and oranges. Here they are in the little jelly house (click each to see larger):
An infrequent visitor to the yard is the Great-tailed Grackle. This female entertained me for awhile a few days ago and has been back since with another of her female friends:
They are loud, raucous, curious birds that are fun to watch. And those are some of the exciting goings-on in the backyard lately.
Glenrosa Journeys 