Humming, Buzzing, Chirping

Anna’s Hummingbirds, female and male

It’s migration season and breeding season so birds are very active right now. Our yard is full of sights and sounds of spring. There is lots of territorial aggression going on at the hummingbird feeders. The rare Broad-billed Hummingbird stayed for 3-4 weeks but she has now moved on.

We now have at least 3 Black-chinned Hummingbirds (2 males). I assume some may be the same ones who have come for the last few years because they always come from about March-May. The males are very aggressive around the feeders and chase each other and the several Anna’s hummers all over. Fortunately, there are 4 feeders so everyone is able to get a turn eventually. The Black-chinneds make a funny, buzzing sound, totally different from the sound of an Anna’s. The sun has to hit them just right to make the males’ purple collars visible so it’s a fun challenge to try.

(These smaller photos can be clicked on to make larger; I just don’t like feeder shots that much.)

This is the female, below. She is lankier with a whiter underside than the Anna’s Hummingbirds. They also have longer, slightly down-curved bills.

Here’s a few more of the tiny birds currently in our yard:

Verdin

We have at least 3 in our yard. They are here year-round, desert birds.

Orange-crowned Warbler

My favorite bird in the world, “Tink,” is still here. She usually leaves by the second week of March but I’m afraid she’s hooked on grape jelly and doesn’t want to leave. Everything I’ve read said that having food out doesn’t affect migration so she will probably leave soon. I finally caught a glimpse of her orange crown a few days ago (you can see it in the last photo, above). It isn’t normally visible. This is her 4th winter in our yard so I hope she’ll have a safe summer and come back next year.

Yellow-rumped Warblers, Audubon’s, male and female

These guys will probably be migrating soon, too, although some do stay year-round, apparently. We’ll see. They don’t really seem to be a couple. I see the male (“Chatty”) all the time and he likes to follow Tink around rather than the female of his own species (“Shy Girl”).

I’m hoping we’ll get a few more migrants coming through, someone new and exciting, maybe. I haven’t had much luck lately getting new birds.

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Great Backyard Bird Count 2019

Merlin

On Valentine’s Day, I saw a new lifer and it was in my yard! A Merlin, I was totally shocked to see it there and sad, when I looked at the photos, to see it was dining on an Anna’s Hummingbird, no doubt one I have been feeding. I have photos but I know most people don’t want to see things like that. Neither did I, even though I know that’s nature, raptors have to eat, and if you feed birds in your yard, there’s a chance you’ll attract their predators, too. Still, a hummingbird…

This year’s Great Backyard Bird Count was held from February 15-18, sponsored by National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. My birder friend, Karen, and I were going to go out that Saturday but she was sick so that didn’t happen. It was a gloomy weekend and, finally, on Monday, I wanted to have something to report on eBird.org so I sat in the yard for awhile. Here are some of the birds I saw. Most photos were taken on that day.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s, male

He has been in my yard for the last several weeks but on the day of the count, a female of his species also showed up, just to get counted! I have seen her a couple times since then, too, very cute.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s, female

Lesser Goldfinch, male

Gila Woodpeckers, male and female

Abert’s Towhee

Verdins

My favorite little bird wanted to be counted, for sure:

Orange-crowned Warbler

And my rare bird for this area is still hanging around:

Broad-billed Hummingbird, female

Anna’s Hummingbirds, male

And an occasional visitor to our yard also showed up to be counted that day, 2 of them, in fact:

Rosy-faced Lovebird (along with Eurasian Collared-Doves)

Altogether, I saw 16 species in the yard that day in about an hour and a half.

An Assortment

Greater Roadrunner

Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

Verdin

Those photos were taken at Desert Botanical Garden a couple weeks ago when I took a friend there.

Tony and I have not gone on one of our day trips for a few weeks now but we went over to Granada Park the other day, which was a dreary day, and saw these birds:

Vermilion Flycatcher (first I’ve seen in central Phoenix area)

Ring-necked Duck, female

White-crowned Sparrow, first winter

Gila Woodpecker

And then the yard birds…

Broad-billed Hummingbird, female (Yard Bird #46)

She was a new yard bird! And a rare bird for the area! I reported her on eBird and it was confirmed. These birds normally don’t come much further north than southeastern Arizona although a few others have been reported in our area this winter. I would so love a male to show up because this is what they look like (we saw this one in Madera Canyon earlier this year):

Aren’t they gorgeous? Of course, all hummingbirds are beautiful. The one below is an Anna’s female, you can see how different she looks from the Broad-billed female.

Gila Woodpecker, male

Northern Mockingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

I saw this guy a few weeks ago and then he disappeared. Now I saw another one in our yard the other day by itself so don’t know if the same one returned:

White-crowned Sparrow

And then my very favorite yard bird, Tink, was kind enough to pose away from the feeders the other day:

An amazing thing happened just before I took these photos. A hawk (Sharp-shinned, I think, but I didn’t get a photo) crashed through the mesquite tree where the feeders are looking for a snack, I guess. I know they need to eat but I was pleased it came out empty-taloned. It then landed on my neighbor’s garage while I ran in to get the camera and it took off just as I tried to get a shot. I really hope it gets its meals somewhere other than our yard…so does Tink.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Our Winter Yard

Anna’s Hummingbirds, male and female

Verdins

Orange-crowned Warbler (“Tink”)

Tink has a new member of the Warbler family also visiting in the yard and also loving the grape jelly she loves. She doesn’t seem too fond of him, though. He chases her and is very chatty at times so she has moved over to the other jelly feeder.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

Abert’s Towhee

Curve-billed Thrashers

Small Milkweed Bug (note the alien-like heart-shaped face on its back)

Lesser Goldfinches, female and male

Gila Woodpecker, male

Ferguson says, “Where’d the birdies go?”

Other birds seen daily in the yard: Eurasian-collared Doves, Rock Pigeons, House Finches, House Sparrows, European Starlings, Great-tailed Grackles. I have also recently seen a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Rosy-faced Lovebirds, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-tailed Hawk flyover…

Back to Granada

Canvasback drakes meeting Mallard couple

They’re diving ducks:

I hadn’t seen a Canvasback duck for a couple of years so it was fun to see two handsome drakes when I went to Granada Park, a Phoenix city park, the other day. Through part of 2014 and all of 2015 and 2016, I went to Granada Park about once a week and saw a lot of cool birds there. Starting in 2017, I quit finding new birds and it was kind of boring so I didn’t go much in 2017 and this is only the second time this year that I’ve gone. It was nice to be back on a crisp day. I didn’t see any new birds but it was still fun to see who may be spending the winter. Plenty of the following ducks were there:

Ring-necked Duck

American Wigeons, males

Great-tailed Grackle, female

Northern Flicker, Red-shafted, female

Gilded Flicker, male

Mourning Dove, feeling sublime

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s, female

It’s been really cold here, freezing at night, so many of the plants are covered up. The outdoor kitties have a lot of extra blankets and towels in their beds (and a new igloo but it only fits one, unfortunately) and the birds are bundled up.

Tink, the Orange-crowned Warbler, is happy for all the grape jelly but wishes it would warm up. She kindly posed for a New Year’s photo, though…