I braved the cold, windy day Saturday and got into my blind and did some photographing of the birds that are coming into my feeders. The prominent species coming in, to see and photograph, are American Goldfinch and Cassin's Finch.
Another few species making an appearance are a Western Scrub Jays, Magpie, Gray-headed and Oregon Juncos, House Sparrows, Eurasian-collared Doves, European Starlings,White-crowned Sparrows and a few House Finches.
Next door in my neighbor's Cherry tree are a pair of Northern Flickers, to my delight are taking back their nesting hole they worked so hard on this winter, from a pair of Starlings. It was a joy to be able to watch and photograph the flickers removing all of the nesting material from the cavity that the Starlings had put into it. I'm hoping that the Flickers win this battle and end up nesting there so I can photograph them as they raise a family there. Much to my despair I haven't seen the Western Screech Owls, that have nested in my front yard for the last couple of years, in over 2 weeks. I have gone out in the backyard at night to listen for their calls, but nothing. There is a lot of commotion and noise at my home, now, since my daughter and her family moved in about a month ago. I wouldn't change anything but it makes me wonder if the owls decided it was just to much and decided to nest elsewhere.
On a humorous note there was a Eurasian-collared Dove chasing a Magpie around the yard trying to drive it off and away. Dove apparently has a nest near by, probably with eggs.
I absolutely love spring and all the birds that show up in my yard. I've put up my hummingbird feeder about 3 days ago but as of yet haven't seen any.
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| American Goldfinch |
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| Eurasian Collared Dove |
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| American Goldfinches |
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| Cassin's Finch |
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| On the feeder |
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| Working on a nest Northern Flickers |
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| Getting rid of the trash. Northern Flicker |
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| Western Scrub Jay |
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| Gray-headed Junco |
