Fall Cometh

Signs of autumn abound. The sun is well hidden behind the horizon when the alarm clock sounds, and twilight sets in hours before bedtime. Temperatures dip into the 40s at night and struggle to hit 70 in the late afternoon. Some days are overcast, even rainy. Yes, our very short summer (it was still overcast and rainy in mid-June) is just about over. Thankfully, exciting events in the yard help compensate for it.



While migratory species such as the Yellow Warbler shown above have been prominent (and will be discussed shortly), the most conspicuous showing right now are the large flocks of American Goldfinches. "AMGOs" begin to flock in large numbers after their (rather late) breeding seasons ends. This is typically from mid-September through mid-October and, as we've seen before, they can really take over a yard at times. So I was rather surprised to see the flocking winter numbers (30-40) at the end of August. Halfway through the first week of September, their numbers were ranging from 30-70 at a time. I typically don't see these numbers until the end of the month or early October. Some of this could be attributed to the larger yard that we currently have, and/or the more open area of our new neighborhood. That said, I can't help but wonder if we may be getting an early winter this year. It's been cooler and more rainy over the past two weeks than what we typically experience at this time of the year. Of course, that's a small sample size, so who knows. Anyway, the AMGOs have been eating approximately $15 worth of sunflower and nyjer per week, and I've been refilling the feeders approximately three times per week. And, of course, sunflower shells are all over the ground now. That'll be fun to clean up. Lesser Goldfinches are still hanging around in small numbers.

While watching large flocks of goldfinches is nice enough, migratory species that stop by the yard are my primary source of enjoyment. And the past few weeks have not disappointed. Black-headed Grosbeaks, discussed in the last installment, had a very strong showing this spring/summer. As of five days ago, they were still passing through, though they'll be gone for good very shortly. A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a hatch-year. It was the first that I'd ever seen.


A rain-soaked juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak feeds on peanuts.


A male Wilson's Warbler forages through one of our butterfly bushes for insects, while...


... a female Yellow Warbler follows suit shortly afterwards

Migratory warblers are always a good time. Our most prominent "summer warbler," the Orange-crowned, made an appearance last month, but the best showings so far were from Wilson's Warblers. At least one male and at least one female have made appearances on five separate occasions since the very end of last month. I was very pleasantly surprised to also see Yellow Warblers stop by one days late last month. Both a female and a juvenile appeared on the same day. While I'm still holding out hope for a Black-throated Gray to move through, most of the summer warblers have moved south at this point. We'll likely see our wintering Yellow-rumped Warblers next month.


A hatch-year Yellow Warbler forages for insects.

Despite losing many forest-specific species (Brown Creeper, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Sapsucker) after moving out of our old neighborhood last year, I've been pleasantly surprised at the number of meadow/riparian species that have stepped in to replace them. These include the two warblers photographed above, and also flycatchers (both Empidonax and Tyrant). Earlier this year, Hammond's Flycatchers and Western Wood-Pewees were spotted hawking insects in the yard (the latter on multiple occasions). But the most prominent and surprising flycatcher has been the Willow. I don't know what it is, but migratory Willows have really taken a liking to our yard. We could've just as easily hosted the same number of Hammond's or Pacific-slope Flycatchers. Strange, but no complaints.


Willow Flycatchers will use anything for a perch, whether it be this old TV antenna thingy...


... or a thorn-covered rose tree branch.


A Steller's Jay surveys the scene before feeding on cracked corn.

Oddly enough, at least one of my old conifer-specific buddies seems to have followed me here. Steller's Jays (above) breed in the conifer-dominated hillsides around town, and even up at several thousand feet in the Cascades. Even at our old place, Steller's Jays only stopped by when they were en route to or from their higher-elevation breeding grounds (basically October, November, and March). So I was doubly-surprised to have seen two different individuals here in the yard several times over the past week (the last was just a few minutes ago). The fact that they seem to be moving out of their breeding ground (at least, locally) this early again suggests a possible early winter. The poor conifer crop that I've been hearing about in the Central Cascades may also be a factor. Downy Woodpeckers, who also tend to breed elsewhere, have also made something of a comeback over the past couple of weeks. There has also been a noticeable post-breeding dispersal of American Crows, and some of their offspring have been hanging around the yard. No nuthatches yet.


This female/juvenile Anna's Hummingbird has fewer Rufous Hummers to fight off nowadays.


A female Bushtit stops in for suet on a late summer evening.


A hatch-year American Crow (note the brown head) sizes up the yard.


Western Scrub-Jays are the second most frequent yard visitors at this point.

In other news, Rufous Hummingbirds have been slowly tailing off, to the point where I'm going to take down the second nectar feeder now. They should be completely gone by this time next month. Black-capped Chickadees and Bushtits are still abundant. House Finch numbers have remained approximately the same.

I'm going to be really busy with work soon, so this will likely be the last post for a month or so. Hopefully by then we'll host our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend's Warbler, or Purple Finch. At the very least, Juncos should begin to move in from the hills. Until then...

Movement, Molt, and Youngsters

The past few weeks have taken us from mid-summer into the beginning of Fall. Changes abound, and I've been able to capture some of it with my snazzy new camera and lens.



Many migratory species have begun moving south recently. One of the most conspicuous in the yard has been the Black-headed Grosbeak. The male shown above was particularly interesting (to me), as it's the first molting individual that I had ever seen. (They always seem to lay low in mid-molt.) Judging from the head plumage, this individual appears to be a second-year male. This male was around for one day at the end of July and was never seen again. Since then, at least one female has visited on three or four occasions.

More migratory species graced us with their presence earlier in the month. But, of course, this was when I was in between cameras, so I didn't have the opportunity to get photos! Anyway, these transients included an Orange-crowned Warbler and a Western Wood-Pewee. Neither has been observed here since. In addition, a couple of Cedar Waxwings were feeding in the neighbor's apple tree the very afternoon after that shipped off my old camera. This kind of sucked, as I had several nice sun-lit shots against a blue sky. But waxwings are year-round residents, abundant in our neighborhood, and tend to hang out in flocks in that apple tree in the winter. I'm sure that I'll get another shot.


A hatch-year Rufous Hummingbird enjoys our sugar-water feeder.


A slightly overexposed female Anna's Hummingbird enjoys our sugar-water feeder, after fending off multiple Rufous.

Male Rufous Hummingbirds are the deadbeats of the hummer world. They show up here in late February/early March, mate with the females that follow close behind, and then take off after the kids are born. No child support or anything. So that leaves mom and the kids to fend for themselves, and that's exactly what they've been doing here. There have been at least three individual Rufous and at least two Anna's going at it since the beginning of the month. Despite the fact that I have a window feeder on the opposite side of the house, the hummers all tend to "share" the more prominent feeder in the backyard. And when I say share, I mean fight tooth-and-nail. They spend so much energy fighting each other that they pretty much have to suck massive amounts of sugar-water afterwards. Seems like sharing perch space would be a more efficient use of energy, but what do I know. Anyway, it's been both interesting and entertaining. And I will be sad to see the Rufous take off for good next month.


A juvenile male Anna's Hummer (note the partially-colored gorget)


A female Black-headed Grosbeak stops by the nyjer feeder... before realizing that she doesn't like nyjer.


This hatch-year Spotted Towhee stopped by the yard in late July, never to be seen again.


American Goldfinches were still rockin' the breeding plumage up until recently...




... but now the majority of them are all molty and nasty-looking. The seasons are definitely changing.

Late summer molt is exemplified well by American Goldfinches, particularly by the males. As shown above, males lose their brilliant yellow plumage and black cap. Females undergo a less dramatic change, transforming from light yellow/green to more of a light yellow/bronze color. Molt begins in late July and is complete in most individuals by mid-September. American Goldfinches also flock like crazy out here in September and October (50-100 visitors at a time is typical for us). We've already witnessed a sharp increase over the past few weeks, and are now hosting up to 18 at a time. This number will likely triple in a few weeks. I will definitely be purchasing a lot of seed over the next two months. To help with the anticipated demand, I've already put up a second nyjer feeder (left).

Starlings are also beginning to molt into their "speckled" winter plumage, while losing the yellow coloring of their summer bills. This transition is more subtle than that experienced by male goldfinches but, as shown below, juvenile starlings can look rather odd at this time of the year.

This hatch-year European Starling certainly caught my eye. I thought it was a juvenile Flicker at first!


Hatch-year male House Finches slowly molt into their reddish-pink plumage at this time of the year.


A Western Scrub-Jay enjoys a drink on a hot summer afternoon. Water is very important in regions with warm, arid summers.


A Black-capped Chickadee stops in for a peanut on a late August afternoon.

That's about it for now. I'll have another update (and more photos) in a few weeks. And then I'll be getting very busy with work. (Though I'm sure that I'll be able to tear myself away to photograph migrants in October!)

Summer Doldrums

Being smack in the middle of summer, activity has been relatively slow for most of the month. Thankfully, overall activity has been better than expected and I don't have much to complain about.



At the end of June, the Red-winged Blackbird (above) was the most frequent yard visitor and that hasn't changed much. Interestingly, there has been a large and unexpected increase in the number of Bushtits (flocks of up to 15, which appear to be roosting in the neighbor's apple tree) and Black-capped Chickadees. They appear to be traveling in a mixed flock, which I found somewhat surprising, as this typically doesn't happen until September. Downy Woodpeckers have also made a significant comeback, facilitated by the dispersion of the Starlings that were eating the suet so quickly that I had to leave the feeder empty. At least one male and one female Downy are now visiting several times per week. Anna's Hummingbirds, absent for much of the first half of the month, have also made something of a comeback.


A female Downy Woodpecker has a bite to eat on an overcast July morning.


American Goldfinches dine on nyjer. Some individuals are beginning to molt back into their basic plumage.


A male Red-winged Blackbird eyes the peanut feeder.

A few irregular species have also broken up the monotony of July. The most interesting was a Song Sparrow (below), which hung out in the yard for a morning about two weeks ago. Song Sparrows are year-round visitors in this part of the country, but tend to not visit backyards until the fall/winter. So seeing one feeding on spilled sunflower on the deck one morning was a pleasant surprise.



Other interesting visitors have included a small flock of Cedar Waxwings that moved through and hung out in the neighbor's large birch trees, a few Violet-green Swallows engaged in insect-hawking overhead, a couple of crows, and our first Rufous Hummingbird (a female) since May. We have also been hosting a Western Scrub-Jay with a lame left leg (below) for the past month or so. Despite the injury, he/she seems to be doing just fine.



While we have avoided a repeat of last summer's heat wave, temperatures have reached the mid-80s through mid-90's for much of the past few weeks and the fresh water has become a huge attraction. We currently have two bird baths set up, one with a solar-powered fountain. In the Western United States, where summers are on the dry side, water is even more important than food at this time of the year.


A Song Sparrow bathes on a hot summer morning.


A Western Scrub-Jay cools off on a hot July afternoon.

Well, that's about it for now. The summer doldrums should continue into next month, but hopefully we'll see an uptick in migrating Rufous Hummingbirds and perhaps other species. I'm using this lull (and the pay raise from my new job) to upgrade my camera equipment. Having been disgusted with our poor-quality windows for some time, I've removed the screen from the master bedroom window and will be shooting from an open window there much more often. These two moves should significantly increase my photo quality, and I'm very excited. See you in about a month.

Empty Nest

We're now "officially" at the beginning of summer, and the yard avifauna certainly reflects that. Yard activity was hopping at the beginning of the month, and is now extremely slow. And while the lack of activity is disappointing, it's typical for this time of the year. Thankfully, the constant overcast skies and rain have also dissipated.



Nesting Black-capped Chickadees were one of the big stories of May. At the beginning of the month, "Chee, chee, chee!" noises began to emanate from the nesting box. As we had suspected, the chickadee pair had not only laid eggs, but had successfully brought hatchlings into the world. After about a week, the calls morphed into a wheezy, more chickadee-like "Cheez, cheez, derr!" (They grow up fast, don't they?) At that point, I thought that they would fledge soon and began looking for signs of them hanging outside of the nesting box and acclimating to the "real world." But the young stayed secure inside as their parents continued to bring grubs and small insects to them. Then one morning, I no longer heard the calls of the young or saw their parents. By the end of the afternoon, it became obvious to me that they were all gone. So what happened? Did a predator scare them off? (A Western Scrub-Jay carried out an unsuccessful "kidnapping" attempt earlier in the month, though it did not appear to rattle the parents much.) I wanted to open up the nesting box to check, but feared that the juveniles would still be hunkered down inside and that the parents may abandon the nest. Finally, after about a week of seeing zero activity, I pulled my ladder out of the garage and took a look inside. What I found was a very neat little "pad" of a nest (below), constructed mostly of moss and down. But no dead fledglings, and not even a stray egg shell. Needless to say, I was quite relieved that they all (apparently) fledged successfully. It would've been nice to get a few pics of the kids, but their successful brood and survival are what really matter.



As I alluded to in the opening paragraph, the past month has been a real sea-change. Early on, Black-headed Grosbeaks were braving the rain and constant overcast skies daily for the sunflower feeders. Now, I'm lucky to see the occasional Red-winged Blackbird, Scrub-Jay, or American/Lesser Goldfinch. I even had to let the suet feeder run empty for week-long stretches twice this month, as starlings were inundating the yard and going through as much as a suet cake per day! (Since putting a fresh cake in two days ago, I've been lucky so far... knock on wood.)


A male Black-headed Grosbeak feeds on cracked corn on an early June afternoon.


This male Red-winged Blackbird has been a fixture since April, and continues to visit multiple times per day.


A Western Scrub-Jay surveys the yard.


A pair of Lesser Goldfinches dine on a warm, sunny afternoon.

Despite the relative dearth of interesting species this month, a we have seen a few notable surprises. The first was a Willow Flycatcher, who spent an afternoon hawking insects from our fence. Empid flycatchers are always tricky IDs, but the lack of a significant eye ring was a relatively easy diagnostic field mark in this case. If I'm unfortunate enough to wake up prior to sunrise and happen to crack the living room window, I can often hear swallows feeding on insects outside. But I was pretty surprised to see a Violet-green Swallow swoop right under the awning outside of our kitchen on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. Western Wood-Pewees have also been calling from the trees recently.

Juvenile "regular" species have also been coming to feed and bath in the yard. These include Anna's Hummingbirds, Western Scrub-Jays, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, and Bushtits. (Interestingly, I have not seen the juvenile chickadees that hatched on the other side of the house.) At least one pair of American Goldfinches has been visiting daily, and I imagine that their offspring will eventually visit as well (they breed much later in the summer).


A Willow Flycatcher enjoys a hard-earned meal.


This fledgling Western Scrub-Jay enjoys a drink of water on a warm afternoon.

Now we head into the Dog Days of Summer. (Though the mercury is still struggling to hit 70 out here, so I'm not anticipating another week in the 100's at this point.) This is the snoozer time of the year for yard birds, but you never know what you'll encounter. At the very least, male Rufous Hummingbirds will begin their migratory movement towards the end of July. (I have not seen a Rufous Hummer for almost a month now, indicating that none are nesting nearby.)

So have a good 4th of July weekend and I'll have more later in the month.

Grosbeak-fest 2010

Happy Memorial Day! In addition to honoring our soldiers, Memorial Day also doubles as the unofficial first day of summer. In that sense, it also serves as a nice point to take stock of the second half of spring. And what a spring it's been...



Black-headed Grosbeaks are unpredictable. Some years (like 2008), several of them will show up at your feeders in May. In other years (like 2009), you may see one in the spring and the next one won't stop by until August. Thankfully this year was a lot more like 2008 - but even better. The first individual, a mature male, showed up on the 11th, which is about a half-week later than usual. A male and a female showed up late in the day of the 21st, and then no fewer than 7 individuals were counted the following morning. This was the best showing of Black-headed Grosbeaks that I've ever seen (my previous record was 5 in early May of 2008). A female is still hanging around and occasionally dining at the sunflower feeder.


A male Black-headed Grosbeak poses for a photo...


... and a female does the same a few minutes later.


They are one of the few species where, in my opinion, the females are as pretty as the males.


This second-year male could be identified both via its incomplete dark head plumage and the fact that it was visibly smaller than the mature adults that it accompanied.

Black-headed Grosbeaks are majestic and always a welcome sight. But what visited on the 23rd absolutely blew my mind. I've been trying for YEARS to attract Evening Grosbeaks to my feeders. And in two different states (Illinois is the other), no luck. But that all changed last Sunday, when my wife noticed a "yellow-ish grosbeak" that turned out to be a stunning male (later accompanied by a female). These two visited the feeders from the late morning through the afternoon and were never seen again. (They were most likely on their way up into the hills to breed.) Perhaps we'll never see them in the yard again, but the feeling of triumph will live on. It was definitely worth the wait and persistence.


A beautiful male Evening Grosbeak enjoys sunflower.


This female Evening Grosbeak waits out the rain in our bushes.

If that wasn't cool enough (and it's darn near impossible to beat), other migrants have also graced our presence over the past two weeks. In the week leading up to the Grosbeak-fest, a male Wilson's Warbler was seen flitting around the neighbor's apple tree. Wilson's are common migrants, but usually don't hang around for long. However, this individual has been a semi-regular since then (just saw him out back a few minutes ago). The day after that, a Swainson's Thrush briefly passed through the yard during a downpour, and a Warbling Vireo was observed foraging through our neighbor's tree in the early evening. A female Brown-headed Cowbird also stopped in for a bite to eat the following day. Earlier in the month, a male Red-winged Blackbird became a regular at the feeders. Now, two females have joined him (he must be a real ladies' man!) Interestingly, both strongly prefer peanuts over sunflower. I'm wondering if sunflower and peanuts are the respective blackbird equivalent of potato chips and chocolate.


A Warbling Vireo forages for insects.


This female Brown-headed Cowbird stopped by one day, but hasn't been seen since.


One of two female Red-winged Blackbirds who visit regularly now.

So, yes, lots of new species in the yard this summer. But our regulars are still around, for the most part. One of the interesting "regular" developments is an increase in the number of Lesser Goldfinches, to the point where they're outnumbering American Goldfinches. This is most likely due to fledglings (Lessers breed MUCH earlier than Americans). House Finches have also made a comeback, again, mostly due to the fact that they need to feed their fledglings. Black-capped Chickadees are still going in and out of the nesting box next to our front door, indicating that eggs have likely been laid. They've gone out of their way to be inconspicuous and I haven't been shoving a camera in their faces, either. I'll wait until the young have hatched. Western Scrub-Jays are also hanging around in increased numbers, and we expect to see their young in July or so. One of them actually attacked a fledgling House Finch, which really surprised me. I wouldn't even expect that behavior from a Blue Jay.


This male Lesser Goldfinch is now a regular.


This Black-capped Chickadee has been very busy lately!


And this fledgling House Finch survived an attack from a Scrub-Jay, apparently without any serious wounds.

But, of course, it hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops here. Starlings began to invade the yard a week ago, in search of easy nourishment for their young. A flock of 10 went through a suet cake in one day, prompting me to leave the feeder empty for a while. (Sorry, Downy Woodpeckers.) Hopefully they'll disperse in a couple of weeks. We also hosted two pigeons briefly, a not-so-subtle reminder that, grosbeaks or not, we still live in an urban area.


A bastard Starling siphons money out of my wallet.


Unlike the Starlings, they thankfully didn't return.

Well, that's about it for now. The major migratory activity is pretty much over now, but perhaps I'll get lucky and see something unexpected over the next couple of weeks. A photo of fledgling Chickadees is a possibility.