Birds
California Towhee from this morning. First sighting ever in the backyard but have seen these around the neighborhood. They don’t seem to care much for the white crowns & house sparrows. This is my kind of bird.
Took a walk around a small lake today and saw: 1) turtles sunning on a log; 2) a western meadow lark; 3) redwing blackbirds; 4) long billed curlews; and 5) a duck with a cool hairdo (hopefully).
I looked out into the backyard just in time to see a Nuttall’s Woodpecker investigating our cultivated elderberry and Ceanothus bushes. So cool!
A few different birds & a landscape from today’s nature walk. One vulture and one 777.
Today I had to remove a trespassing & bird harassing “Happy Birthday To You” balloon from our mandarin tree and then dispose of it. A birthday card can say as much. 🙄
Honey bees are apparently feeding on bird seed dust. Never seen this behavior before. More photos on Flickr.
On today’s walk, there was a very photogenic & easy-going Black Phoebe. This one did not want to leave their tree.
Soggy house finches and house sparrows (maybe a fox sparrow too) sheltering on grape vines from the wind and desperately needed rain.
My partner in crime sure does know how to cook a golden, juicy bird.
No rest for birds this time of the year. Here’s a Yellow Rumped Warbler (lower right) and Lesser Gold Finch (upper left) in our cultivated native grapes.
Bird bath mirror.
Sharp looking (spotted bird?) grasshopper! It was resting in our California buckwheat.
Our first backyard Spotted Towhee!
Sunflower seeds ready to be eaten by backyard birds. Bet the scrub jays will cache them all.
California fuchsias still blooming, and that makes our hummingbirds very pleased.
Grapes are now turning to raisins but the birds still love them.
Mockingbird.
Mockingbirds enjoying our grapes (these cultivated California native grapes are for the birds!).
Mockingbirds love our cultivated native grapes 🥰 It’s the best seeing them swallow a large grape whole. We’ve seen at least five in our backyard. They mostly get along. We have a kind of neutral zone
Western redbud has to share soil with a bird planted sunflower.
