Backyard Birds

There is no lack of excitement going on in our backyard. I guess when you live in a oasis of trees in the middle of a desert, migrants are going to want to take a break. And I like to think the bird word has gotten around...there's always tons to eat at our place!

 

I just wanted to catch up on some of the awesome birds we've been seeing in our yard since the temperature really warmed up. My first favorites are the hummingbirds. I put out nectar really early because I didn't want to miss any early birds (haha, get it?) passing through. Snag 'em early, hopefully keep them all summer long!

 

 

So far, we've had three species of hummingbird (out of four possible). Up above is the adorable female Rufous Hummingbird. Trying to figure out the Oriole Feeder. And below the Black-chinned on the left and Calliope (!!!) on the right. When the Calliope showed up, I squealed like a child.

 

Then came the Lazuli Buntings! Such a beautiful blue bird, we welcomed him to our yard...



 



...then we welcomed all his friends. ; )  We had Indigo Buntings out east, and they never came to our feeders.



 I guess we have bugs, because a Western Kingbird has been hanging out. OMG, our fence is nasty. I'll have you know I spray that thing off twice a week. The fence tends to look like a soup kitchen line, for birds. But, I digress.

Then Western Tanagers starting singing, pit-er-ick, which I thought was a broken American Robin until I figured out the real culprit. And finally they arrived in droves and even came into the yard to feast on moths.

We've even have a male and female Black-headed grosbeak! They usually visit the feeders twice a day.

Songbirds galore. But, we have our share of raptors. Like this pair of Swainson's Hawks that fly overhead at least once a day screaming...at me? the owls? life in general? Who knows, but they sure can make a racket. 

There are a handful of birds I skipped, because they deserve a post all on their own. Keep birding!

Birding Cape Lookout State Park Oregon

Last weekend we enjoyed our first camping trip of the year. We decided to go back to the Oregon coast, to the Tillamook area and we camped at Cape Lookout State Park. We absolutely love Oregon, for its scenery and of course, its birds!

 

After setting up camp Friday afternoon we drove up the coast in search of cool birds, and we were not disappointed. We found Ruby-crowned Kinglets, an Eared Grebe and Western Grebe.

We were not out long, and the light was getting horrible for pictures. So on we went back to camp, where our own campsite held a lot of bird surprises. After a long walk on the beach we started getting things ready for dinner, and immediately heard a Varied Thrush way up high in a tree. I managed one sun-lit picture before it flew away. We could also hear the chatter of hummingbirds, but couldn't find them. 

 

The Stellar's Jays were quite curious, and loud. They had no qualms about coming into camp and seeing what we were up to. 

They didn't even mind the 70 pound husky walking around...one jay even explored Dakota's water dish!

It wasn't just the bigger birds with attitude and curiosity. Little Fox Sparrows like to know who's moved into their space too. I had gone for a walk around the campground with Dakota before making dinner and Andrew snapped this picture of a Fox Sparrow in the back of our car!!! We found the bird in the back more than once. The next morning I came back from the water spout to see the sparrow fly out from the back of the car. Needless to say, we were careful when we shut the doors to make sure there was no curious bird left inside. 

The next morning we finally got to see the hummingbirds responsible for the chatter we'd heard the night before. Two Rufous Hummingbirds were buzzing in and around the campsite. We were very pleased to see these birds, since no sightings of them had been reported in the area yet. 

The area around Cape Lookout State Park was an excellent area for birding. This is only a few of the many birds we heard and saw Friday night and Saturday morning!