Yard birding.

Yup, just by making that the title of this post I know many people won't even read it.  Yard birds are generally unexciting to anyone beyond the actual yard-owner.  I get it.   But it's all I got for you today.


I love knowing that for the next four or five months there will be Osprey flying over the yard daily.   A couple weeks ago I gained two new yard birds within a couple days:  Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Red-winged Blackbirds.



Last week I was sitting in the yard talking to my mom on the phone when I caught sight of a bird up in my ash tree.  I put my bins on it and discovered it was a Chipping Sparrow!  A pretty darn good yard bird for me.  He stayed and hung out for a few days...


Finches are still the predominant (predominate?  Why am I so good at English??) yard birds: House Finches, American Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches are almost always out there.  I've been keeping an eye on one goldfinch in particular, One-Eyed Willy.

Willy's good side

 Willy's bad side

I'm not quite sure if Willy is female or male, it seems to be the only goldfinch left without much color. 

Now for some more yard regulars...

Eurasian Collared-Dove

 Bushtit

 Golden-crowned Sparrows

 Fox Sparrow

One of the local male flickers (an intergrade) has been drumming on my chimney topper thingy almost every morning around 7:30.  The sound vibrates all the way down my chimney and into the wood stove in my living room.  The sound is nothing short of heart-stopping.  Thankfully the dogs have gotten used to this morning serenade.


The yard visitors are not limited to birds. 


And yesterday morning I learned that my yard birds are not limited to wild birds either.  I looked out the window while fixing some coffee only to find this lady under the feeders...


She was strutting around eating all the sunflower seeds!  Check out the video here where you can see her strut, hear Jake bark, and then hear the ruckus of him falling off the bed in excitement.  After giving me a run for my money I gave up on the idea of herding her back into her own yard and went over to wake up the neighbors who own the chicken.  It was a lot of excitement for early in the morning, but at least I finally got to meet the new neighbors (both human and chicken).

Dandy on the run

Good times and good yard birding!!  If this is all too sunshiney happy happy joy joy for you, check out this website about the insane spring hunting sessions in Malta.  It will bum you out for sure.

Comments

  1. Ha! Joke's on you I totally read this post, didn't even skip to the end or nothing, even appreciated the Gooney's reference with One-Eyed Willy.

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  2. I enjoyed your yard birding post! Love the flicker and the neighbors Dandy on the run!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read this post in its entirety just to spite you. I am seriously jealous of your daily Osprey. Also, it's "predominant." You were right.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is fun to see what's going on in your yard! I think yard birding is the best. New stuff happens all the time and you can really "know" your spot. My yard bunny seems to have abandoned me. I assume he/she is off finding another bunny, it is spring afterall. I have been religiously keeping my yard list on ebird and proud to say I hit 31 for the month. Added YR Warbler and BT Pigeons today. Of course I count EVERTHING for that list...including flyovers. I vote for more yard bird posts personally :)

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  5. If I heard it I count it! Its too early to get bummed out so I'm skipping the hunting video but sure enjoyed your Dandy chicken vid...he is a beauty and ALL your yard birds there's a few there I'm jealous over the CB Chicka, the GC Sparrows, just to mention a couple. YEA on the Chipper too! IF you can catch One eyed Willie, I'll tell ya how to cure his eye disease before he loses all his sight! Sneak up on his blind side creep like a ninja and grab him whilst he eats. I used to get tons of H.Finches with conjunctivitis...lately I haven't seen any *knock on good wood.*

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