(05-19-2023, 10:06 AM)John Hardman Wrote: Hey Steve ~
Your 3 Jays look like a page out of my "BIRDS of North America" field guide! Great photos!
Here are a couple recent visitors to my backyard! Have not seen Grosbeaks in my yard
in a few years but I don't keep a feeder filled and out all day anymore either. A couple days ago
there were 2 Tanagers and 2 Grosbeaks on my neighbors feeder. What a splash of color that was!
~ SOB john
John, thank you for the kind comments. Actually, I think the photos of the Blue Jay and Scrub Jay are poor and marginal but they were taken that morning and fit the story. If only I could have caught both jays in the few seconds they were on the feeder tray together. I have many better photos of those species but that wouldn't honestly fit the story. Not every photo needs to be perfect to tell a story, although better photographers would disagree.
Most photos I post here are taken through double pane windows which harbor reflections, and the UV coating lends a cloudy character to the view. But shooting from inside gives me opportunities that couldn't otherwise be captured. Also, I greatly downsize the photo files which makes them less clear.
A few days later I got a better shot of the (Woodhouses's) Scrub Jay. Initially, two scrubbies arrived together which opened the possibility they might nest nearby. Now down to one, a probable female, and I expect her to leave before long.
On the hummingbird front, the number of Broad-tailed has increased dramatically in the past week. We have 13 feeders out now and the birds are consuming about 2 gallons of sugar water a day. Our neighbor has as many feeders and is probably feeding about as much juice. Figure about 1000 birds per gallon per day....
Prime time in the evening is when the birds furiously load up to survive the cold overnight hours. I use both 48 oz. and 30 oz. feeders. I've converted many of the 6 port 30 oz. feeders to 12 holes so that more birds can feed at one time. Sometimes, 16-20 birds will use a feeder, with some doubling up to feed from a single flower port.
An exciting new visitor at the feeders yesterday and this morning is this second year male Rose-breasted Grosbeak! It is the first one that I've ever seen in Peaceful Valley! Although, in ~2012, a tenant took good photos of one that stayed a few days.
Closely related to our western Black-headed Grosbeak, the Rose-breasted commonly breeds throughout central Canada, the northeastern US, and the Midwest. They will hybridize with Black-headed where their ranges overlap. Most are seen in CO as spring migrants but there are a handful of small breeding populations in foothills riparian areas. A few pair can be found around Lyons, like along the Old South Road.
Birds have wings and can show up most anywhere. I would be interested to know if anyone has seen Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in the area. --Steve
05-27-2023, 10:45 AM (This post was last modified: 05-27-2023, 07:10 PM by John Hardman.)
Hey Steve ~
I had a Rose Breasted Grosbeak hanging around my feeders a few years ago in JT.
Beautiful species! I thought I had a picture but can't put my finger on it right now.
There was a regular Blue Jay in JT the last couple years also, but have not seen it this year.
Thanks for sharing.
~ john
LOL Mr. Blue Jay must read the BB. He showed up at dinner time tonite!
John, if your Rose-breasted Grosbeak remained in JT for long, a pair might have bred there. The female can be very dificult to distinguish from the female Black-headed Grosbeak
The male Rose-breasted continues here today. The dippers continue nest building, and the Scrub Jay moved on last week.
Other visitors to the yard are Band-tailed Pigeons. It is the largest pigeon in the US. This is our native mountain pigeon which nests primarily in open ponderosa pine forests. I see them in the spruce-fir forest around the cabin more often now that I've cleared trees for fire mitigation. Band-tailed are lovely, elegant birds, but very skittish. The patch of iridescent green feathers in the nape are amazing to see.
This week, a male Western Tanager has been coming to a suet feeder. Years ago when tanagers were more numerous, several pairs would use my open-cup sugar water feeders. One year when there were a lot of miller moths, the Western Tanagers would come with their beaks full of moths and dip them in the sugar water before returning to their nests to feed the young.
06-01-2023, 04:05 PM (This post was last modified: 06-01-2023, 04:07 PM by John Hardman.)
Here are some of my Tanager shots. I have had a pair hanging around the yard.
The other evening, the male did a little "dance routine" displaying his prowess at
flaring out his wing and tail feathers. Mating ritual? Or just showing OFF
They are, and they have a beautiful, cheery song. I expect the tanagers are more common in the open Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir forests from JT through the Bar-k than in PV. The birds in my photos and in John's are both second year males, hatched last year. Next year they will have the full bright red head and throat.
(06-01-2023, 04:05 PM)John Hardman Wrote: Here are some of my Tanager shots. I have had a pair hanging around the yard.
The other evening, the male did a little "dance routine" displaying his prowess at
flaring out his wing and tail feathers. Mating ritual? Or just showing OFF
Probably showing off for a female. Most will likely begin nesting in the few weeks. Thanks for posting the photos, John. I'd sure like to have a pair nest here this year.
Hummingbird visits are heating up with several thousand visiting our flowers and feeders daily. The little meadow by the cabin is bursting in flowers and dancing with hummingbirds. The migrant Rufous have arrived on their southbound journey and mix with our breeding Broad-tailed. Rufous are more aggressive and attempt to dominate any scene. At this time we're seeing mostly adult males, some adult females, and a very few juvenile males.
There have been several adult male Calliope here, but I haven't spotted a female or juvie yet. Calliope are like miniature Broads-tailed, but with a very short bill and a very short tail. This gives them a rather pot-bellied appearance.
In another week we should begin seeing juvenile Broad-tailed visit feeders. They are the same size as adults and look like the adult females, but with some minor differences in throat spotting, flight feather shape, and visibly fresher feathers.
If you feed them, they will come. Keep your feeders clean and fresh every three to four days.
A week ago the few broad-tailed hummingbirds at my one feeder were consuming about a cup of sugar water every 2 days. Then neighbor Eric Flink left on a trip, his hummers migrated over to my feeder, and consumption quadrupled, keeping me busy satisfying these sugar addicts. Today a rufous has showed up to fend off all the broad-tails from the feeder, and consumption has dropped to near zero, since the rufous is too busy defending to eat himself. I can relax a while.
I had a good bird walk this morning around Jamestown with 22 species. Highlights include as many as 4 Lewis's Woodpeckers on 16th just above the school (family?), a Violet-green Swallow nest in tree above Gillespie Gulch, and trophy views of two Green-tailed Towhees just above the unnamed gulch above 59 Ward.
I’m just getting interested in the wild birds around me. I rarely can spot them but I use a sound identifier app called Merlin. Birds i’ve recorded in my backyard on lower Main include: american goldfinch, lesser goldfinch, azuli bunting, broad tail humming bird,crow, house finch, cordillian flycatcher, chickadee, flicker, and more.
I Saw pelicans, and heard killdeer, spotted sandpiper,eastern kingbird,goldfinch,eurasian ring neck dove at Lagerman Reservoir this morning.
