A Demanding Face -Bushtit

Bushtits usually come over to my backyard in a large flock of 15-20 during the winter months; in summer I rarely see them.   This month, however,  I saw them in a small flock of 5-7 with young ones.

                               Bushtit left:  "Yum, yum, yum."
                               Bushtit right: "Give me some, brother!"


I wish you a happy growing up season!

Diligence Pays Off - Heron and Eagle

A summer morning can be very pretty, especially when clouds scattered here and there at the dawn. 

But the day when we returned to the nearby wetland, it was cloudy all morning.   Don't you ever get discouraged with the sky condition, because you never know what birds you may encounter out there.

A Great Blue Heron waiting for us with its reflection on the calm pond

A Green Heron crossed our view.

A Bald Eagle perched on a dead tree.

Then it took off ...

 to higher...

Higher towards the tall tree where it always hangs around, often taking a nap on the branch.


See, you can have the unexpected, but exciting scenes waiting for you.  There are benefits for being diligent in whatever you pursue, be it a job or a hobby.

Vesper Sparrow - Another Summer Bird

Early in the morning, up in the still dark sky, the Venus was shining bright.

Down below, the dawn was approaching.

One or two birds, already awake, made short trills,  announcing the beautiful day.


Later in the morning I found one bird on one of the seed feeders.  As I came closer, it did not fly away and instead was enjoying the morning sunshine.

This is Vesper Sparrow,  a summer bird around here.  It looks like a House Sparrow, but if you look closer, you will find it has white eye ring, white outer tail feathers, and dark ear patch .  This looks like a young one with soft feathers showing.

The sunshine is cozy early in the summer morning.  Having the wings spread to clean out the feathers.

In the evening, I found the first red tomatoes half hidden in the vines.   And green beans, and the last batch of blueberries.

A Super Vision

Out in my veggie patch, I have many zucchinis like many other gardeners.  Zucchinis are one of the easiest veggies to grow around here with only a lot of sun and water. 

A zucchini flower

Also, I started digging and found a few large potatoes. Using those fresh organic potatoes, I made a delicious potato salad.    


Birds like to visit my veggie garden to eat a bit of this or that such as soft leaves of Chinese peas, leaves of Sunflower, and so on.  One day, my Chinese painting teacher told me birds can tell the shape differences of leaves very easily to guide their flight. 

Today  I found a very interesting short article on a National Wildlife Federation's magazine regarding the birds' vision.

The summary of the article is as below:

1)  Bird's eyes have one more receptor for color vision, whereas human's only have three for red, green and blue.    This extra receptor enables birds to see the UV light.

2)  Birds have a tiny drop of colored oil in each receptor, whereas humans have none of it.   This enables birds to see the differences between two similar colors when humans can not.

Because of these above differences, scenes may appear more detailed and brighter for the birds.

Wow!!  No wonder they are always ahead of me when I am trying to find them.  They know exactly where and what I am doing.

A Scrub Jay was looking far beyond from the tree top with that super vision.

Then, seeing me down on the ground, it decided to come right down to get more peanuts.  

Spreading the wings

On the way, it is now like a bullet.

"I can see you very clear up on the tree top."

Even on the ground, he/she can find a bug hidden in the lawn.

" Look at this I just got."

Now I'm convinced that birds have a super vision.

The Friendliest Bird in Town - Who?

The sunflower, a flower representing the summer, began to bloom.  The bee is buzzing, collecting the sunflower nectar.

The dragonfly appeared, inspecting my veggie garden with those rolling eyeballs.

Who is the friendliest bird around here?

House Sparrow:  "Can be me?  I'm here everyday."

 

House Sparrow, Female, "It has to be me!  I'm friendly and can say hello to the backyard owner."

 

Scrub Jay:  "I'm the one who's been hanging around this backyard for the longest.  I'm the boss of this place."

Black-capped Chickadee:  "I chirp around here all the time and fly over the head of the backyard owner."

American Robin:  I'm the friendliest for sure because I fly in and use the birdbath all the time during the summer."

Who could it be?

The backyard owner:  "So hard to decide who's the friendliest around here.  But when it comes to not fearing much, I can say the Red-breasted Nuthatch is.  He/she comes to the feeder even when I am near and keeps eating, saying "chi, chi, chi" to me. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch:  "I was talking and eating right next to the backyard owner the other day.  Can anyone else do that?  I AM THE FRIENDLIEST BIRD."

Rufous Hummingbird

Lately Roufous Hummingbirds are back.  Probably this male has returned from the northern area (from Alaska?). 

 I have seen him a few times this month.

On the clothesline, he is stretching and cleaning the feathers.

Then, a regular resident hummer, Anna's, spotted him.


"Hey, you.  This is my territory.  Get out of here," screamed the Anna's.

Bang !@#! 

Since then, I have not seen him much.  I wish they could live here in harmony.  There are enough flowers and feeders...


A female Roufous Hummingbird still makes a quick visit in my backyard despite the scrutining eyes of the Anna's. 

She is such a little cutie. 

She will get ready for returning to the south sometime in September, whereas a male leaves earlier.

Since the 4th of July, we are enjoying the sunny, hot days.  Thanks to the high temperature, raspberries are ripening quickly.  I've got a lot of them for jam making this weekend.

A Mountain Park

The nice weather is still around us.  Yesterday we got up early and arrived at the nearby mountain park at 7:30 am.  Already some people are jogging, and walking with a camera.  We've lived in the area for more a couple of decades, but before retiring we had no extra time to meander into such a park.

As we began walking on the trail, pretty soon I spotted a rodent digging up dirt in the early morning sun. 

On the winding trail, one wild rabbit was hopping into my way.

A White-breasted Nuthatch was working on her cavity nest on the dead tree.
This one does not have the black line around the eye or the reddish front as the Red-breasted Nuthatch does.

A Western Wood-Pewee was on a branch there.  I have seen only once in my backyard.

After an hour's walk in the woods,  we were now headed back on the trail.  Abruptly in front of us, a large flock of Lesser Goldfinches flew in and landed in the bushy area for their breakfast.  Some were on the trail pecking the seeds scattered there.

Their favorite meal for this season must be these seeds.

After the breakfast, he/she had time to clean the feathers in the sunny spot.

Certainly, be it birds or humans, we all enjoyed the invigorating summer morning.

A Nature Park

Our weather has finally stabilized for this summer.   Since the weather was nice, we took off to the nature park we've been before.  This time, we got there earlier.   Some people were already biking on the trail, others jogging, and so on.

As we walked up the uphill trail in the early morning cool temperature, we bumped into a young deer eating right in front of us on the trail.

"Good Morning.  I'm not afraid of people here."

 After eating the weeds for a while and letting me take a few photos, she/he disappeared into the grass.

On the other side of the trail, a young Song Sparrow was checking on us.

In the shade, I saw a young one with its mom.

The highlight of today's trip was after I returned home.

Male Lazuli Bunting

 After all the photos taken were downloaded onto the computer screen, I discovered I had a photo of a male Lazuli Bunting with its bright turquoise blue head.  It is a summer bird in Oregon and likes to hang around in shrub lands, eating insects and seeds.

While the weather is nice with a clear sky, I should explore other nature parks in the area.

Revisit to the Wetland

In the U.S. the 4th of July is the Independence Day.   People celebrate the day with parades and fireworks.   Many people take a few extra days off to go out for camping at the coast or in the mountains.

My backyard garden is getting Chinese peas, blueberries, raspberries, and lavenders. The sunflower is forming a bud, while small green tomatoes are hanging from the plants.

This morning we went to a nearby wetland after a month.  The sky was blue and birds were chirping all around.  Many Cedar Waxwings were flying around catching morning bugs and eating berries.

Dancing on the thistle

On the pond, Killdeers were walking on the shoreline getting their breakfast, too.

"I don't like to be looked at."

Many young ones are now getting food themselves.

According to the weather forecast, this week will be hot everyday.  Yeah!!  I need it for my veggies to grow.

American Kestrel

One morning on a tall fir tree I saw a new bird:  American Kestrel .

A female American Kestrel

At a local bird society, I have once seen a couple of them close-up in a cage.  They looked very pretty.  Smallest and most common of our falcons (10-12"). 

They have two vertical black stripes on their face.  They bob their tails up and down after landing on perches.  Their foods are insects, small mammals, birds, and reptiles.  Since they like grasshoppers, they are often called Grasshopper Hawk.