Fall Visitors
I spotted 9 species of birds in the back yard this afternoon:
Dark-eyed Junco
Stellar's Jay
Spotted Towhee
Black-capped Chickadee
Golden-crowned Sparrow (juvenile)
Fox Sparrow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
I spotted 9 species of birds in the back yard this afternoon:
Dark-eyed Junco
Stellar's Jay
Spotted Towhee
Black-capped Chickadee
Golden-crowned Sparrow (juvenile)
Fox Sparrow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Today a new sparrow type was identified. The "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrow likes to perch on the feeder and eat with little fear.
And then there was this fella:
The Stellars Jays are by far my most frequent visitors, hanging out on the ground on my feeder (often 4-6 at a time). I don't mind them as they're raucous and attractive, however, they're picky. They shovel away the millet in order to get to the black sunflower seeds, which means a lot of my seed is ending up on the ground.
So I decided to attempt to make a screen to trap some of the dumped seeds in order to reclaim them. I made a simple frame with some extra hemlock and a bit of screendoor mesh from a previous repair...
The spotted towhee was back again, as was the Northern Flicker which perched on our hottub cover. Also newly spotted: Red-breasted Nuthatch and a House Finch and a number of White-crowned Sparrows.
House Finch (red)
Red-breasted Nuthatch in our Butterfly bush
Northern Flicker visits again
I attached my iPhone to my bird feeder using a clamp and used the motion-sensing application "snaps" to capture the antics of the Stellars Jays that frequent my new feeder.