Category Archives: Birds

My first clue was the song. I hadn’t heard it before and I couldn’t see any new birds around, but I could hear them (probably two, at least) flitting around in the trees off the back yard. The Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID app (which is wonderful, highly recommended if this is your thing) now has a “Sound ID” feature which is fantastic. Whipping it out, it immediately ID the song as a Cassin’s Kingbird. A photo showed it to be bigger than the juncos and house finches, smaller (maybe) than a mockingbird, with a yellow breast.

An hour or so later, out in the front yard, I heard the song again and saw these guys.

Mockingbird-sized, yellow breasts, same odd song.

Bingo, a Cassin’s Kingbird. Actually, a pair. The yellow breast can be seen easily, despite the lousy, cloudy lighting.

Different body shape than the mockingbirds, smaller tail.

The beak is short and pointed, almost like a woodpecker’s.

And their song is quite distinct and interesting.

So, another new bird friend for the neighborhood. Hooray!!

Some comings and goings over Friday and Saturday evenings had me wondering. The good news is that I’m seeing an influx of hummingbirds.

In the past we’ve once seen a hummingbird nest out where I could see it. Normally they’re off in the hedges and since they’re very small, they’re very hard to find. But while looking at the bougainvellea over by that side of the house, I noticed a lot of hummingbird activity where there isn’t a feeder.

So this morning I went out to take a look, and there’s something in there in the vines behind this drain pipe. Could it be another hummingbird nest?

It’s really hard to see through the vine leaves, so I took another half step closer to get this picture…

…and in seconds I had at least two hummingbirds buzzing my head like a couple of F-18’s driving off a Russian destroyer that gets too close to their aircraft carrier.

Hmmm. I’m thinking that’s a confirmation that there’s a hummingbird next in their. Since I’m not willing to have an angry, energetic, viscious humminbird impaled in my ear like an errant lawn dart, we’re not going to do anything further to confirm that and just take it as a given.

Maybe I’ll put up another feeder over there as a peace offering.

So, when last we left our plucky hero, we had been dealing with a small, fluffy, quick little bird with a long tail that NEVER sat still long enough to get a decent picture. The fuzzy pictures and the birdsong positively ID’d it as a Bewick’s Wren (pronounced “Buick”). I finally got one to sit still and get some pictures. Although it did seem more brown than grey…

THEN there were a couple of very large birds hanging onto the hummingbird feeder, which ID’d as hooded orioles. VERY cool!

But while the orioles were decimating the hummingbird nectar (I didn’t think that was possible – surprise!) there was another larger bird hopping around on the vines on the back porch. It was just a foot or two away from the orioles, but obviously not an oriole. Not anything like the same color.

I didn’t recognize it at all, primarily due to its size. I’m thinking it’s some kind of mockingbird, maybe a juvenile?

It’s slightly smaller than a full-grown mockingbird, about the same size as a towhee.

What should have given it away is the tail. Long, thin, with those horizontal stripes.

Also the way he was hopping all over the place, pecking at ants on the vines. He never sat still for more than a couple seconds, but he was close to where I was standing in the house and he never flew off either.

Lots of great photos to feed into Cornell ‘s Merlin Bird ID app. And no matter which one I look at, the answer’s always the same. This is another Bewick’s wren.

What I do *NOT* understand is how this one is so much bigger and different looking that the tiny little fuzzballs that I’ve been seeing for over two years. They’re barely bigger than hummingbirds, while this one is three or four times that size.

Are the little ones juveniles and this guy (and probably the one from yesterday’s pictures) are adults?

Questions that are above my pay grade on the ornothology front. But now I know that there might well be two different groups of Bewick’s wrens, even if I don’t know why they’re different.

I’ll keep trying to catch pictures of the quick, little ones. I need more data!

There’s another bird that I’ve seen around for about three years, but it’s been VERY hard to photograph. I’ve gotten a couple of odd, fuzzy, small photos, and I’ve ID’ed it from its birdsong using the Cornell Ornithology Lap app. But they’re tiny, quick, they never sit around for long, and so far while I’ve seen them plenty and heard them plenty more, I had only gotten one halfway decent photo.

It’s a Bewick’s Wren (pronounced “Buick,” like the car) and they’re tiny-ish little fuzzballs with long tails. Bigger than hummingbirds (but not by much) with that long, thin tail, but much smaller than mockingbirds or towhees.

Even when I would see one sitting still instead of constantly moving and hopping about, they were always well up into the trees, tough to spot embedded in the foliage.

About a month ago I finally got one to sit still, out where I could see it, and then stay there long enough for me to take a series of pictures.

Notice the shape of the bill and that long, thin tail.

The tail is also zebra striped.

Their call is very distinctive. Actually they have several distinctive calls, which was also confusing when trying to ID them.

There’s a white stripe above the eyes.

If it looks like he’s pecking at the branch, almost like a woodpecker might, you’re right. They eat lots of small bugs and ants.

Finally, some decent pictures of the Bewick’s Wrens!

But wait – there’s more to the story…

Last week I saw a large, bright yellow bird trying to do a “carrier landing” on the hummingbird feeder. My assumption was that it might be a yellow-headed blackbird, since that’s the only large, bright yellow bird I’ve ever seen around here.

Wrong.

Yes, it’s bright yellow with some black highlights on the wings.

At first there were two of them, fighting over the feeder. I was amazed and figured they would both fly away as soon as I went near the window.

Nope, they were too busy fighting. Two males? A male and female? I don’t know, they were too backlit at first to see details, but the body shape was definitely new, not something I had seen before around here.

Amazingly, after the one flew off, the other completely ignored me, which gave me time to grab the good camera and move right up to the window with it. And yep, he was cleaning out the hummingbird feeder.

Well, that explains why Little Bastard has been in such a bitchy mood. Aside from the feeders being empty, while he’s a bully when it comes time to scare off other hummingbirds, this dude’s about ten times his size and just ignores him.

This dude hung out for several minutes, up close and personal, so there are lots of pictures to plug into the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell University. (Highly recommended!)

It’s a Hooded Oriole. Yes, YOU! Busted.

What a gorgeous bird! What a great sighting on a day that had it’s share of shit coming in from left field! Thanks, bird dude!