House Wren

I have had this Wren house hanging in my yard for about 4 summers now and it has never been used. I've seen a few birds checking it out (Chickadees, House Sparrows) but after investigating it, they move on. One day, I actually had this House Wren show up and spend some time in it. It was a first-sighting for me and I was thrilled with the idea of him/her finally noticing this nice house and raising a family. No such luck, he moved on and found a better place, I guess :(

House Sparrows in the bird house!

 On this cold morning in early April, I noticed this male House Sparrow really checking out this bird house that's been hanging in my yard for several years. It has never been used. Birds check it out every now and again but always decline it in the end. 

 End of April and things are getting serious. Male comes around some more and seems like he really likes the place.

Then he decides it's time to show the Mrs. and see what she thinks.

 She likes it and wastes no time getting it cleaned out. Things are looking very hopeful that they are going to raise a family here and I'm excited to witness it. Was hoping for Chickadees bit this will do.

Then I have a slight panic attack! I realized the bird house has been hanging by plastic wire-ties for a couple of years and I had visions of it failing from brittleness with the weight of those little baby birds inside. I must intervene and I could do it when Mr and Mrs aren't looking. I climb the tree and realize my theory was correct, the plastic ties snapped apart with little to no effort. I notice they had imbedded themselves into the branch of the tree from being there so long. This was keeping the house from swinging too much. I had to remedy that since it is no good for the tree branch to be strangled so I placed the new ties much looser. The house swings a bit more but surely Mr and Mrs won't notice or mind. I watch and wait....Mr and Mrs come back a few more times and I think they notice something is not the same and they don't like it. And they never came back again..... :( 

American Goldfinch!

I don't get these beauties in my yard very often but when I do, it's always a pleasure! I'll have to look back in my archives but I feel like this is the yellow-est one I've seen! They are like a little piece of sunshine on a cloudy day! I hope I see more of him this spring!

Eurasian Collared Dove!

At first glance I thought these were the Mourning Doves that visit my yard from time to time, but then I noticed the collar! First time I've had a pair of these visit my yard. They just stayed for a little while and enjoyed some seed under the feeder :)

Mountain Bluebirds!

What an exciting "first time" sighting for me! A lucky catch, too! A spring snowstorm moved through and with it usually comes lots of activity at the feeder. Now the feeder is in my backyard so that's where I see 99% of the birds I photograph. However, I just happened to glance out my front window and I noticed a whole bunch of Robins in the street and in my neighbor's driveway. I didn't look too hard as I was heading upstairs but I just happened to mention to my husband to look out the window at all the Robins...we both looked and I shouted "Is that a blue bird with them?!" Then we both noticed there was more than one. As quickly as I could, I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera and was able to get a few shots before a trash truck came barreling around the corner and away they all flew. I watched all day and they never came back :(  I would guess there was probably 10 or so Robins and 8 Mountain Bluebirds (4 males, 4 females).

A Nice Variety Of Springtime Visitors!

Common Grackle

European Starling!

Mourning Doves on my Fence!

American Robin at the bird bath!

I just love when Spring arrives and brings with it all sorts of lively bird activity! I notice the birds starting to pair up and investigate potential nesting sites, migrant birds stop in briefly for a snack and a drink of water as the pass through town, and all kinds of singing and chattering goes on almost non-stop! Love it!

American Tree Sparrow!

American Tree Sparrow

   After a long slow winter for birds in my backyard, I had two brand new sightings for me this spring. The first one was a brief visit by a Townsend's Solitare that I unfortunately didn't get a photo of. The next first sighting was this American Tree Sparrow! He stayed around for 2 days and loved the Nyjer feeder. I suspect he was just passing through on his way up to his summer breeding grounds in the Tundra!

New Hummer-friendly Purchases!

In another last-ditch attempt to get even a single Hummer into my yard for longer that 3 seconds, I headed to the local nursery to 'finally' get some hummer-friendly plants. I was going to wait until spring since my planter isn't ready yet, but I bought a few perennials that I need to get into the ground before too long. I've been browsing on a Hummingbird Forum and discovered there's a wealth of knowledge there about Hummingbird gardening!
Here's what I came home with for starters:

And just because I couldn't resist, I bought a third feeder with a slightly different look from the other two, hoping it will be accepted by those hummers once they get here:

The full set-up (minus the new feeder since I'm thinking of putting it in a separate location):
Watch this space...

Still trying for Hummers!

If you remember from my post last spring, I was on a mission to attract Hummers. I first put a feeder out in mid April to get them but had no luck so I finally took my feeder down early July. About two weeks ago my local bird store said the hummers were coming down from the mountains and being seen in record numbers. I put my feeder back up but this time I moved it to my front yard ( that faces west) by my Zinnias and petunias.   Well a few days later, I was in my backyard and a hummer showed up for about 2 seconds to investigate the red rim of my basketball hoop then headed toward my front yard. I quickly ran to look out my front window and the hummer was nowhere to be found and my feeder was swarming with bees. I did some research and found that hummers won't visit a feeder with all the bees so I decided to move the feeder farther away from the flowers while the bees weren't looking  to see if that would help and it didn't. Next day, I was in my backyard again and once more a hummer flew near a colorful umbrella I have very close to the basketball hoop. I also have a pot with some zinnias there too but only a few. Once again, the visit was so brief like 5 seconds or less. So, I decided to go to the bird feeding store and buy a new hummer feeder that is less attractive to bees...

I moved it to the backyard near the location the hummer has been visiting. I made a fresh new batch of sugar water, hung the feeder and waited. On the fourth day, a hummer came right up to the feeder and hovered above it for about 3 seconds ( not drinking from it) and flew away. The next morning, I changed to sugar water thinking 4 days may have been too long but the hummer has not been seen again and that was 3 days ago. Here is a photo of the current location of the feeder now in my backyard where he has been spotted...

American Robin with Cherries!

I have a Nanking Cherry shrub in my yard and this year it was loaded with cherries. We picked a bunch to eat (very sour!) and left the rest for the birds!

The Chickadees Have Fledged!

Within a day or two of leaving the nest at the beginning of June, the whole family showed up to my feeders for food! I didn't realize baby Chickadees look just like adult Chickadees until I saw them together. They sure make their presence known when they come to the feeders with those demanding babies! I think there are 4 but it's hard to count these fast-moving critters!!

Black-capped Chickadees Building a Nest!

My neighbor has had this birdhouse hanging in their tree for a few years and this spring the Chickadees have decided to use it! I really enjoyed watching them bringing nesting material and getting it all ready! I wish I could see the entrance from my yard but this will have to do!

I'm on a mission...

...to attract hummingbirds to my yard!

I hung this feeder in mid April to try and get the migrating ones on their way up to the mountains just West of me but no such luck and now it's June.  I hear they will start heading down from the mountains to my area again in August so I will try again. We are doing some landscaping in our front yard and I'm hoping to plant some Hummingbird-friendly plants there, soon!

Hawks!

This, I'm taking a guess and calling it a Red-tailed Hawk (please correct me if I'm wrong), was flying over my house when I was returning from a walk.

It appears the Cooper's Hawks are nesting in the same spot as last year. Their nest didn't last through the winter so they had to build a new one! I'm keeping my distance from them this year so this will likely be the only photos I post :)