12 June 2015 - Yard birds

Nope, I'm not regressing to 60s rock and roll with the Yardbirds' Heart Full of Soul or For Your Love. I'm talking about birds in my yard. I often go out looking for birds, but I have quite a collection around the house, and all I have to do is look outside. Timing is everything. Something will flit through the yard and be gone in a blink. It pretty much means my eyes are glued to the windows and I scan the trees from every window I pass as I walk through or around the house. 

So what is on my daily tour? These are my current birds, no winter birds or migrants in this batch. In no particular order of preference:

Quite a number of House Finches. Here's a male in full breeding coloration. 

House Finch with yellow color variation

  Lazuli Bunting

Cassin's Finch

 Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-headed Grosbeak female

Evening Grosbeak

 Western Tanager

Song Sparrow

Pine Siskin

Spotted Towhee

Red-breasted Nuthatch (yes, he is walking headfirst down a trunk)

Steller's Jay

Western Scrub Jay

Downy Woodpecker

Eurasian Collared Dove

Mourning Dove

European Starling

Robin

Magpie

Lesser Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

Black-chinned Hummingbird

 Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Mountain Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee

Northern Flickers

Hairy Woodpecker

California Quail

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Cedar Waxwing

Sharp-shinned Hawk

This is such a great time of year. Some babies are fledging and other birds are just starting to build nests. The air is filled with males singing their territory and there are territory fights as well. Always something interesting to see. You just have to look.