Yard Bird Species #57

We looked out our living room window this afternoon and saw a dark shape in the tree where we regularly see a variety of hawks and falcons. Too big to be a Merlin or Kestrel, I dismissed it as a small RTH. But then my hubby asked, "Do red-tails have dark cheek patches?" So out came the camera for an ID shot (and crappy ID shots, at that), and this was the result:

Well, hello there, Mr. Peregrine Falcon! Wasn't expecting this guy at all. Quite a nice addition to our yard bird list. :)

Bird boom

It seems like the spring & summer birds have arrived in droves as of last Wednesday. Now we've got our Orioles, hummers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks back. And the White-crowned Sparrows have taken over the yard. From a single bird on Wednesday, we've now got more than a dozen at any given time.

I haven't seen the little female hummer that showed up Thursday morning, but we've had a couple of males posturing with each other the past couple of days. They were even sitting about a foot away from each other in the lilac tree yesterday, without putting up a fuss. Very odd behavior, if you ask me. Haven't been able to get a decent shot of them yet, though. In the meantime, here are a few of my non-hummingbird yard bird photos from the weekend:

 White-crowned Sparrow

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow

I win!

Our first hummingbird of the year made an appearance this morning! A little female was working the two feeders in the backyard around 7:00 AM. Yay! :)

Colours of Spring

Man, our yard was a colourful - and busy - place tonight. At one point, we had a Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, Tree Swallows, a Barn Swallow, Bluebirds, Goldfinches, and House Finches, plus the usual suspects, like Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and five species of sparrows. This collection included three first-of-the-season arrivals: Oriole (soooo happy to see this guy), White-crowned Sparrow, and Savannah Sparrow. Now all we're missing is Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Hummingbirds. Today was Dave's day in the "When will we see our first hummer?" pool. It's getting dark, now, so I think it's safe to say he didn't win. My guess is tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. ;-) Anybody else have any Spring migrants moving through?

Blue is one of my favourite colours

Our first Eastern Bluebird of the year made an appearance tonight - a beautiful, bright male. He spent a very leisurely 10 or 15 minutes checking out our backyard, including the nesting boxes, clothesline, pond, and feeder holders. Hopefully he'll stick around - and bring a lady with him. :) Things could get interesting if they decide they want the same house the Tree Swallows seem to be thinking about claiming.

Last night at the dog park I got my first really good look at a Pileated Woodpecker. The ones I'd seen before were always in shadow or silhouette, but this one kept sticking his head around the tree into the sunlight. So pretty!

I need to start taking my camera to the dog park. An Osprey flew over a few times on Tuesday night, we've had a Meadowlark, some very loud cardinals... At the very least, we need to take binoculars, so we have a better chance of IDing some of the birds that don't come quite close enough to ID without help.

No hummingbirds yet, though we've got two feeders out for them. We do, however, have a ton of butterflies. Apparently there's a mass migration of Red Admirals going on, and yeah - they're everywhere. And they're so fast they keep fooling us into thinking it could be a hummer. Bah.

NOW it feels like Spring

Last night at the dog park, there was an Eastern Meadowlark up in a tree singing its little heart out for all to hear. Literally - it was LOUD. But so, so pretty.

This morning, I knew Spring was really here. Our Tree Swallows are back! A pair of them were hanging out on the clothesline this morning, which made me soooo happy.

Meadowlarks and Swallows are on my "To get GOOD pictures of this year" list. Here's hoping! :)

More spring arrivals

We had a brutal cold snap last week that I thought was going to kill all my plants - not so! They're still growing like crazy, and I think we're still going to have a really early spring blooming.

Our first Northern Flicker of the year showed up in our yard on Sunday, foraging for bugs where our yard meets the unplowed farm field.

I actually ended up putting out our oriole and hummingbird feeders last week, because the migration maps are showing them much farther North than they usually are this time of year. Since it's too early for most of the nectar-rich flowers to be out yet, feeders are essential to help early migrants survive. And just a few minutes ago I received a report of a hummingbird spotted in Guelph (which is about 20 - 25 minutes from us). I'll be putting out a second hummer feeder tonight, I think.