Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Fall/Winter Birds are Back

The migrants are showing up early and in good numbers this year. Earlier this month, the Yellow-rumped warblers, Western Bluebirds, White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos made their first appearance here on our property. Just yesterday there were even a couple of Pine Siskins hanging out with the Lesser Goldfinches, imbibing on the niger seeds in the finch sock. 


10/30/10 Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus).

10/30/10 Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus) lower left; Lesser Goldfinches above (Carduelis psaltria). The Siskin is heavily streaked, whereas the Goldfinches are not - but looks aside, they do flock together.

10/29/10 White Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

10/24/10 First winter White Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), with the tell-tale chestnut & gray crown stripes (vs. white & black on the adults).

10/24/10 Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis).

10/24/10 California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis).

10/29/10 Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana).

10/31/10 California Quail (Callipepla californica).

10/24/10 Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata). 

10/31/10 Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) with the rose-red throat & crown, hanging out with Black-Chinned Hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri).

And I have to end this post with these sunrise shots taken early Friday morning (6:45am Oct. 29th) from outside the kitchen door. Makes getting up at the crack of dawn worth the while. 

10/29/10
10/29/10

10/29/10

8 comments:

  1. Western bluebirds? I'm soooo jealous! We are up to our elbows in Anna's hummers at the moment, but honestly, I haven't looked closely enough to see if we have any new arrivals recently. I can't believe that sunrise, it's gorgeous!

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  2. Make that two green-eyed monsters. The Western Bluebirds aren't visiting my western garden. And the junco looks like a character.

    I love that final shot. So moody, lovely.

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  3. Clare, we didn't have any Western bluebirds last year, so this is a real treat. In the spring of 2007, we had another gorgeous species of bluish hue, Lazuli Buntings, in large numbers at our feeders (up to 15 at a time). That was quite a spectacle, but unfortunately, I haven't seen any since.

    Altadenahiker, Juncos are little characters indeed. The girls have softer colors than the boys, but they're all cheeky cute. I love seeing them make their appearance with the white-crowned sparrows, as they signal fall-winter here in SoCal.

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  4. You get bluebirds? You get quail? Lucky, lucky you!

    Also, your photos are lovely. I'm really good at photographing the branch just vacated by the warblers.

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  5. Lisa, we do feel very, very fortunate to have such cool birds in our neighborhood. There's a covey of quail from a nearby chaparral stand that trek out to our bird feeder several times a day to pick off whatever birdseed has scattered on the ground. Better than watching the tellie.

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  6. Just discovered your blog--super cool. Add me to the list of people jealous of your bluebirds and quail! Up here in NorCal I too mark the beginning of winter when the sparrows and juncos return. I so love the sort of melancholy-sounding call of the gold-crowned sparrows. And, that shot of the hummingbirds gathered for dinner is amazing! Looks like one dude and three ladies--kind of the Big Love of the hummingbird world, if you've ever seen that show.

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  7. Wow you've got some beauties there. We have waxwings that have flown over from Norway and Sweden to spend the winter here.

    That was some amazing sunrise you captured :)

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  8. Jess, I also enjoyed happening on your blog. We don't get golden-crowned sparrows down in our neck of the woods, but I've seen them up in San Luis Obispo County on a birding trip to Morro Bay a couple winters ago. I'm not one of those crazy, diehard birders, but it was a real treat to add these guys to my "life list." Big Love of hummingbirds? Hah! What a thought, and very apropos!

    Rosie, waxwings? How very cool! I know Cedar Waxwings flock through Southern California, but I haven't yet seen them in our area. Hoping that some of our Elderberries and other fruiting natives will eventually attract them.

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