Young Animals and Catfood Visitors

A lot of finches have been hanging around the yard, eating the grass seeds that have come up.  Below is a male house finch.

House Finch

We usually don't see very many mourning doves around, but one day there were quite a few sitting on the telephone line, and more just kept coming.  It was nice to see so many, though I don't know what made them all suddenly get together.  Below are twelve of the mourning doves.

Mourning Doves

Every once in a while I'll see or hear a hooded oriole.  Their song is strange and warbling, and sometimes sounds like a mockingbird.  Hooded orioles will sometimes mimic other birds, similar to mockingbirds.  Below is a young hooded oriole (notice the pale edges on the beak).

Hooded Oriole

There are many young lizards around; mostly western fence lizards.  The young ones are very tiny.  Including the tail, many of them are about the length my finger.  Below is one of the young western fence lizards.

Western Fence Lizard

There are two or three young western scrub-jays hanging around.  They eat a lot of the catfood.  Below are two photos of them (notice the brown or dull-colored heads).

Western Scrub-Jay

Western Scrub-Jay

There is a young California towhee that often visits the catfood bowls with its parent.  Despite all of the catfood lying around in front of it, it still waits to be fed.  The parent will take a large piece of catfood out of the bowl, then break it with its beak.  It will then pick up each piece of broken catfood and hand them to the baby one by one.  Below are two photos of them.  The parent is on the right in both photos.

California Towhees

California Towhees

The striped skunks still visit the catfood bowls every day.  The mother skunk doesn't visit very often, but the two young ones always come.  We always know when they're around because they make a loud clatter with bowls when they eat.  We think they might be living in a concrete tube in our yard.  Below are three photos of the skunks.

Striped Skunk

Striped Skunk

Striped Skunks

The Eurasian collared-doves still visit the catfood.  They've figured out how to balance and keep the bowl from rolling and swinging around.  They often come in a pair.  Below are two photos of the two doves at the food bowls.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove