Most of the summer birds - the grosbeaks, tanagers, and orioles - are still here, and come down to the water from time to time. Below are three photos. The first is a female Black-headed Grosbeak. The second is of the same grosbeak, along with a female House Finch, both a male and a female Hooded Oriole, and a female House Sparrow. The third photo is of a female Western Tanager (which looks very similar to a female oriole, but is stockier with a thicker yellowish bill, shorter tail, and darker wings) and a California Towhee.
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| Black-headed Grosbeak |
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| Black-headed Grosbeak, House Finch, Hooded Orioles, and House Sparrow |
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| Western Tanager and California Towhee |
Little warblers have been visiting the water as well. Most often it's an Orange-crowned Warbler, but once or twice I've seen a Yellow Warbler taking a drink there. Below are three photos. The first is of an Orange-crowned Warbler and a California Towhee, and the second two are of the same Orange-crowned Warbler bathing and showing off its bright orange crown.
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| California Towhee and Orange-crowned Warbler |
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| Orange-crowned Warbler |
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| Orange-crowned Warbler |
As I mentioned in my last post, a few winter birds have arrived very, very early. On Saturday, I spotted another new migrant in my yard, the Black-throated Gray Warbler. I've never seen them in my yard before, and I haven't seen them anywhere this early before. Like most of the birds in my yard, it came down to take a drink, though it didn't stay long. A couple of Mountain Chickadees also came by, though they didn't stay long enough for a photo. Although the chickadees don't migrate, I don't usually see them except in the winter. I'm still not sure why these birds have come here so early. Below are two photos of the Black-throated Gray Warbler in the jacaranda tree.
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| Black-throated Gray Warbler |
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| Black-throated Gray Warbler |
I also saw a couple of little flycatchers on Saturday, the Pacific-Slope Flycatcher and the Western Wood-Pewee. Because of their similar size and shape, they can be confused at a distance or in bad lighting. In good lighting, the Pacific-Slope Flycatcher is clearly very yellow, while the Western Wood-Pewee is grayish-brown (it does have a small bit of yellowish-gray on its belly). Below are two photos. The first is the Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and the second is the Western Wood-Pewee.
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| Pacific-Slope Flycatcher |
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| Western Wood-Pewee |
On Thursday, I was doing my homework and looked up to see an adult Cooper's Hawk standing in the middle of the yard. It was just standing in the grass, looking around. Then it raised its wings a couple of times, as if warding off anything that might be nearby. It ran to one of the clay water dishes, took a drink, and sat in the water. It stayed for quite a few minutes before taking off. However, it must have been weighed down by water or maybe it was difficult to take off from the ground, since it didn't quite make it over a bush and sort of fell into it. After it righted itself and sat for a minute or two, it flew away. Below are six photos of the Cooper's Hawk. The second and third are of it raising its wings, the fifth is it sitting in the water, and the sixth is the hawk when it fell into the bush.
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
On Saturday, a juvenile Cooper's Hawk came by. It was trying to hunt, and flew from perch to perch trying to find a way to get to a group of House Sparrows hiding in a bush. It was clearly very unexperienced, as it tried to jump into the bush and climb in after the birds. The hawk was way too big to fit into the dense bush, and so it fell out onto the ground. It tried a second time with the same result, then sat in an orange tree for a while before finally flying away. Below are three photos of the hawk. In the first, the hawk is sitting on a birdbath, in the second, it's on our roof, and in the third, it's in the orange tree (its bill is open because it was panting; it was very hot on Saturday).
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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