pt. 2

Adding tags for March 30 to April 5.  On one or two days, it was hard to tell whether the blackbird shaped bird I was seeing was the redwing or the cowbird, because of the light conditions.  Other days it was clear. 

October 22

There was a little finch on our seed feeder, basically house finch, but the wrong colour.  I know what we typically get are house finches, which are a brighter, redder colour.  This was more, berry, or purple, and the amount of colour all over it, I really think it was a purple finch, which is possible in our area.  It's also possible I've seen them and called them house finches before, the colour can vary, but I'm more sure this time.

Common birds: chickadee, downy woodpecker (pair), cardinal (male), blue jay, starling, house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, red-tailed hawk (perched, twice)

Fall visitors: white throated sparrow (1+), ruby crowned kinglet (ID? likely), golden crowned kinglet (2), common flicker, purple finch (ID?)

October 19

It looks like the juncos are coming back.  Also, we were out a few minutes drive away, and saw a large group of turkey vultures flying over.  I couldn't count them, but I guess at 30+.

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, cardinal (male), robin, downy woodpecker (female), red-breasted nuthatch

Fall visitors: white-breasted nuthatch, white throated sparrow (1), golden crowned kinglet, junco

October 18

Common birds: turkey vulture (2), chickadee (3+), house sparrow, cardinal (pair), blue jay, robin

Fall visitors: golden crowned kinglet (2+)

October 17

We don't often see the white-breasted nuthatch, but it was around today. 

Common birds: chickadee (3+), house sparrow, goldfinch (1-3?), house finch (female)

Fall visitors: white-breasted nuthatch, white throated sparrow, golden crowned kinglet, ruby crowned kinglet

October 12

Common birds: chickadee, cardinal, house sparrow, hawk (red-tailed? flying), goldfinch, downy woodpecker

Fall visitors: golden crowned kinglet, white throated sparrow, thrush (ID? see Oct. 10.)

October 11

Common birds: chickadee (2), house sparrow

Fall visitors: brown creeper, white throated sparrow (2), golden crowned kinglet (2)

October 9

Common birds: chickadee (3+), goldfinch, house sparrow, mourning dove, downy woodpecker (male), red-breasted nuthatch, turkey vulture (19+), cardinal (pair), Canada goose

Fall visitors: white throated sparrow, golden crowned kinglet, brown creeper

Not sure: I saw the/a small bird of prey, actually two of them, perched and flying.  I'm still wondering what this is, if it's a merlin, or a peregrine falcon, or if I am seeing both on different days. I wrote merlin? in my notes. 

There were a number of turkey vultures.  Some were flying quite low over the garden.  I counted 19, there may have been more. 

April 13

Common birds: starling, grackle, cardinal (pair), red-wing blackbird, robin, chickadee

Spring visitors: junco, white throated sparrow, brown creeper, golden crowned kinglet, thrush (veery?), chipping sparrow (?)

October 24 / the junco

I've thought I might have seen them, maybe, a few times since the weather started cooling down, but decided it was probably not, more likely the chickadees, and may well have been.  Today, I saw one - a junco.  They return when the weather cools, leaving for more northern areas in the spring.  They're pretty birds, but it means the colder weather really is here. 

Common birds: downy woodpecker, cardinal (male), chickadee, house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, robin

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, junco

October 21 / the hide and seek

I have a 'maybe' bird today - it may have been a brown creeper.  It was in one of the spruce trees, up and down the trunk, but it was hidden enough that I can't confirm this, it could easily have been the woodpecker, which I know I also saw. 

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker (male), cardinal (pair), goldfinch

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet

Overhead: gull

October 19 / the preserving

I decided to make something from the green tomatoes, before they spoiled entirely.  I picked them over, and even then had 4 pounds of usable fruit.  I made chutney with them, which I will be sharing with some friends or family, there's quite a bit of it.  I also wrapped a few whole green tomatoes in newspaper again, hoping to ripen them faster than they spoil. 

Not very many birds around, perhaps sheltering from the rainy weather.  

Common birds: house sparrow, cardinal (male)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet

the harvest / October 14

It's getting cooler, particularly at night, and I don't think the tomatoes are liking it.  They don't withstand frost well, and although we haven't had any frost warnings I've heard about, the leaves are withering, and some of the fruit has blemishes.  Today I picked the largest of the remaining fruits, I've left the smaller ones, hoping to give them a little more time on the vine, but might have to give in because the forecast later in the week is cooler again.  They can be ripened off the vine, so I hope I manage to save most of them. 

Also, there were a number of hawks high above today, I counted 9.  

Common birds: house sparrow, blue jay, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, starling, downy woodpecker (male), house finch (female)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, ruby crowned kinglet

Overhead: red-tailed hawk, gull

the heron / October 12

Looked out my window as a great blue heron flew over today. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, starling, house finch (male), blue jay, robin, cardinal (pair)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, red-wing blackbird

Overhead: great blue heron, gull

October 11 / the games

Watched a some soccer on TV, got some sewing done, and watched a few birds. 

Common birds: starling, cardinal (male), downy woodpecker, chickadee, blue jay, house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, robin

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, ruby-crowned kinglet

Overhead: gull

the vireo / October 8

A few birds today, including one I haven't identified yet, though I think it was a vireo of some sort.  It was small, with a cream belly, grey head, olive back/yellow-olive sides, thin black eye bars with a white bar between, lower beak lighter (grey) than upper (black).

Common birds: downy woodpecker, chickadee, house sparrow

Fall visitors: ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet

Uncertain: vireo?

October 1 / the kinglets

The nuthatches, and there were at least two, were happy that I put more seed in the feeder today.  There were also at least two golden-crowned kinglets in the spruce trees this afternoon. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker (female), chickadee, starling

Fall visitors: yellow-bellied sapsucker, golden-crowned kinglet

the sapsucker / September 25

Well the birds kept me busy today.  I've found that over the past few days, the late morning/lunchtime is the time I see the most activity in the garden.  It also seems the fall migration is underway, based on the variety of bird life. 

The flycatcher is still confusing.  I think it's the eastern phoebe, but it's hard to get a great look.  I did see whatever it is today.

I also had other surprises - one being the presence of one or more yellow bellied sapsuckers, actually in my neighbour's big trees, but visible from my garden.  The other was the little red-breasted nuthatch, which is not uncommon, but I was standing under 3 feet away from the suet feeder, when the nuthatch came to eat.  Although the nuthatch never sits still for long, it was there longer than I expected, I just stood still and watched.

There were a couple of hawks, they seemed small, but they may just have been high up.  It wasn't the kestrel, as that had sharp wings, so probably the red-tailed we often see here. 

Common birds:  house sparrow, cardinal (male), blue jay, grackle, starling, chickadee, robin, goldfinch (pair), downy woodpecker, mourning dove

Fall visitors: brown creeper, nashville warbler, yellow bellied sapsucker, flicker, black throated green warbler, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, white throated sparrow, eastern phoebe (?)

Overhead: gull, Canada goose, hawk(?)

Previous Years' Birds - April 2012

I thought it would be good to compare my daily notes this year with some of the notable birds I've seen in the past couple of years.  In 2011 & 2012, I was not taking notes daily, or of all the common birds, but of some of the uncommon and migrating ones.  I wrote notes about them into a little book at the time; and I will say that I may have misidentified some along the way.  I will share them month by month, since putting it all in one post would be very long.  Where possible, I'm including what I thought the bird could be at the time, and what it is more likely to have been, in cases where my ID was uncertain. 

April 2012

golden crowned kinglet
common flicker
rufous-sided towhee
savannah sparrows? (more likely song sparrows)
white throated sparrow
red-tailed hawk

Next 'previous years' post will include May 2011 & 2012.

Previously spotted...

It's only morning, so I haven't completed today's list, but I thought I would add a list of some of the birds I've seen already this spring, before beginning this journal.  I've omitted from this list the most common ones.

Over the winter, we get juncos, which summer further north, so they leave this area in early spring.

Since early April, and in no particular order, I've seen blue jays, goldfinches, chickadees, house finches, downy woodpecker, red tailed hawk.  These are not uncommon.

More seasonally, I've seen both golden crowned and ruby crowned kinglets, an ovenbird (mid May), a brown creeper, red breasted and white breasted nuthatches, baltimore oriole, white crowned sparrow, and what is most likely a least flycatcher (mid May) - though there are a couple of other flycatchers/phoebes that are similar. 

I also think I've seen a couple of warblers, but did not get a good enough look to be sure, or to tell what kind they might have been.  One was possibly a palm warbler, which I've seen in previous years, but the chipping sparrow has a similar chestnut cap on its head so without a better view of it, it's possible that's what I was seeing.