Bird Update
There is certainly a lot of healthy competition in our backyard these days! I am doing my best to keep up with our frequent guests, but it's HARD. I wish for a pair of binoculars almost every day! I think I'm going to start a life list here in my lj, to help keep tabs on who I've identified...
First and foremost, the easiest identification for me to make this spring was the Robin.
Then through my discovery of the website that I am linking to, I puzzled out the Spotted Towhee and the Scrub Jay. Link
Today I finally got a good enough look at another pair of birds to figure out that they must be the Black-headed Grosbeak. I can definitely say I've seen both a male and a female. Both very pretty.
It's funny because when i was first trying to identify the Towhee, I thought it might a Grosbeak, but it wasn't quite right. Similar color-scheme, though the Grosbeak has a brilliant sort of orange breast where the Towhee is more red, now that I've seen them both in real life. The color of the Robin falls somewhere in between, I think.
And I will never forget the Quail couple that I saw once and only once (so far). Link
There are a great many other birds that so far look just sort of grey and non-descript. Perhaps they are young'uns. I will keep trying to ID them all, and photograph them, even if I die trying!
Another interesting thing...Remember when I was trying to identify the tree in my backyard? Turns out it is indeed a cherry tree, and it even bears fruit (though they are very small and sour...not really fit for humans, IMO). But the birds seem to LOVE them, which is maybe why I don't remember seeing any fruit when we moved in last July. In fact I see more birds grabbing cherries right off the tree, as well as off the ground, than I see at the bird feeder.
Ginger is loving all this! It's like birdTV out there, all day long. The bird noises are unreal, too. It's a little like living in an aviary (or so I would imagine). It gets a little annoying at times, but it beats the sound of trains, traffic, and booming car stereos.
First and foremost, the easiest identification for me to make this spring was the Robin.
Then through my discovery of the website that I am linking to, I puzzled out the Spotted Towhee and the Scrub Jay. Link
Today I finally got a good enough look at another pair of birds to figure out that they must be the Black-headed Grosbeak. I can definitely say I've seen both a male and a female. Both very pretty.
It's funny because when i was first trying to identify the Towhee, I thought it might a Grosbeak, but it wasn't quite right. Similar color-scheme, though the Grosbeak has a brilliant sort of orange breast where the Towhee is more red, now that I've seen them both in real life. The color of the Robin falls somewhere in between, I think.
And I will never forget the Quail couple that I saw once and only once (so far). Link
There are a great many other birds that so far look just sort of grey and non-descript. Perhaps they are young'uns. I will keep trying to ID them all, and photograph them, even if I die trying!
Another interesting thing...Remember when I was trying to identify the tree in my backyard? Turns out it is indeed a cherry tree, and it even bears fruit (though they are very small and sour...not really fit for humans, IMO). But the birds seem to LOVE them, which is maybe why I don't remember seeing any fruit when we moved in last July. In fact I see more birds grabbing cherries right off the tree, as well as off the ground, than I see at the bird feeder.
Ginger is loving all this! It's like birdTV out there, all day long. The bird noises are unreal, too. It's a little like living in an aviary (or so I would imagine). It gets a little annoying at times, but it beats the sound of trains, traffic, and booming car stereos.