May Yard Birds

I was able to spend a couple of hours in the yard bird-watching yesterday afternoon. The big news is that my wife told me she saw a Wilson’s warbler at one of the bird baths. While the Wilson’s is one of the more common warblers this time of year it’s still an exciting sighting when it appears in the yard. I hadn’t been in the yard very long when it (or another) flew into a very small bush about six feet from me. I thought it was on its way to the watercourse but it worked its way around the yard to the far bird bath before accessing any water. I attempted to get near enough for a photo but was unsuccessful. However I did get a good photo of a Wilson’s warbler look-alike… an American goldfinch.

It appears we have one Dark-eyed junco left (at one time this winter I estimated that we had about 20 in the yard). They’ve all left to breed at higher elevations and can usually be seen at Washington Park and Mount Erie.

It wasn’t a good day for the ground feeders. Also missing were the Golden-crowned sparrows. I only saw one White-crowned sparrow (which I heard long before it arrived in the yard) and a single Spotted towhee. I’ve counted up to five Pine siskins at the feeders and an almost overabundance of American goldfinches. Both male and female Red-winged blackbirds are flying up from the sewage treatment plant for a quick feed (presumably to minimize their time off the nest) and we have both a Downy woodpecker and Northern flickers utilizing the suet feeder.

As far as the small clinging birds are concerned, we have the Red-breasted junco (utilizing both seed and suet feeders), Chestnut-backed chickadees and Black-capped chickadees. I usually have difficulty finding a Black-capped chickadee in the yard but we must have a pair nesting nearby because I’m seeing them more often than the Chestnut-backed… not the usual state of affairs during the rest of the year.
We have the usual compliment of Rufous hummingbirds and it’s impossible to determine how many, but I’m fairly sure we have at least two pairs and possibly more. Both the hummingbirds and goldfinches are split between our feeders and ones maintained at neighbors’ houses.

It’s a good time of year for photography and I’m still hoping to catch a few of the more unusual spring migrants!