Late August Yard Birds

I had some time to spend in the yard on Sunday and wanted to give my newly-repaired camera a stress test so I sat in the yard for a couple of hours in the afternoon and photographed birds.  I experienced no further problems with the camera on this day. 

First up, this Chestnut-backed chickadee.  This one looks a little rough either because it is from this year's crop or because it was recently in one of the bird baths. 

 A Red-breasted nuthatch, always a challenge to photograph due to their almost constant movement...

A young European starling whose ilk have been gobbling my suet and dirtying my bird baths.  I've cut down on the amount of suet the starlings consume by first using inverted feeders and then, this summer, by hanging four pieces of sturdy wire from the bottom of the feeders.  The starlings are not clinging birds and they have to flap their wings to maintain their position on the suet.   The wires, to at least some extent, keep them from hanging on the suet for longer periods of time and therefore limit the amount of suet they get for their efforts. 

A juvenile male Downy woodpecker, a frequent visitor to the suet feeder and occasional user of one of the bird baths... 

A female Hairy woodpecker, also a frequent suet feeder... 

Of note... a pair of our California quail successfully raised about 4-5 chicks this spring and summer.  However the adult female apparently disappeared at some point and the covey seems to be under the watchful eye of only the male.  Recently we had what was apparently another pair of quail show up with a single, tiny chick, apparently a late brood if you can refer to a single chick as a brood.  Despite the vigilant eyes of the parents I don't give this single chick much of a chance of being raised to maturity. 

As I type this (about 5:45am) the Great Horned owls which have been in the neighborhood for this year are vocalizing.