Early September Yard Birds

I spent more time in the yard yesterday... mostly hoping for one of the rarer fall migrants.  I didn't get that, but I did manage to photograph a Brown creeper.  I noticed that it bathed in one of the bird baths then paused for just an instant which was enough for me to snap several photographs.  This bird spends its time traveling UP tree trunks extracting insects from the cracks in the bark, a task for which it's well-suited given its relatively long, down-curved bill.  If it were not for the birds' almost constant motion this bird would be extremely difficult to spot due to its almost perfect camouflage.

Our Northern flickers almost completely disappeared for a few weeks but have recently returned.  This is apparently a juvenile male.  We now have three different woodpeckers which are utilizing our suet... the flicker, Downys and Hairys.

It's a period of transition and most of our Rufous hummingbirds have been replaced with Anna's.  (female Anna's hummingbird pictured.)  Yesterday I had both a brightly-colored Rufous female in the yard and this Anna's hummingbird and they didn't get along well.  For the past couple of years we've had one or two Anna's hummingbirds over-winter with us.  Since I note they are here during the winter whether I feed or not, I try to maintain a hummingbird feeder for them through the winter.  It can be challenging given some of our weather!

Finally, for this post, part of this year's remaining California quail family.   We started with about ten and are down to about four chicks and the father.  The mother disappeared mid-way through the child-rearing.  I may have mentioned that a couple of weeks ago we had a different pair of adults show up with a single chick, but we haven't seen the chick in over a week now.  And just a few days ago we had an unwelcome (to the birds) visit from an accipiter, so that may explain at least some of the missing family.