More from the Yard

Two, three, five… twenty-five.  Beginning several weeks ago the Oregon juncos began returning to our yard after their spring/summer breeding absence.  We’re now overrun with juncos.  This year, for the first time, we had a pair that stayed quite late in the spring and I thought they might breed in the area, but eventually they too left. 

While normally ground feeders, several of the juncos have learned and are quite willing to access my hanging feeders which discriminate against non-clinging birds, so I see occasional trips to the suet, peanut and sunflower feeders.  I enjoy having the juncos but because of their numbers they often interfere with me being able to spot other species in the yard. 

For the past four winters I’ve had a single Slate-colored junco as an occasional visitor to the yard.  What seems strange to me is even though this bird is closely related to the Oregon junco, I am always able to distinguish it in a crowd by its behavior.  It doesn’t mingle with the other juncos but flies in, quickly eats a few seeds and then makes a quick exit.  I have yet to see a Slate-colored junco in the yard this winter and if I haven’t seen and photographed it soon I’ll try to retrieve an old photograph and post it on this blog. 

We have several madrone trees in the yard but only one provides good photographic opportunities.  This year the north half of the tree has an abundant crop of berries and several of the birds are benefiting, including some birds that don’t eat berries.  I’ve seen Townsend warblers, chickadees and Golden-crowned kinglets searching the berry clusters for insects.  The tree also attracts berry-eaters, but instead of the robins and Varied thrushes I’ve observed in the past the House finches seem to be fixated on the berries this year.  I have an excellent observation/photographic location on the deck outside my office, but going out on the deck has thus far alarmed the House finches and they fly over the house to a tree in the back which doesn’t offer me good photographic opportunities.  I’m now getting worried that the berries will be degraded or eaten before I get the chance to obtain photographs.  If I manage any good photos you’ll see at least one of them in this blog.

I’ve also been examining our robins closely.  At some point this winter we’ll start having occasional visits from Varied thrushes and I want to be sure and know when they return.  And a thought until my next post… there’s no bird that enjoys a bath quite as much as an American robin!