Scrub Jays in the Evening in Their Nesting Tree

Nest in Yucca

But the cardinals have now abandoned it . . .

Swallows, or Do I Mean Swifts?, at the Shops

Parents; I could hear the babies nearby. But the Shops are too hoity to let them build nests right under those awnings, I think.

Wren House

One of the wrens was just sitting on the little entrance pole chittering at Hamilton Cat, who was causing great distress to the wren. I invited Hamilton in, though he seemed fairly oblivious to the bird (good).

The Stuff That Birds' Nests Are Made Of

Woodlets 2010

This little guy and his nestmates are coming out any day now. We first heard the woodlets (presumably more than one, based on noise level) on May 1, Saturday, which was 29 days ago; previous years tell us that they come out after about 30 days, and here they are showing their little heads in the last week, right on schedule. So exciting! I somehow can't remember if I took these photos Thursday or Friday evening.


Dad arriving with food


Dad hopping into the hole with food


Headind up to the top of the tree, post-feeding


Junior looking out, post-feeding


Dad hanging out up top

Yes, Virginia, There IS a Third Owlet!

No photos, but we saw it emerge briefly on Thursday evening around 8 p.m. or so. It wa just a tiny little thing, seeming even smaller than the bad photo from the other day. Also, we figured out that the window of the box is about 8 inches high, in case anyone has been just dying to know so they could figure out about how big the owlets are. Seems as though last night's little guy didn't even come up to the halfway mark.

My Mother's Owl, 2010: A Third Owlet?

This quite terrible photo was taken this evening as the light was fading and I was very tired. I present it nonetheless because we believe this to be a third owlet! See how much shorter than the others it is. I think it would be even if it were standing up on its little legs; it had a smaller aspect overall. No owlets had been seen at all today until this one climbed up out of the depths of the box.

My Mother's Owl, 2010: Owlets!

Owls nested in my mother's owl nest box for the first time (that we know of or saw) last year; you can see one of them here. But this year, we have seen the owlets! I present to you Castor and Pollux. We hope she will forgive me for momentarily forgetting which is which, but you can tell them apart by their eyes. These photos are from last Thursday, 5.6.2010, the first day they were spotted.

Feeding Frenzy

It's what the parent woodpeckers are now doing all day, every day. Here we have a beakful of madrone berries.

In Town: Starlets and Flags

I spotted this starling and her (his?) little starlets in a tree in a parking lot near my office. Their two little heads were poking out, just looking around, and then the parent showed up with food.






I love this store. Can you tell that they sell flags there?

My Mother's Mockingbird

This mockingbird and its mate have a nest in the arborvitae that grows next to my mother's driveway. Clearly the eggs have hatched, and what a lovely big fat wormy thing to nourish the wee babes!

Little Nesting Wren

This is the little wren who is nesting in the skull on the porch. She had to keep scolding Fritz the cat, who kept sleeping nearby.

Nesting Wren

Wrens are nesting in the front porch skull again. Yay!

Woodie 2009

After Woodina left, Woodie went in....


...and a few minutes later came back out.

WOODLETS, rev 2009!

Woodina leaves the tree

We had noticed the parent golden-fronted woodpeckers being very busy around the tree in the last few weeks and were wondering if there were even eggs yet; then yesterday (May 2nd) we heard the woodlets. It's like static coming out of the tree. Last year, we first heard them on May 1st. Maybe, oh maybe we'll finally get to see them fledge....

Wrens Are Nesting in Here

"That is such a boring picture," you might think as you gaze upon this. But little do you know that a pair of wrens are nesting inside this one-quarter-of-the-way-built garden sculpture! (Or "sculpture," if you'd rather.) I guess I won't be working on it any time soon, though (not that I have been since last summer, truth be told). E and I spied the little wrens on Saturday as we sat inside the truck preparing to leave, and were thus hidden to them. The nest is right down at the bottom, nestled into part of the exposed wire and  screen. Aw! 

Finches Nest in the Yucca

This finch is nesting in the yucca (and look, over her shoulder on the left is the female oriole). If you zoom in to the top image, you will see the straw in her mouth. In the second picture, she is leaving, after having put the straw in the space between the two yucca heads where their daggers intertwine.


And my computer is broken...again. This might be the last post for a week or two.

Cardinal With a Mohawk

This year's second batch of cardinals left the nest today! Hugh and I left the house unusually early so were not around to see, but the nest was empty when I got home, and so far I have spotted one of the three. This one is sitting in the butterfly bush that is next to the jasmine where the nest is. Part of the reason I am sometimes a rotten photographer is that I don't want to scare my subjects. I really need a new, better lens so I can get closer from farther away...

The Woodlets 2008 and What Happened

I am long overdue for talking about the fledging of the woodlets, which happened on Wednesday May 28th and which I, we, both Hugh and I, missed. I have meant to post about it ever since but time is at a premium; let it suffice to say that they were there that morning and then gone by evening. Damnation! I REALLY WANT TO SEE THE WOODLETS LEAVE THE NEST ONE OF THESE YEARS. Anyway, since then, we have seen Woodie forlornly—or so we thought!—hanging about the tree every day, checking the nest hole, going to the birdfeeder outside the bathroom window, and so on, sadly casting about for activities to fill his empty days, now that there are no woodlets to feed.

But yesterday, Sunday, as we sat inside working and movie-watching, Hugh suddenly gave a shout-out that there were two birds over on the Woodie tree, and what was going on? It turned out that one of the woodlets came back home, and there was fighting. The parent bird was chasing the little one away from the tree! He swooped at him and pecked his head! We don't know for certain that it was actually the dad's young...but highly likely, I think. Birds are very cruel, very cruel. Don't these photos just break your heart?