A couple of summer visitors and a few of our year-round residents

This summer we have had a couple of visitors I don't remember seeing before in our back yard. First, on the fourth of July we were visited by this Nuttall's Woodpecker. I thought at first it was a Hairy since it looked about the same size as a Hairy. But its call was a bit different and its back was more "ladder-backed." It certainly was a moment of excitement for me when my daughter Red made me realize that it wasn't a Hairy. See Red's photo of this bird by clicking here. Also, don't forget you can click on each of these photos to see a larger view.

Here are a couple of mourning doves acting lovey-dovey. These birds are regular residents around here. I think I have about 6-8 pairs that always hang around here.

Another group of residents - lesser goldfinches. It's always fun to watch them eating the niger thistle seed. Note the one I captured flying into the feeder to the lower left of the feeder. I happened to take this photo while I was waiting for my all-time most bashful visitors to show up.

Can you imagine my excitement when I saw this bird visiting one of my hummingbird feeders? I actually squealed (according to Red). I was so excited, because it has been about 3 years since I last saw any orioles here in my back yard. I apologize for the lack of crispness in this photo, but I quickly took it from inside the house, looking through double glass panes.

Here is a better shot, taken from the back patio -- and this time I was able to get two of them at the same time! Also notice that I had pulled out my oriole feeder and hung it so that they didn't have to struggle to get their nectar from the hummingbird feeder. I've also tried jelly, but no takers. :-(

To the best of my knowledge and with Red's help we are figuring that these orioles are female and juvenile hooded orioles. There seemed to be a total of four that I have seen at one time, so I'm not sure if it could be one mama and 3 juvies, or possibly 2 mamas and 2 juvies. I never did see any males. One other reason they are most likely hooded orioles is that the Stokes and Golden field guides say their nesting habitat is palm trees, and our next door neighbor has two palm trees in their front yard. We also have other palm trees spread throughout the neighborhood. And there have been a number of times I can hear them long before I see them. Their call/song is not very melodious. Part of it is a trill, but the ending of it sounds like a squirrel when it is upset about something. It's a most unusual sound, quite distinct, that I can easily tell it is not one of my usual residents around here.

Have you had the chance to enjoy orioles this summer?

Time for some bird pix

Some of these photos go back to late February. That's how far behind I am in posting. The photo below is a female Anna's hummingbird. She came to the window feeder during the day when it was raining. Be sure to click on the photos to get a larger view.

Same window as the one above. This is my bedroom window, and it's where my computer faces out to the back yard. I have the hummingbird feeder and this other feeder attached to the window. This photo was also taken way back in February on the same rainy day. Notice this lesser goldfinch is not quite in breeding plumage yet.
And now, notice this little guy is looking more like he's in his breeding plumage. And this photo was taken only two weeks later (early March), and obviously at a different feeder. This one is located in my front yard, hanging from the crepe myrtle tree.
Here's another shot, same day, and I caught one little female as she was flying in. The male lesser goldfinch on the left is not as brightly colored (plumaged) as the one on the right.

And this beauty is one of our neighborhood mockingbirds. We all came home from church a couple Sundays ago (early April) and heard this beautiful, melodious singing. I found him perched up in my next door neighbor's tree, singing his heart out. I wonder if he has found himself a mate yet.