Evening Grosbeaks! (and rising water)

You didn't need to look outside this morning to know that the Evening Grosbeaks hath arrived!!!  They are not the quietest of birds....

but they are now here in abundance   Just how long they'll stay is anybodies guess as these nomadic creatures 'go with the flow'.

but they are very welcome.  All winter I watched numerous photos of them being posted by birders on the east side of the continent - now it is our turn.  There are an even dozen in the above picture.

of course the Black-headed Grosbeak are still here as well, just slightly out-numbered at the moment!

Just wanted to note that the pair of Red-breasted Nuthatch are still around.  I'm hoping to seem some youngsters one of these days.

after water levels holding steady for a couple of days, they are once more on the rise...this European Starling was just one of a number of birds very interested in this tiny little bit of exposed dirt.  The Starlings have a nest nearby.

while the Steller's Jay's seemed to be more interested in bathing.

Went for a short drive around the area, we no longer have an 'estuary' we now have a 'lake'.  That is Mt. Woodside over there.

This could be an 'oh yuck' situation - when I got out to take the scenery photo I noticed a few of these Tent Caterpillar nests in the vegetation.  Remember that some birds, especially our beautiful Bullock's Orioles, love to eat these guys.

Over at the Kilby Campground on Harrison Bay, the bay is, for the second year in a row, encroaching into the campground itself.  Last year the entire campground was under water, it remains to be seen if the same thing will happen this year.

Some Canada Geese were happily feeding in this freshly planted cornfield, in the background you can see the ground water is oozing up.

Just a couple more photos for today....the view of the Harrison River as taken from the east end of the bridge.  The 2nd piling from the left....

holds an Osprey nest....it would appear that the eggs haven't yet hatched.

Band-tail Pigeons!

It would appear I was a bit premature in lamenting the lack of......

Band-tail Pigeons!  They are now here!  This was the scene at my place this afternoon and there are still some out there...

Here is a bit clearer photo of one of them.  Unfortunately the area was in shade and I didn't dare move from where I was as these birds are so 'spooky' they take off at the slightest disturbance.

This evening there have been a number of Evening Grosbeaks showing up as well, no pictures of them yet, but it would appear that rather than the hot weather speeding everyone up, it appears to have held them back so they are just a bit later than what we consider 'normal'.

While I was taking the pigeon pictures, this Steller's Jay was enjoying the sunshine, soaking up some rays - I know it looks like it is in distress, but it isn't, they just seem to like to do this sometimes.

the male Rufous Hummingbird was 'en garde' in his usual spot.  I'm pretty sure there is a hummingbird nesting in this willow...one of these days I'm going to see if I can spot it.

I've heard there is a female Rough-grouse in our complex with 5 young....haven't seen her as she is hanging out in the non-beautified vacant lot.

Also seen today for the first time in a while were a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, so there are still a few of them around as well.

Well this is different!

Sometimes, when you least expect it, something unusual shows up!  Before I get into that though, just one quick picture of the rising water....

here it comes!

As I mentioned yesterday, the variety and numbers of birds has returned to normal with the more normal weather conditions.  This afternoon I took my camera out side to just sit for a while and take pictures of whom ever showed up.

Primary subjects were the Black-headed Grosbeak as there are so many of them.  The males seem to be more co-operative than the females at least as far as having their picture taken.

here are some more males....and then I spotted this guy....

look at that eye! and the one on the other side was just the same.  Have never seen anything like that before!

some other visitors...this female American Goldfinch....

a White-crowned Sparrow....

This male Rufous Hummingbird was perched in my neighbours willow, with his eye on my feeder chasing any intruders away - he was kept very busy because there are a lot of hummingbirds here at the moment.

this female was allowed to 'fill up'.

A little more seasonal

Well with the return of more seasonal weather, the numbers and varieties of birds seems to be getting more 'normal'.

But first we'll deal with the rapidly rising water!  Bye bye pathway! I could hear lots of birds in this area and did spot a Wilson's Warbler (the first I've seen this year) but that was about it.  

There are definitely lot's of Black-headed Grosbeaks around.  The females are showing up too, the bird above is a male.

There have been a few Evening Grosbeaks coming to the feeders as well, in fact the list of species coming to the feeders is fairly extensive, it is just the numbers of each that are low, although just a few minutes ago I had a dozen Purple finch out there which is certainly more 'normal'.  Also, after not seeing or hearing one of the Red-breasted Nuthatch and just after moving the peanut feeder to make way for a hanging basket, what should appear but one of the Nuthatch.  The feeder hadn't been moved very far and it quickly found it.

speaking of the peanut feeder this Douglas Squirrel was doing quite a contortionist act on it...this was prior to my moving it.  I don't think they can get at it where it is now.  There is definitely NO shortage of these guys around here right now.

Noticed that the ....

Wild Roses are coming into flower now too.

Where are all the birds!?

I've been back for almost a week now and I have to ask what a few of my neighbours are also asking "where are all the birds?".  There are so few birds being seen and coming to feeders that it is almost eerie.  It has got to the point that I dug out old records to see what is normally happening around here in the early part of the month of May, and those records confirmed that something is definitely different this year.  Is it the unseasonably warm weather that is causing the decline as temperatures are at least 10 degrees warmer than what appears to be 'normal'.

Before we get into details though I will note that water levels are rising rapidly....

here is our boat launch as it looked an hour or so ago.  Soon even the upper portion of the path will be under water so we may not be seeing this view again for some time.  Notice the hazy conditions, I've heard, but don't know for sure, that this is smoke being blown over here from Russian forest fires....I do know that some days this week we haven't even been able to see the mountains.

There are now Salmon fry swimming where we walked not so long ago.  

Yesterday the water was on the far side of the marker on the left in the photo, today it is up past it.

But let's get back to the birds....and I will note that I could see one Red-wing Blackbird off in the distance and I could hear a Common Yellow-throat and a Bullock's Oriole calling.  That was it despite sitting and watching quietly for a while.

Some birds are of course nesting now, the Towhee, Song Sparrow, Robins and Blackbirds, so tend to be quieter and make themselves scarce.

Black-headed Grosbeak are normally here now and that has held true, I've had a couple of males visit briefly....no females yet which would be more or less normal.  In past years we've been inundated with Evening Grosbeaks at this time.  I heard a pair were seen a week or so ago but that has been it.

Speaking of inundated.....that is normally the case with Band-tail Pigeons at this time of the year.  I saw one the beginning of the week, but remember a few showed up really early this year....have they already moved through?  I don't know.

Swallows.....where are they?  This female Tree Swallow was looking out of this bird house yesterday but they are few and far between.  There were lots around earlier, have they all moved on?  I have seen a few Barn Swallows but normally we'd expect swallows to be flying around all over the place about now.

Occasionally an American Goldfinch shows up at the feeder, but not in the numbers normal for this time of year, although Ernie tells me there were a lot of them at the log bay the other evening.  A few Purple Finch have been quietly sneaking in, usually late in the afternoon, but not in the numbers we usually get in early May.  

a couple of Black-capped Chickadees are visiting fairly regularly while the Chestnut-backed seem to have totally disappeared along with the Nuthatches.

The last couple of days the most frequently seen bird has been the Rufous Hummingbird, like this female that was out there this morning.

The Siskin have disappeared again.  I've seen one White-crowned Sparrow where normally they and their cousins the Gold-crowned and even White-throated are usually just passing through right now.  That seems to have already happened if the numbers of at least White-crowned at Tunkwa Lake where we spent last week was any indication.  Same with the Yellow-headed Blackbirds that occasionally stop here....they were already arriving further north.  Brown headed cowbirds are here, but again only one or two, which given they are cowbirds isn't necessarily a bad thing! 

I have heard the occasional Osprey calling, and Raven were making a racket up on the hillside earlier today.  Ernie tells me there was a Canada Goose family with 4 goslings at the log bay (which is no longer a 'bay' as the water levels rise).  I spotted a Red-breasted Sapsucker yesterday, but all in all it is definitely a very different season and will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Orioles!

Another beautiful sunny day!  The extreme 'record breaking' heat of Sunday has eased and now it is just plain gorgeous!

The water level has risen since yesterday, the lower part of the path is now completely under water.  Only sign of life out on the water were a couple of female Bufflehead ducks, but they didn't stick around.  I have heard Canada Geese in the evening and early in the morning so there are some of them out there somewhere.

What I did hear though was.....

a male Bullock's Oriole!  so now we know they are definitely back for the season.

he'd obviously just had a bath as he was busy preening himself.  I thought I saw a Yellow Warbler flight into the bushes as I was watching but couldn't be sure.  

an American Robin did show up briefly, and I saw a Red-wing Blackbird and heard a Rufous Hummingbird, but other than that, it was actually very quiet.

It remains quiet at the feeders as well even though the seed has been replenished.  I did look out and saw a male Black-headed Grosbeak briefly, last night, but haven't seen him return, no doubt there will be more here soon.  The hummingbird feeder was getting lots of action last night as it was getting dusk, nothing like the activity that a friend of mine who lives near Blue River is getting at the moment, she has 6 feeders out and say's she has to use a shield of some sort when she ventures outside, there are so many 'grumpy hummies' at her place!

Home for awhile

I'm back home for a while now and will start getting postings done more often. First question is who turned the heat up!!! We're getting August temperatures, a bit of a shock to the birds, plants and humans!

My feeder birds are pouting after finding empty feeders for the past week. They'll slowly trickle back. I've seen Steller's Jay, a couple of Pine Siskin and a Goldfinch. Have heard that some Evening Grosbeak have been seen. I expect the Black-headed Grosbeak will be arriving soon if they haven't already. Bullock's Oriole should be here as well and also Barn Swallows.

Took a walk down to the boat launch and water levels are definitely rising. No photo as I have to download the pictures from my last trip. Did notice an Osprey on a nest by the Hwy. 7 bridge as we were coming home yesterday.

There is a Purple Finch calling and just heard a chickadee so they're around....