Birding.

[MikeandRong]

By last week all of the Goldfinches have either changed color, molted, or are in between color phases. They do not sing quite as loudly as they did just a couple of weeks ago, and they also do not seem to be acting so territorial over resting places and food. Once it snows, the Goldfinches that don't migrate all group up together and feed together too, but their color is once again completely different, a more black/white/brown, with zero yellow plumage to be seen.

 

Here is a sampling of their different color phases I am seeing now, all taken the same day last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Even the Nuthatches and Cardinals are either losing head feathers by molting or turning colors.

 

This White-breasted Nuthatch is getting a lot of dark copper/brown underside feathers by his rear end.

 

 

This Adult Male Cardinal also is undergoing his head feather molt. Those that make it to next spring ought to be just beautiful looking in time for breeding season.

 

[MikeandRong]

This Coopers Hawk has been hanging around lately. The squirrels completely ignore him and just keep on feeding, not the least bit afraid of him. However any bird in the area with the exception of the yearling Mourning Doves (which are just not paying attention or are too young to realize the danger yet), are hiding and quiet. The Hawk does not stay in any one place but a couple of minutes before flying off to another tree or area to scope out his next meal. The Blue Jays, once one spots him, can easily scare him away even if it's just a single Jay.

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Lots of Hawks still in the area. I had to pull the bird food for a week now due to a couple of Skunks coming in the yard after dark and feeding on leftovers. Due to the 4 Great Horned Owls that have been here since spring I am quite sure these Skunks won't be around for long.

 

This Coopers Hawk loves to hide in the shadows just waiting for his chance to snag a Dove on the fly or on the grass. I'm not feeding them, so unless one just happens by he is wasting his time.

 

 

This is one of the 3 Red-tailed Hawk that lives a couple of doors down. I think this one is the Adult Male as he is alone and the yearling still follows mama around who is just huge looking. The squirrels are absolutely terrified of these Hawks and freeze on a tree trunk whenever one flys over, let alone land nearby.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Here is one of the Adult Great Horned Owles that have been here raising their 2 yearlings since spring. They do a great job of keeping the Skunk population down to almost zero and wreak havoc on the Mice and Voles each night too. Strange that the rabbits in the yard all night never get picked off by the owles.

 

[Allon]

It is funny when an owl shows up, the bar get real quiet. Big John is in town.

 

Got varmints in your back yard? Get an owl. Let nature takes its course.

[MikeandRong]

Well I have not seen or smelled any Skunks now for almost a week, the Owls may indeed have taken care of them. But by me not putting out any food for the birds, that too probably helped keep out the nighttime vermin. I sure don't see or hear too many come around here these days, so I may put out some test seed and see if it starts attracting unwanted night guests again.

 

Around dusk time in the summer it is not uncommon to see a few bats flying around catching mosquitoes and other night flying insects. They are usually quite small and fast, maybe about 8" wing tip to wing tip. This big bat caught my eye last week as he was much bigger than usual and not nearly as acrobatic as the small ones are. When flying his body was about the size of a big Pigeon and his wing span my best guess about 15"-18" tip to tip (he glided a lot). He only hung around about 15 minutes and has not been seen since then. I do know that some bats migrate, so perhaps this is one of the species that does. He also was just flying alone, no other ones were seen with him.

 

The tree in the first picture is right at 50 yards away and he is flying just behind it. The other 2 photos shows him more in the open nearer to me and probably 25-30 yards out at the time of the photos. If anyone reading this knows about bats I would be interested to have a guess as to what species it could be. My best guess is a Big-brown Bat, or a Silver-haired Bat, based on his darker color, size, and body silhouette while flying.

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Lots of Hummingbirds are still using the feeders, from just before dawn all the way to dark. From my reading up on them I have discovered that the ones who seem to be drinking sap or dew off the Locast tree leaves are females that apparently do not drink from feeders, only the males do. Well I do have females that land on top of the feeders and drink off the morning condensation that gathers on top of it, and throughout the day will hover right under the bottom of the feeder and lick up the occasional drip that seeps out as it warms and expands inside, but they won't land on or drink from inside the feeder.

 

This Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird was coming in and out all morning long feeding and then flying back up into the trees in the shade to rest before coming back in again for another drink. In the middle or second photo you can see where he actually closed his eyes and took a 45 second catnap before flying down for a drink. It was neat to see how such a short nap could refresh him so quickly and as I was so close to him (10 feet), it was quite obvious his eyes were closed and not just blinking.

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Well Friday brought some much needed gentle rain on and off throughout the day. This did not seem to bother this little guy and his feeding schedule at all, rain or no rain. What it did seem to do is relax him somewhat and he did seem to stay and drink and rest for longer periods of time. Instead of just a minute or so, he will now stay up to around 4 minutes, drinking then resting then drinking again before flying off to some other place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

The Goldfinchs are really changing to their fall-winter colors these days. This Female Goldfinch has just about lost all of her summer yellow now and is getting much more white. Once the snow starts and the deep cold sets in she will be all white with just some black streaks on her wings.

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

This looks like the same Ruby-throated Hummingbird that has been hanging around all day today. He's pretty relaxed as long as you don't move too fast while watching or photographing him.

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Sunday was so clear and sunny, it made it hard for me to get any good photos in the morning. The sun was like a giant spotlight shining right down on us and even this Ruby-throated Hummingbird would only drink on the shade side of the feeder so he didn't have to look into the sun while either resting or drinking. He is one of my regulars and is easy to tell apart because of the upside down chevron on the right side of his neck, almost looks like an upside down black capital V.

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

After lunch the sun was at a much more better angle and filtered through the leaves that are overhead. At first I wasn't sure if this was my regular chevron marked Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but he was so relaxed and taking his 1 minute catnaps on the clothesline I knew if I walked slow I could get close to him. By close, I'm talking about 5-6 feet away with the camera lens only about 4 feet away. I just moved real slow to get more of the sun behind us when his eyes were closed, and it worked. He didn't wake up until the sound of the camera shutter got his attention.

The second picture catches him on his nap, he hears me taking the photos and awakes, but still lets me get even closer. At picture 7 the chevron is clearly visible, so he's used to me and not alarmed at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

He started his drinking cycle with his head in the shade again, which of course is back under the clothesline and on the other side once again. I moved slow but did not pay attention to how close I was really getting to him. I ended up only 3 feet away and it was tough to keep focused on him and in the picture frame as he moved back and forth. I just had to go with my camera settings that I had just used before on the other side with the sun at my back. Trying to adjust settings while this close to him would for sure of made him afraid with such close extra movements. So this is what I got after being downloaded to 2 different devices to get to this page. The original SD card looks amazing and will print some great pictures later on.

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Even after drinking he still took a rest without leaving, but no catnap. Instead, after a short rest he went right back to drinking again. These guys are now drinking just over 2oz of the sugar water I make for them each day now, getting fattened up for their 3 month migration down to the Carriban and Central South America for the winter.