Yesterday late afternoon the first baby gray jays came into the backyard with one of the adults. They flew around checking things out, finally one brave jay landed on the birdbath and started bathing. Soon it was joined by a sibling. We observed that the adult gray jays rarely bathe in that birdbath, but the immatures certainly love the water. When they left, a single song sparrow came back and bathed. Very nice to see him/her coming in. Also have seen several white-crowned sparrows, myrtle warblers, chickadees (both kinds), nuthatches, pine siskins, juncos, an occasional redpoll, two-three robins, stellar jays, and hearing kinglets, have not seen any kinglets yet. Have not seen our spruce grouse lately either. But we expect one day to see her with babies.
One of our black-capped chickadees showed up about 10 days ago, with a sort of scalped look. The black cap feathers were missing, from where they usually begin on his forehead above his beak to about the mid-part of his head. At first we wondered if it was afflicted with an avian pox or some other type of illness. He or she has a partner who looks normal and healthy. The scalped chickadee keeps coming back, and it looks as though the feathers are starting to grow back. We wonder what happened to him/her.
We are finally beginning to recognize the myrtle warbler's song. Typical warbler -- nothing too elaborate but a sort of twe-twe-twe-twe-twe, getting a little louder in the middle.
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