A Violent Collision

A peaceful sunny morning, many birds coming in to drink, bathe, eat. Suddenly a sharp-shinned hawk swooped in and several birds collided violently with our kitchen window, but the hawk pulled up short and turned around. There were no birds lying around recovering their senses, but I am sure they are sitting off a ways, befuddled or worse. The chickadees, nuthatches, all the birds, sit drinking, eating, but constantly watching. The younger ones are not so cautious. If they survive to maturity, I'm sure they learn the technique of looking over their shoulders while dining.

Synchronicity

This afternoon, while sipping tea on the back deck, my friend and I saw a Northern Harrier - fly through our backyard, over the deck, and off to the trees east of our house. He was about 30' up in the air, not that far above us, so we got a really good jaw-dropping look at him. Later on, we heard woodpeckers drumming, low and high both. I imagined a big dead tree and a small branch on the same tree. Or maybe two different drummers.

One of our stellar jays has an unusual cockscomb, very ruffled, uneven, missing some feathers. Otherwise, he seems healthy and vital.

Many white-crowned immatures are coming in to the front yard, under our picture window. Seems like dozens.

Old Friends

This afternoon, we spotted two male Pine Grosbeaks in our back yard, just stopping by for a very short visit. We have not had pine grosbeaks in our yard for a lot of years. It was so great to see them, and too brief.

This morning while we were working out in front, we suddenly saw a baby spruce grouse walking across the driveway, followed very quickly by an adult grouse. The baby was walking rather slowly, it was almost like it was trying to sneak across the drive and into the woods. We wondered if maybe 6-7 or more other babies had preceded it and we just happened to look up in time to see the one.

Later, during a short time of sunshine, a ruby-crowned kinglet was in bathing.

Owl Sighting

A friend in Sterling reported hearing and seeing a western screech owl. How lucky. Last screech owl I heard about was in NE at my sister's home, last summer.

A lot of birds visited our birdbath yesterday. Ruby-crowned kinglet, myrtle warblers, robins, everything that we see this time of year. Oh yes, a golden-crowned kinglet too.

High summer holds the earth (James Agee)

Our Friend the GCK

This morning, a shaft of sunlight shone on our birdbath through the spruces and I glanced out, and saw our golden-crowned kinglet flit into the sunshine, look about, move down towards the water, flash his fiery crest, and take off, all in about 2-3 seconds. We should have a webcam. Most of the time there is too much going on, to sit there watching constantly.

A bit later - checking our birdbath, saw 4 robins in the two trays of water, three very speckled breasts, one more mature looking. And then suddenly a little flurry away from feeders, and I looked around, there was a mama moose and calf, taking advantage of our water as well.

What was that?

For two days now, I've seen some sort of small fast UFO in the backyard. Could it be a hummingbird? Kinda doubt it. Maybe a large dragonfly.

We have seen a ruby-crowned kinglet coming into the birdbath lately. Also one sighting of a golden-crowned kinglet. The sightings are so dependent on how long a person is willing to sit at the kitchen window and watch. As much as we like being outdoors on the back deck or back porch, we just don't see as many birds when we're sitting out there, the birds are just too intimidated by the large objects near their bathing area.

This morning, a sizable population in front, a more moderate gathering in back.

Enjoyed the photo and sighting of a Chinese Pond Heron seen out in western Alaska. Amazing what shows up out there.

Birds in Homer

We made a trip down East End road out of Homer today. Heard many hermit thrushes, golden-crowned sparrows, and fox sparrows. The songs of hermit thrushes were ubiquitous enough, as well as loud enough, that we could hear them even as we drove down the road. We were not driving fast, and we did have our windows open. An occasional golden-crowned sparrow sang into our window as well. Fox sparrows are so melodious and, to my ears, unusual sounding. We have not heard that song in our own backyard much if at all. I do hear it occasionally other places, particularly in the sort of habitat we were in today.

After arriving back, we were greeted by dozens of birds in our frontyard flying to safety as we walked up the boardwalk. They are very active.

Yesterday, Tom saw a kingfisher near Slikok Creek. Earlier this summer, I had two sightings of kingfishers. They are always a special treat to see.

Our yard is busy with birds, but hardly any singing now. I so miss their songs. Now and then, I'll hear a white-crowned sparrow. Of course, chickadee calls and nuthatch calls. Not much else.

Caution: Bird Crossing

Our front boardwalk has become hazardous for pedestrians, there are so many immature birds out there as well as anxious adults. Every time we open the front door, there is a flurry of birds, squirrels and hares, taking off for safety. White-crowned sparrows, juncos, robins, siskins, nuthatches. An occasional crossbill. They're all feeding, bathing, hanging out in front in numbers like we haven't seen before. When I walk down the boardwalk between the trees, I do keep my hands up around my head just a bit, as the immatures are a little less sure-winged and occasionally fly right into a solid object, like a person or a window. We added more gillnetting around one window, as there have been several loud collisions in the last couple of days, no fatalities that we could see, though.

The backyard is quite busy too. The hawk visited us two-three days in a row and then has not been back - at least that we've seen. It's been very entertaining.

Almost Patriotic

Had a beautiful sighting of female Hairy (Harriet) woodpecker today. And watched a short drama of a sharp-shinned hawk sitting in the trees waiting for an unsuspecting bird.

                             

We have seen and heard a song sparrow regularly now, calling from the southeast corner of our yard on a regular rotation. A lot of immature white crowned sparrows in our front yard. Not so many in the backyard. What is the attraction out there? Maybe not so much competition.

Happy 4th of July.