Thursday's Bird Watch!

My thanks go out to Dallas Retirement Village resident Pete McDowell for telling us that our Red-breasted Sapsucker has returned to Tilgner Avenue.  I say "our", because a number of DRV residents have been observing this bird, or another one of the same species, for several years at the same tree.  We last saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker at this tree on April 1st of this year.  The story of this species is that they go somewhere else to breed and to raise their young during the spring and summer.  This tree is their winter hang out from September until April.  One look at the tree with its many sap wells will explain why they like to hang out here.
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

This is the time of year when birds are busy harvesting and hiding food for later this winter.  In this case it's a California Scrub-Jay photographed here in Dallas Retirement Village up at The Pavilion last Friday Aug 30th.  I watched while the jay repeatedly flew up to a perch with an oak in its bill and then down to its cache under some shrubs.  Incidentally, the California Scrub-Jay was first officially recorded in Oregon in 1880 as the Long-tailed Jay.  A quick glance at the tail in the photo validates the name.

 

Wild Turkeys

At 7:30 this mourning just as we were about to leave to check out several good birding locations out of town, Jeanette noticed this flock of a dozen Wild Turkeys just outside the building we live in. This is a combined family with two mama birds and their 10 offspring.  I posted about them back on July 17th. The poults have grown so fast that they are almost the same size as the moms. Officially named "Wild Turkeys" they seem quite domestic as they roam quite freely through the Dallas Retirement Village, much to the enjoyment of all the residents. I suppose there could be a lesson here, --- that it's not necessary to put a lot of effort in to traveling when we can have an interesting birding experience right outside our door.