Thursday's Bird Watch

 This is an "update" on the baby Anna's Hummingbird I featured on my post of May 2nd.  That post reported on the first day the juvenile left its nest in the Central Courtyard here at Dallas Retirement Village on April 23rd.  Since then, we have had quiet a variety of hummingbirds visit our juice feeder on our balcony, and it's always a fun chore to decide it it's an Anna's Hummingbird or a Rufous Hummingbird, and if it is a male, a female or a juvenile.   This last Thursday evening, May 9th, we got this close-up of what I believe is our baby of this year as it spent close to a half hour at our feeder drinking and preening its feathers.  We can now tell with certainty that our juvenile is a male as we note the change in his plumage, for instance the darkening under the chin.  If you look closely, you will notice his tongue sticking out.  I'm not sure if that was a part of his preening or an objection to having his photo taken.

Big Day on Baskett Butte

With another warm day in the weather forecast, Jeanette and I made plans to get an early start for a big day of birding at nearby Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. We choose to take the Rich Guadagno Memorial Trail which loops around Baskett Butte. When we arrived at the trailhead a little after seven, and turned on eBird to make a Checklist, we discovered by pure coincidence it was Global Big Day in the birding world. It was a magnificent morning of bright sunshine filled with bird song.

 

Western Meadowlark

The song of the Western Meadowlark greeted us immediately when we stepped from the car. Before our hike was over we had counted more meadowlarks than ebird would allow, so we pared back the number to 15, the highest they would accept.

 Jeanette was kept busy with her iPhone using the Merlin ID to identify bird songs, and then entering each species into eBird, for a total of 43 separate species. Here is our eBird Checklist.

It was a day of birds and bees.  Here is a Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee.

Cat's Ears were always a favorite in my wildflower days before birds.  I now need to brush up on them again.

  

Thursday's Bird Watch

We had a successful nesting this year of an Anna's Hummingbird here at Dallas Retirement Village in the Lodge Central Courtyard.  This photo is of the juvenile just after leaving the nest for the first time on Tuesday, April 23rd.  There was only one baby, and a number of residents have enjoyed checking it out over the last two weeks.  It did not seem to have any interest in returning to the nest, perhaps it was glad to be out of the nest which seemed to be coming a little too camped, and probably boring.  The mom was able to find it and feed it again as it tried out perching in a couple of different trees. 
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

This Bald Eagle was photographed on last Sunday morning at the Salem Riverfront Park.  I believe this is the male.  He looks pretty angry. Possibly he is protecting the female on the nest nearby which was impossible to see on this visit due to all the new leaves on the Cottonwood trees. A pair have had a nest at this location for several years now and we can always count on a sighting when we visit the park.  Coincidentally, Salem Riverfront Park is the location of our next Bus Birding Trip for Dallas Retirement Village residents on June 7th and 9th.  
 

Ross's Snow Goose

At the end of March, a Ross's Snow Goose was reported at our nearby Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge.  It was a big deal, because its normal migration route is on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. It was a lone Ross's Goose mixed in with literally thousands of the very common Cackling Goose. Should be easy to spot as it is all white and the Cackling Goose has a brown body and black neck and head with only a small white cheek.  We went in search of it many times in the past three weeks, with no luck.  Today, I believe it was our tenth attempt, and finally success! As we inched along on the gravel road, looking intently through each group of Cacklers, we spotted this white goose. I grabbed the camera and snapped this photo, and in that instant the whole group took flight. But we got our Ross's!  Here is the link to our complete Check List.

Thursday's Bird Watch!

If the minute you walk out the door, you hear a bird singing, chances are almost 100% it's a White-crowned Sparrow.  For the past month the song of the male White-crowned Sparrow has dominated the bird world throughout the Dallas Retirement Village.  He can be heard and seen in all four corners of the Village.  I can think of no other song-bird that puts its heart and soul into its son quite like the White-crowned Sparrow.
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

 An Osprey brings in a stick for the nest on April 5th, marking a new season of nesting.  This is probably one of my favorite times of year, when the Osprey return from their winter thousands of miles away to build their nest, mate, and raise their young. Jeanette and I keep track of about a dozen Osprey nest locations in Polk County, but this is the only one in Dallas.  It's easy to find, just off South Main Street in the old Willamette Mill site.  Check it out as they go about their housekeeping chores and hopefully raise some young.