Sunday, April 11, 2010

Evening Grosbeak invasion, Rose Breasted missing in action!

Well, the abundance of VERY noisy and rambunctious Evening Grosbeak's now have overtaken my front and back yard. They have taken over platform feeders; and now I fear my Rose Breasted Grosbeak found their manners to be quite offensive, and has moved on. He has not been seen since very early Saturday morning.
I do feel badly as many came from all corners of the state, yesterday. (one couple who flew in from Arizona, drove straight to my house, and waited several hours on Saturday)

Most birders were very polite and courteous, a few were rather rude, and some, extrememly rude at first; only to be gushing with joy once they got good looks at the birds. But then, there were a couple that were rather nasty when they did not see the bird. But I was glad they did not, as such behaviour does not merit the honor of such a fantastic opportunity.

There have been many activity changes in my yard as well. The robins are much more active, gathering nest material from partially decomposing garden plants. Chestnut Backed Chickadees have been going out of their way to court, as the Juncos have also.
A beautiful Male American Goldfinch has shown up on a regular basis the past few days. Swallows fly overhead, and bushtits are not in just big flocks as they feed, seem to be in smaller groups.

A pair of Spotted Towhee's are making their ground nest in the cotoneaster this time.
A couple of years ago the Steller Jay's nested in my neighbors Juniper.

The Rufous (two males right now and several females) have had huge battles, and everyone is so busy chasing the other off the feeder, I am surprised they have enough time to even feed.

My Anna's female seems to be quite secretive in a very overgrown portion of my yard, so I wonder if she is nesting there. It is just a huge pile of weeds, a few Vine Leaf Maples, snall ceder, hardy Rhodies, and an abundance of Fireweed, I expect to come up in bunches. I think in the midst are some wild roses, that grow well, but do not give good flowers.

The Bewicks are an obvious pair, scrounging and looking for where they might make a nest site. A couple years ago they started one in the cover for our outdoor faucet. They did get the boot, before they were done.
I could go on, but I will stop now, I have lots of house work to do. I got behind with our special guest and and the people who flocked to see him.
And I am not filling the platform feeders after today; unless the Rosy shows back up. I am certain he is on his way to his nesting site, which will likely be in North East B.C.

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