Bird Joy

I have all kinds of pictures to upload and stories to tell since my last post...but they will have to wait. The general theme of most of my time recently has involved looking for work. There are some jobs out there, but in this market employers can afford to be really specific about experience which sometimes makes it difficult to apply for jobs that I really am qualified for, even though I don't have the specific requisite experience. My most recent interview was with Craft Warehouse. If I am offered the job, it would start Monday. That would be good.

As far as birds go, what a backyard I have. One would think that having a yard with a 10x8 deck in it, that itself is only about 15 x 15 would result in some pretty spotty birding. Not true in Beaverton! We installed sod earlier in the summer and planted a row of bushes (hummer and fruit-eater friendly) along the side of one fence. There is some sort of vine growing over the fence on the other side, a small cedar tree and rhodie on opposite sides of the yard, and a crabapple that shares half of its shade with my yard, even though it grows in the neighbors. From the day I put out my hummingbird feeder I have seldom seen it without a bird. There are black chins, rufous and perhaps an Anna's female (still debating with Sibley, Kaufman and the bins).



Additionally, I have song, fox, and English sparrows, and the thistle feeder is alive with goldfinches. And by alive I mean very loud, aggressive, and competitive eating competitions are going on!! Then, just yesterday, I notice that the crabapple was brimming with movement. Saw a flash of a gray/yellow bird that was bigger than a sparrow, and I knew - WAXWINGS!! A tree full!! There are about 20 of them, and I have scanned each for the telltale yellow wing of a Bohemian, but, alas, they are all cedars.




Not that this is bad...just would be really nice to finally get the Boho on my list. Lots of funny looking juvies too! They are hilarious to watch because the crabapple fruit are pretty good sized, and so they will sit there and try to swallow the berries over and over and over until they mash them enough that they go down.

OH MY GOSH!! While I was typing that last sentence, a downy woodpecker male perched on my fence right next to the thistle feeder! Cheeky little devil!



This brings me to the other most exciting spot of recent days - not to mention lends credence to my identification... I was out watering the plants that Matt and I had just potted (succulents) the other evening, and I saw a bird about the size of a Robin land in the crabapple. BUT, it didn't just have red on its breast, it had a red head too! Additionally, it also had a pretty long bill and a white mark above its bill that continued into its face. Its breast was cream/yellow, with a few marks on its flanks. The sun was behind it, so the color was a little washed out, but it gave me the distinct impression of a woodpecker! I only observed it for about 15 seconds before it flew, but when I consulted Sibley in the woodpecker section, lo and behold, what has a red-head and breast, cream/yellow belly, an obvious white mark above its beak and lives here (year-round, I might add)? A red-breasted sap-sucker, that's what!! I think I will start scouting for their tell-tale drilling pattern (see pic below). If I could find that on a tree nearby, I would feel confident counting him. Won't Matt be excited...an evening birding walk where I ask him to use his binocs to look for holes in trees....!



I have been hesitant to count it in my life-list because I couldn't figure out why a woodpecker would be in my yard, and it was only a brief look, but with the downy showing up, I would say that this must be woodpecker territory! Yeah!!

While I was typing that paragraph four hummers have been diving and challenging each other for the spots at the feeder (which I just refilled). They are really fearless. They are always at the feeders, even when you are in the postage-stamp-sized back yard with them. They perch in the trees and chit at you all the time too. In fact, I hadn't really even thought about putting up the feeder until I was hanging my planter off the front porch arbor, and a hummer started chitting at me from the tree just a few feet away. I had seen the neighbors feeders, but never any birds (come to find out they were not aware that sugar-water gets nasty after a few days.....) The second I put mine up they were swarming it!

I think my favorite part of the birds back here is that they are all here at the same time. Sparrows eating thistle right next to goldfinches (and apparently downies checking out the feeder from short range), along with Robins, waxwings, and sparrows, goldfinches, and hummers all sharing the tree! It's charming!! Obviously, we really like the final backyard. We have a very small bistro table and two chairs that back there next to a potted 6ft japanese maple and three pots of succulents. We ate dinner out there the other night (after the smokers went inside..grrrrr). I am so grateful that the yard is "productive" as we miss the one we worked so hard on in Spokane.

I have been toying with getting out the telephoto lens and trying to take some pics, but the yard is in shade most of the day, and the birds move so fast that I would have a hard time getting a good pic. I will just have to take mental memory snapshots. Those are the best kind anyway...

Will post pics soon. (Birdy pics here from google.) Think happy job thoughts for me, and happy birding!