[Birdtalk] backyard birds

[Linda Butler]

Steve,
You seem to have a LOT of birds in your yard. What are you feeding them? 
What sort of habitat is your yard?
Linda

>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 11:28:11 -0600
> From: "Steve Coleman" <scoleman at utah.gov>
> Subject: [Birdtalk] Backyard birds this fall
> To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
> Message-ID: <20071009T112811Z_6A28000A0000 at utah.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> I have had several species show up in my yard this year for the first 
> time.
>
> First are California Quail. I have lived in my home in Woods Cross for 10 
> years and never had Quail until this year. I have a family of  a dozen or 
> more Quail feed in my backyard every day. This spring there were 3 pair 
> that visited every day to feed then they disappeared during the summer and 
> two weeks ago they returned only now there is twice as many of them.
>
> Hermit Thrush, I have never seen a Hermit Thrush in my yard until this 
> fall. I saw my first one early in September and I see several every day 
> now.
>
> Orange Crowned Warblers; another first for my yard. This year I have seen 
> many, there seems to be a small flock of them for the last two weeks.
>
> Western Tanagers I saw my first WT this spring, a female flew through my 
> yard. This fall I have had at least a dozen for the last month, they seem 
> to be leaving now though, I only saw one last week.
>
> Black-headed Grossbeak, I occasionally see Grosbeaks in my yard but his 
> fall there have been many more than usual.
>
> Other birds that I have seen in the past but have seen many more this year 
> than in other years are: Empid Flycatchers, Olive-sided Flycatchers, 
> Western Wood Pewee, Downey Woodpecker, Red-naped Woodpecker, American 
> Robins gorging on juniper berries, Wilson's Warblers, MacGillivray's's 
> Warblers have become regular Spring and Fall visitors, Common Nighthawk 
> but none for the last two weeks.
>
> Five years ago I had a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows and one 
> Harris's Sparrow that spent Fall and Winter in my backyard. I have not 
> seen any in my yard since then until this fall. I again have a small flock 
> of White-crowned Sparrows in my yard (no Harris's Sparrow yet but I am 
> watching).
>
> Common fall and winter visitors that are still coming, Ruby-crowned 
> Kinglet seems like more this year, House Sparrows, House Finches, American 
> Goldfinches, Scrub Jays (no Stellars Jay has ever visited my yard but I am 
> watching for them), Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, Cedar 
> Waxwings haven't shown up yet, they usually show up in January, and 
> Northern Flickers.
>
> Pine Siskins and Lesser goldfinches were common three years ago but I 
> haven't seen any the last two years so I am watching for their return as 
> well.
>
> Five years ago was a good year for my back yard and this year is even 
> better so I am going to make a prediction. Five years ago we had an 
> invasion of Common Red-polls in the area, I had one show up in my yard so 
> I am going to be watching for them again this year.
>
> No Sharpies yet but I expect they will be coming around soon since my 
> backyard is very active.
>
> We had a pair of Swainson's hawks that nested a half a block down the 
> street from us this year, they raised three offspring that fledged. They 
> visited my yard often, I suspect they were hoping to catch my fairly vocal 
> Cockatoo outside of her flight cage. They have since gone south the 
> Cockatoo is still vocal.
>
> Happy birding
> Steve
>