Towheeblog

Today there was some sunlight, a valued commodity here in the Willamette Valley this tie of year…the yellow-rumps were busy…their tail lights flashing…and I was at the ready.  Here are my amateurish best shots of the flashing tail lights which this species uses to startle, warn, threaten and even bully other species:Here’s the same avian hovercraft in stop-action:

Nearby, most of the other birds in our garden are generally more sedate, less flustered or fluttered–junco, House Finches.Bushtits, of course, are flutterers of the finest.  Nobody can flutter finer…Siskin getting seedy:

820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 17, 2020
13 species

Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
California Scrub-Jay  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  3
Bushtit  30
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
European Starling  4
House Sparrow  X
House Finch  3
Pine Siskin  2
Lesser Goldfinch  2
Dark-eyed Junco  35
Spotted Towhee  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4

820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 16, 2020
18 species

Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
California Scrub-Jay  2
American Crow  X
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  3
Bushtit  30
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
Bewick’s Wren  1
European Starling  X
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  X
House Finch  X
Pine Siskin  2
Lesser Goldfinch  4
Dark-eyed Junco  30
Golden-crowned Sparrow  3
Spotted Towhee  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  X