Except for those lingering siskins there are no wintering birds left in our garden. A Black-headed Grosbeak sings daily from within earshot though rarely in our trees. A male Anna’s Hummingbird is on sentinel duty from a neighbor’s half-dead birch tree. He sits on top of the tree on the bare twigs and surveys a busy intersection and many blooming shrubs.
A block east a scrub-jay is atop another tree, perhaps his mate is on eggs down inside the dense foliage. The watcher on alert for any possible nest robber. The starlings are bringing the kids to school. Teach them about suet feeders. There were at least four fledglings in our garden today, even joining a parent in the bird bath.
FINCHES
These days of grounding make flight even more magic to watch. Yesterday a handful of swifts circled around a treetop, presumably some insects were gathered there. Today a red-tail hundreds of feet up circled slowly with dark gray rain clouds as a back-drop. Even slow moving clouds seem to signal a kind of flight I cannot imagine or find words.
SKY HIGH
820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
May 17, 2020
13 species
Eurasian Collared-Dove 3
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
California Scrub-Jay 1
Black-capped Chickadee X
Chestnut-backed Chickadee X
European Starling 12
House Sparrow 1
House Finch 2
Pine Siskin 4
American Goldfinch 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
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