August-October, 2021

I'm still catching up with 2021! Here are some assorted sights from our yard, meadow, and woods in August through October of this year.

Young Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were a steady presence in our yard in August, and they seemed to especially enjoy tasting a variety of plants in my vegetable garden. I would've preferred it if they didn't munch on the tomato and pepper blossoms -- those plants had a hard enough time already during this very wet summer -- but there were plenty of peas to go around, and I enjoyed seeing these rowdy young birds snacking away at the top of the pea trellis on August 2:

I think this young Rose-breasted Grosbeak may have struck a window on August 6 (a rare occurrence at our house, fortunately), because it sat for a few minutes on our upstairs balcony, allowing for some unusually close views before it flew off:

For the second year in a row, American Robins nested on the front of our house, making close neighbors with the Eastern Phoebes above our front door. On August 3, the stripey robin babies were looking alert and nearly ready to leave the nest:

This is actually the first year I've seen American Robins successfully produce new birds on our property -- the nests I've seen in the previous three years have all failed. And even better, there were a total of three successful American Robin broods on our property this year. Hooray for a productive year for robins!

The House Wrens were also productive this year, with two broods in their chosen nest box. Here's one of those young House Wrens on August 6:

On the morning of August 8, I was shocked to see a really big bird walking around next to our house. What in the world is a Great Blue Heron doing in our yard??

There are ponds and streams a short flight away from here, but we have no aquatic environments in our yard at all.... As it turned out, though, this Great Blue Heron was hunting food of the small furry variety, and our yard has plenty of those. We watched through a window as the heron snatched up a Meadow Vole:

Here's a closer view of the vole's plight (as clear as I could get through the window):

Down it goes:

The heron hunted over quite a bit of the yard. Look, there's a huge bird walking behind the cars (!):

The heron grabbed one more wriggling vole from the bank between the road and the driveway:

And then a passing runner startled the heron and it flew away. What a cool and unexpected visitor! Now I can add Great Blue Heron to the list of predators who sometimes stop by to keep our vole population in check.

We had so much rain this summer that our little pond in the woods kept water in it all year, instead of turning into a big muddy patch as it has done in previous years. On August 6, I was happy to see some Green Frogs hanging out in the water:

On August 8, I saw the cutest little Gray Treefrog (a young individual) in a patch of Orange Jewelweed in our yard:

I hear Gray Treefrogs frequently enough around here that they must be fairly common, but I so rarely get to see them. And this little creature was so adorable! It was climbing among the jewelweed stems, hunting tiny flying insects, and pausing long enough for a picture now and then:

This lovely Black Swallowtail showed up at the zinnias on our back deck on August 28:

While gardening in the front yard on September 3, I came across a couple of fun little creatures (and had only my phone's poor-quality camera to document them). This small Spotted Salamander was burrowed below ground, before I accidentally unearthed it:

And I found a really bizarre larva on Black Walnut leaves -- at first, I assumed this was a caterpillar infected with some sort of fungus, but it turned out to be the normal larva (they're supposed to look like this!) of a species of sawfly, the Butternut Woollyworm (Eriocampa juglandis):

On September 11, I watched a flock of Cedar Waxwings feasting on Pokeweed berries:

These birds looked so fancy surrounded by Pokeweed and blooming goldenrod:

Nearby, an industrious Eastern Chipmunk watched me from one of the many holes in the old apple tree next to our driveway:

Look at those stuffed-full cheeks!

Also on September 11, this European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) was doing its best impression of a grass stem as it staked out a patch of Little Bluestem in the meadow:

This Giant Puffball made an impressive sight in our yard on September 18:

Here's a beautiful Monarch on New England Aster on September 25:

And reddening Virginia Creeper leaves glowing in the sunlit woods:

Furrow Orbweaver spiders (Larinioides cornutus or patagiatus) commonly build webs across the outside of our windows throughout the spring, summer, and fall. This little individual found shelter in a leaf caught against a window in October, and it seems to now be spending the winter curled up in its home; this picture is from October 10:

I didn't get outside much in October and November -- fall is always a busy time. I have a few more sights to share from December 2021, and that will be the next post.

Grebes, Herons, and More at the Marsh

Yesterday morning -- again, during a temporary break in the rain -- I went back to the Arcata Marsh. I'm finally starting to take advantage of how close I live to this amazing place! Just like last week, the marsh was hosting lots and lots of ducks, as well as various other birds, including several hunters in a large pool that must have been brimming with fish. I loved getting to see herons and grebes at work, especially at such close range. (I don't know whether it's because of the abundance of wildlife or the abundance of people that hang out in this relatively small area, but the birds at the Arcata Marsh seem especially willing to stay near the paths even when people walk by!)

Two gorgeous Western Grebes were popping in and out of the water:
 

This grebe is about to slice into the water for another dive:
 

I've only ever seen these big grebes from afar before, so this was quite a treat. What a bird:
 

I can't get over those red eyes, and that knife-like beak:
 

Two smaller Eared Grebes were hunting in these waters as well. OK, wait, these eyes are the best, with that ring of yellow in the middle of the orange-red:
 

One of the two Eared Grebes was looking especially fluffy, but it was doing just as much diving as its fellow:
 

A Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret were prowling nearby:
 

And this turned out to be an amazing chance to watch a Great Blue Heron at work up close. First, I just had to admire this giant bird:
 

Herons look so funny from the front, but I absolutely love the patterns on this creature's neck and chest:
 

This heron proved to be an excellent hunter, nabbing a fish every few minutes. (The Great Egret wasn't having quite as much success.) Got one:
 

Ah, too many eyes!
 

And down it goes! (Not shown: the fish was still wriggling as it was swallowed.)
 

And there's another fish soon afterward:
 

So yeah, I would not want to be a fish in this pond, that's for sure.

In another pond, Green-winged Teal were busy filtering food from the water's surface, motoring around like flat little boats:

A few Lesser Scaup (including some dapper males this time) were in another pond:

And a very sleepy Horned Grebe was floating around as well:
 

(I also saw a Pied-billed Grebe, making a total of four grebe species; not bad for one visit!)

I can't help taking more pictures of Marsh Wrens when these handsome little birds keep popping up right next to me:

Sing, little Marsh Wren!

I wonder if these birds have started building nests yet, or if they're still working on establishing their territories:

Lovely little bird:

Could this be the same Northern Harrier that flew past me last week, in exactly this same spot?

A Red-shouldered Hawk watched a meadow from a nearby tree:

And a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows waited calmly in some brambles for me to walk past so they could return to feeding in the path:

And all that in a short visit between rain storms! Hooray for the Arcata Marsh!

First Feeder Birds

Oof, did all of September just go by? Things are pretty hectic around here right now, so I'm just grabbing whatever scraps of time I can find to be outside (and it's not nearly enough). Fortunately for me (because I need nature to be happy), our neighborhood birds have become an ever stronger presence in our yard over the past month. Yellow-rumped Warblers -- with yellow throats, here in the west -- have been foraging in the pine trees over our house in the evenings, the Black Phoebe continues to hunt in our back yard, and I even looked outside the other day to see a Northern Waterthrush (a rare bird for this area) poking through my little aphid-filled garden.

Even better, the birds have found our window feeders! When we put the feeders up a couple of months ago, I was pretty skeptical that any birds would find them at all, since our house is relatively exposed, without a lot of low trees or bushes to attract passing birds and help direct them to the feeders. Plus, Tufted Titmouses have historically been the birds to first discover our window feeders in Connecticut and Ohio, and we don't have any titmouses here in Northern California! But as it turns out, our Chestnut-backed Chickadees are an equally exploratory and adventuresome species. These handsome little birds discovered the feeders a few weeks ago, and now we get daily visits. Sometimes they bring along the Black-capped Chickadees (who I've noticed tend to forage higher up in the trees in our yard, while the Chestnut-backs do more work around our fences and buildings), and most recently a few Red-breasted Nuthatches (wonderful squeak toys!) have shown up as well. Birds! Up close!

This Chestnut-backed Chickadee sat at one of our feeders, chirping and snacking, for several minutes the other day while I snuck around outside with my camera:
 

I love, love, love, these birds with their fancy brown vests! How do you make a chickadee even cuter? Dress it up in a little coat:
 

Sorry, Black-capped Chickadees, you're wonderful as well, and I love having your familiar faces around, but in this particular yard, the Chestnut-backed Chickadees are the biggest characters:
 

Keep coming back for more seeds, fancy birds:
 

While I'm already here, here are some pictures from the scattered moments I've had outside over the past several weeks. This Chestnut-backed Chickadee was looking a bit more natural (and very fluffy) in the eucalyptus trees next to our driveway:
 

In the first week of September, on a walk through the dunes, a hummingbird (I'm not sure of the species) zoomed out next to the path and posed for a few pictures:
 

I love the flashes of green on the back of its little head:

Way back in mid-August, I watched a bunch of American Crows picking through some beach-goers belongings at Big Lagoon County Park. These crows know how to find food:

Next to the lagoon, a Great Blue Heron was perched in a tree, not the kind of setting I'd expect for these birds:

If you're wondering, yes, everywhere around here is awesome.