Fall and Early Winter, 2023

Here's one more post wrapping up sights around our property in 2023! These past few months have been decently busy, including a good amount of traveling (sights from which I hope to share in a blog post sometime soon). But there were also plenty of interesting goings-on in our yard, meadow, and woods during this time, including our first ever glimpse of a Black Bear on the evening of November 5! We heard a strange clanging sound outside, and we turned on the floodlight to see a bear bending the bird feeder pole to the ground! The bear ran off quickly, so I don't have any pictures to share from that encounter, but yeah, now we can definitely add Black Bear to our list of yard mammals. Here's a bunch of other sights that do come with pictures, starting back in early September.

On September 4, I was admiring the array of colorful wildflowers on a slope near one of our sheds -- I didn't plant or maintain any of this, so I'm especially impressed with these balanced swathes of blooming goldenrod, Spotted Jewelweed, and a wild sunflower that I'm pretty sure is Thin-leaved Sunflower (Helianthus decapetalus):

Here's a closer view on September 8 of one of these brilliant sunflower blooms:

And here's a Spotted Jewelweed flower with a visiting bee, who accessed this flower by crawling behind that large lower lip:

Also in the above picture are the jewelweed's seedpods -- touching those pods and deploying their exploding mechanisms is one of my great joys of the summer and fall. :)

On September 11, this awkwardly patchy Gray Catbird was foraging for Pokeweed berries:

And another Gray Catbird was gulping down Gray Dogwood berries on September 23:

I'm not sure who eats these brilliant red Jack-in-the-Pulpit berries -- this big cluster was in the woods on September 23:

This juvenile Cedar Waxwing on October 1, though, was also visiting our yard to eat Pokeweed berries:

I'm really grateful that our property came with such an ample native berry supply in the summer and fall, to keep the birds hanging around!

By October 1, the Virginia Creeper vines that cover many of the Black Cherry trees on the edge of our woods had become a brilliant red -- this is one of my favorite sights here in early fall, and I can't help sharing a couple of pictures:

I love how the Virginia Creeper's leaves make a solid red core around these upper branches, and the Black Cherry's own leaves make a still-green cloud around that:

A little further along the meadow's edge on October 1, golden Wild Grape leaves intertwined with sumac leaves that revealed their silvery undersides in the wind -- so many festive colors:

We put up a large bat box in our yard in 2020, and toward the end of the summer this year we finally saw our first small signs of some visiting bats! By October 5, there was a definite smattering of droppings on the ground around the bat box's pole -- certainly not enough to indicate a colony, but I guess we had a few bats staying with us this year:

October 17 was a great day for some bird portraits in the afternoon fall sun. This Tufted Titmouse gave me a wonderfully close view as it perched on our deck railing:

And then the same or another titmouse looked especially handsome against a backdrop of late-fall meadow colors:

Likewise, if not more so, for this gorgeous Blue Jay:

I was happy to get some brief glimpses of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets that were moving through the yard:

This picture even includes a tiny bit of this bird's usually hidden ruby crown:

On the night of October 28, I tried for a picture of the full moon (not my usual type of subject!), and I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked out -- wow, the moon is amazing:

Apparently I took very few pictures in November! We had our first sticking snow on November 1 (only a day after our first frost), and I was amazed that the Coral Honeysuckle kept blooming late enough into the year to have its flowers covered with snow:

And here's a Black-capped Chickadee checking out our roof on November 4:

On the afternoon of December 4, a fantastic rainbow appeared over our meadow:

On December 12, this Dark-eyed Junco let me approach fairly close, as long as it stayed mostly hidden in its tangle of branches and vines:

A Pileated Woodpecker came to our suet feeder for a few days in December, which was an unusual and wonderful treat. Here's this too-big bird on December 14:

And again on December 15 -- I love those pointy tail feathers (sorry about the weird coloring in these pictures; the woodpecker insisted on visiting in the morning during very poor light, and I got some strange effects when I lightened and processed these pictures):

For a size comparison, here's a Downy Woodpecker on the same feeder on December 20:

While I walked around outside on December 20, I kept seeing Downy Woodpeckers all over the place, actually. I guess this was a good day for these littlest (and cutest) of our woodpeckers! This Downy Woodpecker was working on our Shagbark Hickory tree:

Another Downy Woodpecker was hammering into the round galls on goldenrod stems in the meadow, getting at the larvae inside:

What a cool foraging strategy -- go get that bug, little woodpecker:

In the woods, Downy Woodpeckers were working over various dead trees, stark black-and-white creatures on multicolored wooden surfaces:

Also on December 20 (what an active day!), I got to see this White-breasted Nuthatch foraging among bark crevices in the woods:

This Black-capped Chickadee showing its beautifully patterned back and wings:

And this Dark-eyed Junco perched among the Redbud tree's bare branches:

And now 2023 is coming to a close, and that means a whole new year is next! I'm excited to see what sights 2024 brings, both familiar and new.

Spring and Early Summer Highlights: Part II

Here's a continuation of the previous post, with more highlights from April, May, and June of this year. And it turns out I still have too many things to share, so this will actually have to be three posts, not two!

More Birds

Spring was very slow to advance this year, with freezing temperatures and occasional snow all the way through mid-May. (Our last snow was on May 12.) The migrating birds still showed up in early May as usual, though, which led to some strange sights, like this male Rose-breasted Grosbeak amid falling snow:

A flowering quince shrub in our yard bloomed fairly early in May despite the cold weather, and its blossoms were a big draw for some nectar-seeking birds. Here's a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying these blossoms on May 17:

Bare branches on another nearby shrub made great perches for little hummingbird feet in between trips to the flowers -- I love how sassy she looks in this photo:

A male hummingbird was hanging around, too, and actively courting the female. I didn't get any pictures of his fancy dives, but he was also nice enough to perch for a couple of photos in between trips to the flowering quince:

In this next picture, I love how the light bouncing off of his feathers has turned the underside of his beak red:

Baltimore Orioles were also frequent visitors to the quince blossoms; here's a brilliant male from May 16:
 

The number of bird species we've seen or heard on our property has continued to climb. Birds #107 and 108 (I still can't believe we're in the 100s!) were the two cuckoo species: Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Black-billed Cuckoo. In previous years, I've suspected that I was hearing cuckoos calling occasionally, and this year in early June I finally learned and confirmed these two species' calls. Confirmation of these species by ear was about as much as I thought I could hope for, but then a day or two afterward, both species each flew out into clear view and showed themselves. I didn't have my camera handy for the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (a bird I'd only seen once before, way back in 2011 in Connecticut), but here's a distant and partially-obstructed picture of the Black-billed Cuckoo, a totally new bird for me:

I managed to wander outside and look/listen for migrants nearly every day in May this year (a definite benefit of working from home). Ruby-crowned Kinglets were common and surprisingly loud visitors. Here's one of these cute little birds on May 1:

Black-and-white Warblers are so fancy, and I saw them fairly frequently this spring (and at least one pair has stuck around over the summer and is probably breeding somewhere out there). This male was foraging on a fallen tree in the woods on May 2:

And here's a male on May 16 showing off his gravity-defying tree-climbing skills:

These birds are gorgeous, but I think they look really strange when viewed head-on:

A flock of male Yellow-rumped Warblers lit up the still leafless woods on May 10:

A male Cape May Warbler foraged in a pine tree next to our driveway on May 17:

And on May 15 I felt extremely lucky to come across a male Black-throated Blue Warbler foraging right at ground level in the woods, and near the path. I suspect this is the closest I will ever get to one of these handsome birds, and is that not the most perfect color of slaty-blue on his head and back?
 

That's enough for now, but we're still not done catching up with spring and early summer! Stay tuned for Part III!

Checking in at the Arcata Marsh

Have I really not been to the Arcata Marsh since late July? See, this is what I mean about missing my outside time. When I woke up on Sunday morning to bright sunlight rather than the predicted rain, I grabbed my chance and drove the few minutes to this amazing habitat. The marsh was just overflowing with activity -- so many birds, and lots of happy people walking around. It was hard to decide where to look! A pond next to the road was filled with ducks, so that seemed like a good place to start:
 

A flotilla of Ruddy Ducks paddled nearest to my side of the pond:
 

A couple of female Lesser Scaup were in the mix as well:
 

Ruddy Ducks are such strange, dumpy birds, and this is one of the few times I've seen them up close:

Those tails are so cool and strange-looking:
 

Hello, funny bird. You are very cute:
 

A male Northern Shoveler mingled with the group as well. Why do so many ducks look so weird?

Green-winged Teal were in several of the ponds. This pair was resting in a nice sheltered spot:

Male Green-winged Teal are exceptionally fancy:
 

This teal trio made quite the tableau; I love the male's speckled breasts and the female's almost-hidden flash of green:
 

Here's the trio in another arrangement; the male in the back kept lifting up his head to make a high-pitched peeping call:

Swallows zoomed above the water's surface. (Perhaps I will be able to photograph a Violet-green Swallow sometime before the move. Their costumes are simply amazing.) A Northern Harrier flew low overhead, giving me the rare chance to admire this raptor's belly and wings:
 

Marsh Wrens sang out from every direction. It's such a treat to see these little birds being so bold:
 

In a nearby field, Western Meadowlarks flashed their brilliant yellow breasts as they foraged in the grass:
 

Every few minutes, the small flock of meadowlarks would burst up out of the grass to relocate to a new spot in the field. I felt a bit like I was watching a very quiet and very unpredictable fireworks show:
 

A tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet foraged in some bushes next to the path and was remarkably obliging with me and my camera:
 

Later, I even saw the kinglet flash its bright red crown for a moment, but here it's looking typically plain and adorable:

As I was heading back to my car, the promised rain began, but I had to make a last quick stop when I met a Yellow-rumped Warbler on a moss-covered tree next to the path:
 

Beautiful warbler on branches that look like they will soon covered with leaves:
 

I suppose there really are seasons here, too, but they're certainly muted compared with what I'm used to in the east. I'm looking forward to seeing what spring in Northern California brings!