Yard birds - Douglas

[Hugh Kingery]

Townsend's Solitaires have arrived in our patch to serenade us with their lovely melodic songs. We have probably a dozen or more along our road. Beyond that, we still see an occasional Western Tanager; the males have started to change their head colors from orange to yellow.

Still regular: lots of chickadees (both kinds),  1-2 White-breasted Nuthatches, several flocks of Pygmy Nuthatches, piles of Spotted Towhees (we've counted 15-20 several days). House Finches vary in number, from one or two up to 15 or 20. Scrub-Jays persist, and Blue Jays have arrived to join them (we see them only in the winter months). Gluttonous Turkeys scrape up droppings under our feeders -- from 5 to 15.

We hear crows and ravens, see an occasional Golden Eagle and even less occasionally a Red-tailed Hawk. And just now, a Cooper's Hawk immature.dKestrels moved through last week. So far no Juncos other than Gray-headed.

Hugh Kingery