Young Red Shouldered Hawk

 This beautiful immature red shouldered hawk was sitting on a tree branch right outside the dining room this morning. It was waiting for the birds to come to the feeders for breakfast so that he could get his. They must have known he was there because come they did not! While he was patiently waiting, I went up one flight to the bedroom, opened the window and took several photos. I love the fluffed up feathers. I wish I could pet him!

Seedheads and Messy Gardens

Six goldfinches suspended on the tips of some of the Echinacea seed heads in the perennial garden are a reminder that it is time to let the faded flowers remain on the plants. All summer the horticulturist in me has been dead heading the plants to ensure a continuous production of new flowers. This also ensured that the butterflies, bees and other pollinators would remain in the garden. As the season is beginning to wind down, the naturalist in me reminds me that it is okay to let seed heads develop and leaves to gather on the ground. This will provide food for the many birds that will be visiting this fall and winter. And what seeds they don't eat may just sprout and grow, producing new plants next season. Again attracting the butterflies, bees and other pollinators to them. Oh yes, the circle of life! Why do we humans need to mess with it?

Comings and Goings

The catbirds and wrens were gone from the garden for a few weeks, but as of the past week, they are back.  I haven't seen or heard a mourning dove in a week or two.  And robins have not been here at all this summer.  I wonder if they now migrate north for the summers and spend their winters here.

I regularly see a group of cardinals, about 5, taking turns flying to the different feeders placed throughout the gardens.  Three of them are males woh were born this spring and who had been wearing their "punk" outfits until recently. Now they are sporting their red coats, which are growing brighter every day.

I've changed the seed in the feeders to only black sunflower seeds. All of my favorite birds enjoy it, including the gold finches, and the sparrows do not. The population of house sparrows has diminished, I'm thinking because they prefer the millet in the wild bird food mix and now are not getting it.  It could be that they have moved on like the birds mentioned above. Or maybe they are living over by Kate's house, eating her bird food.  This may be the case with the mourning doves too. Maybe they don't care for the sunflower seeds.  I would see them on the raised beds in the enclosed garden most of the summer and think it was they who ate the dill, nigella and zinnia seeds I sowed.  I saw them in those beds and those plants didn't sprout. So even if they didn't like the sunflower seed, wouldn't they be in the gardens? I can't believe we are all out of weed seeds!

I saw a hummingbird yesterday.  I want to look for and record it each day.  There were a few days when I didn't see them.  As soon as I changed the sugar water in their feeders, they were back! The weather had gotten cooler at that time so I thought maybe they were on their way south.  I expect them to be gone any day now.  Or can I expect to see more hummingbirds for a while as the ones who were north of here begin to head south?  An incentive to keep up with the feeders!

Also for the past week I have heard some new bird calls, but have not seen who they belong to.  One bird may have been the catbird, though I did see what looked like a phoebe on the wire in the area the song was coming from.  I remember in the spring hearing the catbirds singing a lovely song, very unlike their usual screechy cat alert call.  I've also heard what Bob calls the "clothesline" bird. It was alternating its call with the blue jays, so maybe this is an alternate call/song of theirs. And there was a third call that I cannot describe, but was new as well. I will go through the different bird calls on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

It is to to refer to the Sally Roth book, Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season, to see what is in store for the autumn season.  I bought the book last January and have learned a lot from it so far. Autumn is the last section in the book still to read.

Birds Seen Today as of 10 a.m
Hummingbird
Cardinals
Blue jay (hear)
downy woodpecker
catbird
mourning dove - flying
chickadee
wrens (hear)

Weather: humid, overcast, thunder and lightning in the distance.

Birds in the Garden at 7 a.m.

Goldfinches

red bellied woodpecker

downy woodpecker - male and female
nuthatch

chickadees

cardinals

sparrows

finches

mourning dove

hummingbird

Goldfinch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

male downy woodpecker

female ruby throated hummingbird

nuthatch

chickadee

mourning dove

Hummingbirds and Their Favorite Flowers

The hummingbirds (there are at least 2 - two females have been keeping each other company the past few days - mother and daughter?) are regular visitors to the feeders now. They also enjoy the nectar from the:
butterfly bushes
Verbena bonariensis
cosmos
zinnias
hops
cucumbers
roses
hollyhocks
tithonias
thistle

Having the hummingbirds here has been the highlight of the summer! I have set out feeders for them in years past, but wasn't home enough to pay attention and probably didn't change the sugar water often enough so they stopped visiting. It is a daily treat to see them!

Goldfinch and Downy Woodpecker

I like how I was able to capture both of these birds, on different plants, in the same photo.

Spicebush Swallowtail

Saw this beauty today.

Spicebush Swallowtail