Yard Bird Drama

I’ve waited so long to post about my yard birds, I’m afraid most of those sightings have expired. Remember that time it snowed? Yeah, well, we had Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed Junco, Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Townsend’s Warbler, Anna’s Hummingbird…and a first for the yard, a Varied Thrush!

Since winter, I’ve upgraded the suet and bird feeder to Squirrel Buster designs saving me a ton of money on seed.

And disappointing the hairy seed snatchers.

While making the birds and I very happy.

See the chew marks on the cage? And the smiling Red-breasted Nuthatch? Squirrel Busters FTW.

And tonight! – I was rewarded for taking the compost outside, because I opened the front door to this!

Woah! The birds were calling, “alarm! alarm!” I quickly set down the compost bin and grabbed my camera that was thankfully nearby, locked and loaded.

I got a sense from the size and thinner legs that it’s an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. Here’s a better picture to get a sense of the size of the bird.

I’d say smaller than a crow, slightly larger than a robin. But as we all know, size lies, so I’m open to interpretation. Anyways, the bird hopped down on the fence and continued the hunt.

I sat on the floor at my front door admiring its ferocity (with just a hint of guilt knowing that it’s probably there because of the bird feeders). Fortunately, a group of brave chickadees chased it away before anyone got hurt. In my yard at least. Whew, exciting! Glad I forced myself out of the hammock to do a little cleaning. Totally worth it.

In less dramatic news, here are cute Bushtits!

Yard birds are the best.

Tweets and chirps,

Audrey