Katie's Sightings

Garden Delights!

Steller's Jay Adult - Cyanocitta stelleriDown in our garden the sunflowers are starting to go to seed, and the local wildlife is feasting on them! The Steller's Jays live here all year, and are quite acrobatic when eating sunflower seeds! They are also quite clever in their seed getting antics! They are a lot heavier than goldfinches, and can't perch on the smaller, thinner-stemmed sunflowers. I watched the one above repeatedly leap up about 4.5 feet to get the seeds of one particular sunflower head! Wow!Lesser Goldfinch (Male) - Carduelis psaltria

A few Lesser Goldfinches have recently arrived in our garden, and are foraging on the sunflower seed heads that the Chickarees haven't been able to harvest! I love their tiny little calls to each other.Lesser Goldfinch (Juvenile & Adult Male) - Carduelis psaltria

There has been a juvenile goldfinch that flutters and flutters its wings ever hopeful that its parents will feed it, even though it is full-sized and fully capable of feeding itself! Lesser Goldfinches usually have 2 broods a year, sometimes even three! This juvenile is probably from a second brood. These beautiful little birds have their babies later in the year than most songbirds. They time the hatching, and subsequent fledging of their nestlings to match this time of year, when seeds are newly available.

When the temps get cooler, these little birds will migrate down to the foothills and valleys of California for the winter. It is so fun to watch these little birds (4.5" in length), the smallest of all goldfinches, feast in our garden!Douglas Squirrel/Chickaree - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Our local Chickarees have been climbing the sunflowers, cutting off the entire seed heads, and then eating or running off with them! What they don't eat right away, they store for winter. They're cutting LOTS of them off!Douglas Squirrel/Chickaree - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Just yesterday evening we were sitting down in our garden enjoying the view, when I saw a Chickaree carrying something other than a sunflower head in its mouth! I zoomed in with my camera and was totally shocked to find out that it was carrying a baby Chickaree!!! WOW! You can see it's hind feet and tail in the above photo! It ran lickety-split along the phone line down the road and disappeared.

Your questions and comments are appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!