BACKYARD BIRD OBSERVATIONS
FROM OUR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
July was a month of abundance for backyard birders! You observed juveniles of many species, like Mourning Doves, Bushtits, California and Spotted Towhees, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. You also documented birds of prey - White-tailed Kites, Cooper’s and Red-tailed Hawks, and even a Western Screech-Owl - as they were hunting, but also while they were just hanging out, alone or together. Anna’s Hummingbirds intrigued you as they courted and fought with each other. You noticed birds with injuries, like a Wild Turkey, and tried to help when you could.
This edition of All Around Town contains a special section on orioles, both Hooded and Bullock’s (you’ll find it after the monthly observations). Your sightings of these birds peaked in July, when many of the young fledged and started visiting your feeders, together with their parents. Learn how to identify these birds - juveniles and adults, as well as males and females - with the photos and tips in this section.
As you read this month’s edition, you’ll also find a few fun brain teasers:
First, take the Black-headed Grosbeak challenge presented by one of our contributors - he’s only ever seen one bird, but do his photos document a single individual or more than one? Next, try your hand at solving the Mystery of the Missing Tail, a phenomenon observed by two different contributors this month. Finally, practice your oriole ID skills on some tricky photos.
Here are your recent backyard and neighborhood bird observations:
An adult Cooper’s Hawk with its prey near Steven’s home.
Steven Rice (Palo Alto) says: “I continue to have few if any avian visitors, but yesterday I spotted this Cooper's Hawk with what appears to be a House Finch right outside my home.”
A young Cooper’s Hawk at Jack’s home. Note the differences in plumage patterns and colors, as well as the different eye color, between this young bird and the adult bird photographed by Steven.
Jack Tomlin (Los Altos) captions this photo: “Praying for breakfast. Flew away in disappointment.” He adds: “This Cooper’s Hawk was all over my backyard one morning flying from one perch to another. It sat for a long time on this pipe, in a good view, allowing me to take a few photos.”
A Great Blue Heron’s colors are echoed by the water around it.
Linden Skjeie (San Jose) took this picture of a Great Blue Heron at a groundwater percolation pond near her home.
Four of the five White-tailed Kites observed by Linden. Could they be a family or a group of youngsters spending time together?
Linden also observed five White-tailed Kites “hanging out along a hillside for a few weeks. They seem to have left again.”
Eve Meier (San Jose) wrote to us in mid-July: “Just spotted - a Dark-eyed Junco feeding a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird. I know it's the way of nature but I feel bad for the parent trying to keep up with a hungry young cowbird!” She also saw a juvenile California Towhee in her yard last month.
Alden Hughes (Saratoga) writes: “We hadn’t heard any owls over the summer nesting season, but at the end of June I noticed something odd on the fence outside my room.”
The young Western Screech-Owl that visited Alden. Note its loose, fluffy feathers and the thin horizontal barring across its breast and belly.
“This juvenile Western Screech-Owl was on the fence for at least five hours. It opened its eyes and stared at us through the window as we crouched behind the bed with my camera. Earlier in the day my mom had heard a racket of Bushtits which could’ve been mobbing it, and a few hours after it was spotted it was mobbed again by finches and juncos, the seed feeders being only ten feet away, and flew to the ground before returning to its perch. It disappeared before sunset and no owls were heard for a week until we heard screech-owls after midnight for the first time in a while.”
Alden says: “This, along with a very distant Osprey sighting, is the most surprising backyard sighting I’ve ever had!”
Another view from Alden’s window - the bird’s eyes appear to be closed.
At the end of July, Deanne Tucker (Los Altos) shared with us: “I had three Pygmy Nuthatches on my suet feeder at one time this morning. And two Pygmy Nuthatches along with a Chestnut-backed Chickadee and a House Finch sharing the suet, mostly, until the chickadee squawked at the others.”
Three species at Deanne’s suet feeder, top left: Chestnut-backed Chickadee, front right: House Finch, and at back and below: Pygmy Nuthatches.
Deanne also noticed a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird in her yard.
This young Brown-headed Cowbird has a deformed bill. Its plumage is distinctly different from both adult female and adult male cowbirds.
Two Anna’s Hummingbirds at Deanne’s feeder
Deanne took this photo of two Anna’s Hummingbirds, right before she observed them mating. Could their touching of bills be a courtship behavior?
She also observed this young Spotted Towhee being fed by an adult in her yard.
A juvenile Spotted Towhee shivers its wings, begging for food.
A young Spotted Towhee in Deanne’s yard. At first glance, juvenile Spotted Towhees may seem to be almost a different species from their parents. There are similarities, though: the overall towhee-like shape of the bird, the angle of its tail, and the bird’s stance. The pattern of pale spots in its wings also resembles the adult’s.
Kristin Lynn (San Jose) says: “July around here was all about the House Finches and Anna's Hummingbirds, along with occasional Dark-eyed Juncos. An Oak Titmouse stopped by ever so briefly, as did two Western Bluebirds, at least one of whom was a juvenile. There were no Lesser Goldfinches on the balcony, but I could hear them in the trees below. I didn't see any scrub-jays this month.”
Kristin photographed these House Finches - an adult male on the right, and a female or immature bird on the left.
“From the window I saw gulls and crows, small groupings of geese on a couple of occasions, and a Red-Tailed Hawk. And as ever, magnificent Turkey Vultures soaring high above it all.”
Kristin observed these hummingbirds, apparently sparring right before they both flew to her feeder.
Curt Bianchi (Saratoga) writes: “A pleasant surprise at our front yard suet feeder this spring and summer has been a Black-headed Grosbeak. Actually, I think we might have two. I first spotted one at the feeder in May, although I wasn’t able to get a photo of it. In general, I have found it difficult to photograph them. They see me through the living room window when I get off the couch to get my camera, and by the time I make it outside they are usually gone. However, this month I got photos a couple of weeks apart. It appears to me like they are two different birds.”
On the other hand, Curt wondered if he had possibly seen a single bird undergoing molt, which might account for some of the plumage differences.
What do you think, did he observe one bird or two? Compare the two pictures, then read some possible answers in the captions.
This Black-headed Grosbeak, photographed by Curt on July 11, is possibly an older female with worn feathers. It has less saturated color than the bird below, and there is wear in the wing feathers.
Curt photographed this grosbeak on July 26. It appears to be a young bird with crisp, fresh feathers. Its saturated colors make it a possible male. It is unlikely that these photos show the same individual before and after molt, since the bird in the first photo seems to be a female. Also, Black-headed Grosbeaks usually start migrating south before completing their late-summer molt.
Becky Ewens (San Jose) observed a good number of Hooded Orioles at her feeders in July (see the special section on orioles below for her notes and photos).
Here are some of the other birds she saw recently: “One of my favorite birds to watch is the White-breasted Nuthatch. I'm not sure if there's more than one but the bird I see the most is very assertive and rules the seed feeder. All the other birds steer clear of it.”
Becky took this photo of a White-breasted Nuthatch, showing the bird’s white plumage on the neck, breast, and belly.
“I have small percolation ponds behind my house and there are a few Black Phoebes hanging around. There are a number of swallows too. Last month I was able to get photos of a Northern Rough-winged Swallow being fed.”
She continues: “The Bushtits have been moving through the yard quite a bit. The Oak Titmice and Chestnut-backed Chickadees are regular visitors, always a welcome sight. The House Finches drain the seed feeder so quickly, so I've only been leaving it out for short periods of time.”
A young Bushtit in Becky’s yard. Note the pale fluffy feathers, different from an adult Bushtit. This bird has pale eyes, marking her as a female and an older juvenile (very young Bushtits of both sexes have dark eyes).
“The Northern Mockingbirds spent a weekend chasing off all the other birds, including Hooded Orioles, but right after that they stopped and a juvenile fledged. It was very insistent on being fed. They sure are loud.”
A Northern Mockingbird parent feeds its begging youngster in Becky’s yard.
The juvenile Northern Mockingbird in Becky’s yard. It has a spotted breast, unlike the adult birds.
This year, Mourning Doves have nested three times on one of the drain pipes at Becky’s house. The first nest failed, but it appears that a chick fledged from the second nest. “A couple of days after that chick left the nest, another dove started using it. I’m still waiting to see if the egg hatches. I’m not that good at telling doves apart, but the bird (or birds) from the second nest showed no fear when I walked by them. This latest bird tries to hide.”
A Mourning Dove parent with its baby, nesting at Becky’s house. Young Mourning Doves have white-tipped feathers, different from an adult bird, and are fluffier than adults.
Emma Shelton (Menlo Park) says: “July has still been pretty busy around our place. The numbers of Oak Titmice, Lesser Goldfinches, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, House Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Pygmy Nuthatches, and Mourning Doves may have even increased since June. At certain times of the day the place can be pretty noisy, especially from the Spotted Towhees and White-breasted Nuthatches. Oh my goodness!”
A juvenile Mourning Dove strolls in Emma’s garden. It is older than the juvenile that Becky photographed, but still has white feather tips.
Here is Emma’s neighborhood bird list for July:
Canada Goose - flyovers
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove - Every day, all day, in the yard and on roofs and power lines. Still keeping a lookout for the juveniles with the extra markings.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Gull species - flyovers
Cooper’s Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Black Phoebe - finally saw one in the yard a couple of days ago!
California Scrub-Jay
American Crow - still plentiful, but not taking over the front yard as before
Violet-green Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - Lots
Oak Titmouse - LOTS!
Bushtit - A flock came through a week ago and danced through a couple of our trees in the backyard. They zip through so quickly I wonder if they come every day and I’m just not here to see them.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch - Lots of these peepers, and maybe flocks of young ones
Bewick’s Wren - They keep our wooden fence bug-clean! The curious thing was the tailless Bewie I saw a couple weeks ago. I saw it again three days ago and it didn’t look like the feathers were growing back much.
Northern Mockingbird - One flew over me while I was lying in the hammock late afternoon and danced on the back fence. No song with the dance, unfortunately.
House Finch - LOTS and lots
Lesser Goldfinch - LOTS and lots
Dark-eyed Junco - LOTS
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee - Seeing several every day, and hearing them almost all the time. Lots of juveniles too.
Insects disturb a Western Bluebird at LC’s bird bath.
LC Boros (San Jose) writes: “July was a busy but quiet month here as the second batches of fledglings showed up” - finches, jays, grosbeaks, and orioles. She has documented half a dozen nesting pairs of Hooded Orioles and Bullock’s Orioles (see her notes and photos in the section on orioles below).
“It was also a month for insects. Mostly they annoyed the birds, but sometimes they were doing the backstroke.”
An injured Wild Turkey visits LC’s bird bath.
“We had a few sad sightings, like recently when one of our resident Wild Turkeys showed up with an injured leg. Animal control was called out, but both they and a rescue group thought it would stress her out too much to try to capture her and she has since disappeared.”
One of LC’s newly-installed roost boxes
She continues: “Then there was the wee Hooded Oriole with the malformed beak, and the Mourning Dove that was our first fatal bird strike on the windows of my office since installing CollidEscape strips — our resident Cooper’s Hawk thinks chasing doves into windows is a great way to increase its odds of scoring a meal — I suspect one day he’s going to end up with his own concussion. I’ve since put up roost boxes in the eaves to provide more hawk coverage to our songbirds.”
A Red-tailed Hawk pair near LC’s home, their colorful tail feathers clearly visible
“But there were also some happy moments. Frank and Francesca, our resident Red-Tailed Hawks, successfully fledged three young this year and have been enjoying a less demanding schedule. We often spot one of them perched on an old flag pole and sometimes both of them like to hang out further down the mountain.”
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING TAIL - WHAT’S GOING ON?
Deanne Tucker (Los Altos) asks us: “I have an odd Spotted Towhee in my yard that has a very short or even nonexistent tail. I wonder if you know if this is just a molt situation or a disability for this bird?”
A tailless Spotted Towhee in Deanne’s yard
This month, Emma Shelton (Menlo Park) also observed a tailless bird in her yard, in her case, a Bewick’s Wren. She writes: “The bird was pretty lively and could navigate fine. I was worried that its maneuverability would be limited, like a helicopter without a tail, but my son said they’re a bit more like aircraft carriers than jet fighters when the tail has been lost, and not to worry.”
Why don’t these birds have tails? Decide what you think, then read on for a possible explanation.
A tailless Bewick’s Wren at Emma’s feeder
Typically there are three reasons why a bird may be missing some of its tail feathers (or may appear to be missing them). First, very young birds often have shorter tails than adults because their feathers haven’t fully grown in yet. Second, birds naturally lose and regrow feathers at different times of the year, in a process called “molt” - the late summer marks the start of a molt period in many of our resident songbirds. Finally, if a bird is attacked by a predator, it may have its tail feathers pulled out, or it may have the ability to spontaneously drop them itself - this is called “fright molt” or “shock molt,” and has been documented in a number of species.
Given that the Spotted Towhee in Deanne’s picture is an adult, and that both birds seem to be missing most or all of their tail feathers (the molt process is usually gradual in these species), the last hypothesis - attack by a predator - seems likely. Unless serious damage has been done, the feathers should grow back fairly quickly. And in the meantime, the birds will likely get around just fine, as Emma notes above.
A SUMMER OF ORIOLES
A juvenile Hooded Oriole visits Becky’s feeder.
Backyard birders love orioles, and midsummer is the best time of year to observe them! These sunny, chittering birds arrive here in the spring to nest and raise their young. In August and September, with the breeding season behind them, the birds head south to winter in Mexico.
There are two oriole species in Santa Clara County: the Hooded Oriole and the Bullock’s Oriole. The Hooded is the species more commonly found in urban and suburban parts of the county. The Bullock’s, on the other hand, is usually found in open spaces and at higher elevations.
In July, a number of you observed orioles, especially young birds, near your homes. Read on for your comments about the birds, learn how to identify them in the photo series below, and find out how to attract Hooded Orioles to your yard in our Backyard Bird of the Month article.
Becky Ewens (San Jose) tells us: “Some of my favorite birds to watch are the Hooded Orioles. There seems to be a decent number of them near my home. I know of two nests, but judging from the number of juveniles, there must be more nests nearby.”
“In early July, some days the orioles managed to drain the large hummingbird feeder. They seem to prefer the glass feeder over the plastic oriole feeder. I've really enjoyed watching the juveniles first chase a parent and squawk to be fed, then explore the feeders, trying to figure them out.”
“It's been interesting seeing the immature males change from light yellow to darker yellow and watching their black feathers start to come in. In the last week of July, the number of orioles visiting the feeders has slowed down.”
Carolyn Straub and Steve McHenry (San Jose) write: “Nearing the end of July, with the orioles usually leaving for the season the first week of August, we still know that the mysterious Hooded Oriole visits our orange feeder. It leaves a ‘mess’ every day between the sugar water and the railing. But we don't know if any young are approaching for a simple reason: these shy birds flee when suspecting a human. Maybe there are young or maybe it is the older birds, however by now there should be a nest. They'll all be leaving soon!”
LC Boros (San Jose) says: “We had at least half a dozen oriole pairs again this year (both Bullock’s Orioles and Hooded Orioles) and thus there was lots of jamming action. Plus the fledglings often met up at one of the local watering holes.”
HOODED ORIOLES
Here are some tips for identifying Hooded Orioles of different sexes and ages. All photos were taken by Becky Ewens in her backyard.
Adult male Hooded Oriole. Males are a bright and saturated orange-yellow color. They have a patch of black feathers on their face and throat, glossy black wings with white wing bars, and a black tail. Note also the long, slightly decurved bill.
Adult female Hooded Oriole. She is a bright sunny color, different from the duller-colored juveniles. Females lack the dark face and throat patch of the males. They have yellow tails, and their wings are grayish rather than a glossy black color.
An immature male Hooded Oriole. This bird has a less-extensive throat patch than an adult male and no face patch yet. The rest of its plumage is similar in appearance to an adult female’s.
A juvenile Hooded Oriole. Note the pink bill, compared to the dark bills of the older birds. Juveniles resemble adult females but are duller overall in color.
Juveniles learning the ropes at Becky’s nectar feeder. This feeder is specially designed for orioles to perch on.
BULLOCK’S ORIOLES
Here are some tips for identifying Bullock’s Orioles. All photographs were taken by LC Boros in her yard.
An adult male Bullock’s Oriole (below) and a begging juvenile at a jam feeder. The adult male Bullock’s has a black crown, eyeline, and throat stripe, different from the adult male Hooded’s face and throat patch. The Bullock’s also has more extensive white barring in its wings. Note the orange color of these birds, different from the more lemony color of the Hooded Oriole; their shorter, less curved bills; and their shorter tails.
A juvenile Bullock’s Oriole. The white underparts contrast strongly with the orange-yellow head and tail and the gray back, making it distinctly different from the juvenile Hooded, which has yellow feathers on its face, throat, breast, and belly. Juvenile Bullock’s resemble adult females, although adult females have more extensive orange-yellow color on the throat and breast.
Can you identify the birds in the photos below? Give it a try before reading our notes!
There appear to be three different species of birds in these pictures.
The bird on the back left is a Hooded Oriole, possibly an immature male. Note the longer, decurved bill, the longer tail, and the more lemony-yellow color compared to the other two birds in the background (the pale feathers that you see on the bird’s flanks are likely down feathers exposed during bathing). It appears to be developing a dark throat patch.
The two birds in the back middle and right are young Bullock’s Orioles - note the yellow and orange facial feathers contrasting with the pale belly. The bird with more muted colors in the middle is a possible female, and the one with the brighter orange neck and breast, and perhaps a dark throat patch, is a possible male. Both birds have dark eyelines or the beginnings of one.
And that bird in the foreground…probably a Lesser Goldfinch!
Happy backyard birding in August, everyone!
What birds are you seeing and hearing in your yard and neighborhood?
Send your stories, lists, photos, sketches, and videos to backyardbirds@scvas.org. We’ll feature them in our next edition of All Around Town.
References
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology, third edition: Irby J. Lovette and John W. Fitzpatrick, Editors. Published by John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
All Around Town is compiled by SCVAS Member Julie Amato.
Banner Photo: Black-headed Grosbeak by Curt Bianchi