BACKYARD BIRD OBSERVATIONS FROM OUR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS

It’s been another lively season in your yards and neighborhoods! This edition of our backyard bird report features your observations from the summer months - July, August, and the first part of September.

Hooded Orioles, as usual, were the stars of many of your summer yards with their sunny presence and predilection for palm trees. Other breeding season birds made welcome appearances too, like the Western Tanager and the Black-headed Grosbeak.

Nuthatches were also a theme this summer, with all three of our local species - Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Pygmy Nuthatch - making notable appearances at some of your homes.

Summer is still the nesting season, and a number of you reported juvenile birds and family groups of species like the Acorn Woodpecker, Cliff Swallow (new to All Around Town!), California Thrasher, Western Bluebird, and Lesser Goldfinch.

Others of you enjoyed moments with our year-round residents: Mourning Doves preening on a rainy day, a Dark-eyed Junco posing on a fence, and uncommon visits from Steller’s Jays. Anna’s Hummingbirds sampled your sage plants, European Starlings gorged on figs, and a Long-billed Curlew stopped to forage in a neighborhood park.

Raptors were active too - Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, and the less common Sharp-shinned Hawk hunted in your neighborhoods. Great Horned Owls and Western Screech-Owls were heard calling at night.

As fall approached, you discovered migrating birds passing through, like the Yellow Warbler and the rare Willow Flycatcher (also new to All Around Town). Our winter resident birds are returning to spend the colder months with us, and some of you reported your first White-crowned Sparrows and Lincoln’s Sparrows of the season (no one has reported Golden-crowned Sparrows yet, but they’re here now too!).

Two very unusual birds make their All Around Town debut in this edition. In early September, a Painted Bunting visited a Sunnyvale yard for a day, and in the middle of September, a Northern Waterthrush was discovered on an urban creek trail in Santa Clara. Both of these birds are vagrants - migrating birds that are far from their usual migration routes through the central and eastern United States. Photos and a sound clip of these surprise visitors are below.

In addition to stories and photos, this edition includes videos - like a bird count comparing two backyards - sound clips, sketches, and even a page from a birding journal. Enjoy!

*A male Hooded Oriole visits Soraya’s yard.*

At the end of July, Soraya Vela (San Jose) told us that a Hooded Oriole had been visiting her yard every evening. She writes: “He is a beautiful bird that loves my water fountain and citrus trees.”

Molly Graham (Mountain View) told us about summer in her yard: “A Hooded Oriole resided in a neighborhood palm tree and would often poke his head out of the top of nearby trees to sing. He and his mate were here from late spring until about the end of August.”

*A female (lower left) and male Hooded Oriole pair in Molly’s neighborhood.*

“A Cooper’s Hawk rotated through the trees in our area, also a noisy visitor. Anna’s Hummingbirds have been fighting over the new location of our bird feeder in the back.”

A young Cooper’s Hawk in Molly’s neighborhood. Immature and adult Cooper’s Hawks look different from each other. Young birds are mostly brown and white, with a dark back, and teardrop-shaped brown streaks on their breast and belly. Note the long, striped tail, similar to an adult Cooper’s.

“A Bewick’s Wren continues to be a challenge to see and photograph, but is a noisy visitor in all of the nearby trees. Mourning Doves have been bringing their young ones to our yard as they’ve been growing up, and the whole family will roost in a nearby tree.”

A Red-breasted Nuthatch in Molly’s yard. These birds are less-common backyard visitors. With her gray cap, and buffy-orange underparts, this bird is a female. Males have a black cap and are usually more brightly colored underneath.

Molly says that in September, “a female Red-breasted Nuthatch has been visiting with her mate just in the past couple of weeks, and is becoming an increasingly frequent visitor.”

*A fun Red-breasted Nuthatch moment in Molly’s yard!*

Young birder Chris Henry (San Jose) shared two videos that he made with us.

About the video above, he says: “I made this video in July. It is a comparison between the types of birds seen in my San Jose backyard and my uncle’s Sunnyvale backyard. My uncle always claimed he saw way more birds in his backyard. This video shows what happened when I birded both backyards at sunrise on consecutive mornings.”

Chris writes about his second video: “This is one of my favorite videos so far. It captures a variety of birds that visited my backyard bird bath in August. During the hot summer weather, I've learned that a bird bath can attract many birds to my yard to drink, bathe, and play in the water.” The video features a California Scrub-Jay, Northern Mockingbirds, and more!

Francesca Kukralová (Santa Clara) writes about birding her neighborhood this summer: “I saw Brown-headed Cowbirds and American Robins come and go, watched the Cliff Swallows emerge from their nests and whirl about for a few months and then disappear, and spotted the occasional Violet-green Swallow.”

“In July, I saw a Cooper's Hawk a few times around the area where I live, which one time landed briefly on a neighbor's balcony. Despite my previous assumptions that Hooded Orioles would be hard to find in this neighborhood aside from at the creek, I found that they did indeed frequent the palm trees near my apartment building for a time; I just had to wake up early enough to see or hear them. Just a few days ago, I managed to spot an elusive Orange-crowned Warbler in a tree near my building, and I also found Western Bluebirds foraging on the grounds of my apartment complex.”

*A sketch of a Bewick’s Wren, by Francesca*

“Aside from that, I regularly observed the usual residents of the area - Dark-eyed Juncos, California Towhees, Black Phoebes, House Finches, Bushtits, Mourning Doves, Anna's Hummingbirds, Lesser Goldfinches, and Bewick's Wrens.”

Francesca continues: “While scouting around a few weeks ago at Ulistac for fall migrants, I managed to see Pacific-slope Flycatchers, a Willow Flycatcher, Western Tanagers galore, and Yellow Warblers (and, unrelated to fall migrants, a Belted Kingfisher).”

A Mallard (right) tells a young Black-crowned Night-Heron to keep its distance - sketch by Francesca. Juvenile night-herons are mostly brown with white streaks, unlike the adults, which have white, gray, and black plumage.

“I made a few rough sketches in watercolor pencil of a few birds seen at the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail. The first one is two views of the same teardrop-shaped Bewick's Wren. The second one was inspired by seeing a Mallard giving a warning to a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron that got too close for comfort.”

*Camden photographed this Dark-eyed Junco in his yard.*

Cheryl Bac (Sunnyvale) sent us some photos of birds that her son, young birder Camden Bac, took in their backyard.

A House Finch observed by Camden flutters its wings.

*A Mourning Dove enjoys the sun in Camden’s yard.*

Jennifer Oliver (San Jose) says: “The highlight of this summer's backyard birds was the family of Acorn Woodpeckers we've had visiting our suet feeder.”

*A family of Acorn Woodpeckers visits Jennifer’s suet feeder. In this photo, an adult female is on the left, at the feeder, and two young ones wait on the trunk of the tree.*

“We hear them regularly near our neighborhood near Coyote Creek, but rarely have seen them in our yard. For a couple of months now we've had them visiting almost daily. I've seen four in total - two adults and two juveniles.”

In Jennifer’s video above, an adult female woodpecker feeds suet to a young bird.

She adds: “Also, in September, I was walking out the back door, and right at eye level in the low branches of our oak tree was this beautiful Red-tailed Hawk having its breakfast. What a treat to see such a big raptor up close! I ran to grab my camera and quickly snapped a few shots from the doorway.”

*A Red-tailed Hawk eats a squirrel in Jennifer’s yard.*

Carol Ann Krug Graves (Monte Sereno) says: “In the first half of August, we enjoyed frequent visits from a Black-headed Grosbeak, but we haven’t seen it again since then.”

A Black-headed Grosbeak visits Carol Ann’s feeder. Grosbeaks are spring and summer residents here, and nest in our local area. Note the beautiful yellow tufts on the sides of this female or immature bird.

She adds: “Wrentits are regular visitors year-round in our yard, but they rarely pose for photos as this one did in August.”

*A Wrentit in Carol Ann’s yard. Wrentits are more often heard than seen! Listen for their bouncing-ball song in dense vegetation in chaparral, especially in the larger parks in our county.*

Ryan Ludman (San Jose) writes: “The stars of my summer backyard were the Hooded Orioles that continuously visited the small dish of jelly I put out in my yard. The bright yellow-orange birds were a delight to have visiting regularly. The House Finches normally wouldn’t touch the jelly, but they were intrigued that the orioles kept visiting the dish so they visited too. A flock of noisy European Starlings landed in my fig trees and devoured the ripening figs. A family of Western Bluebirds and a young Northern Mockingbird have been regularly snacking on some dried mealworms in a feeder. I saw a Nuttall’s Woodpecker creeping along the fence one morning but it didn’t venture any further into the yard.”

He adds: “Now that it’s warmer and drier outside a lot of species have been visiting the bird baths including Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-headed Grosbeak, and White-breasted Nuthatch. I’ve noticed an Oak Titmouse who visits the feeders only when most of the finches have stopped gorging.”

LC Boros (San Jose) writes: “August is one of the doldrum months here at the ranch: the height of the dry season means the baths are super popular but everything is always pretty dusty. We always get a Wild Turkey family that settles in this time of year to take advantage of the food and water, while the rest of the avian residents are either rushing to finish one last round of nestlings or looking rather bedraggled as they molt. Our resident California Thrashers and Lesser Goldfinches had one last batch of offspring while the recently fledged Red-tailed Hawks are proving very successful at catching Mourning Doves.”

*A Red-tailed Hawk eats a Mourning Dove at LC’s property, while a California Scrub-Jay perches nearby, seemingly uninterested.*

*A Northern Mockingbird drinks at LC’s bird bath.*

*A young Lesser Goldfinch flaps its wings.*

She adds: “We had a bit of excitement as a small 40-or-so-acre fire broke out just north of us. That meant we got all the CalFire planes flying directly over the property again and again, as apparently our land was the correct distance away to turn about and line up to make another retardant drop.”

*Anjali watched a group of Mourning Doves from her window on a rainy summer day. This bird is preening, its head hidden from view.*

Anjali Mallya (Cupertino) says: “I have mostly seen common birds around my backyard these past couple of months, like Anna’s Hummingbirds, House Finches, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Oak Titmice, and Mourning Doves. I’ve also seen Band-tailed Pigeons.”

She continues: “On August 21, it rained and the Mourning Doves were back in large numbers resting and preening in my backyard.”

In the video above, a Mourning Dove preens, observed by Anjali. At one point, the bird plucks out a feather, which floats away.

*A young Western Bluebird visits Kristin’s balcony. Note the dark, speckled back and breast, so different from the colorful markings of the adult birds.*

Kristin Lynn (San Jose) says: “Living in an apartment, I’ll sometimes get brief visits from birds I may only see once or twice a year. In late August, I was excited to see my first-ever Chestnut-backed Chickadees, with one returning briefly in mid-September. I also saw a juvenile Western Bluebird in early July (compared with mid-June last year). So adorable!”

*Two Common Ravens in Kristin’s neighborhood. Note the large, thick bill, different from an American Crow’s. Ravens also sound different than crows, making a deep croaking call.*

“In the neighborhood, the morning of the Fourth of July was especially lively as far as bird sounds go, including American Robins early in the morning, Northern Mockingbirds, and Common Ravens joining the usual American Crows.”

A Pygmy Nuthatch inspects a cavity in one of Mary Ann’s trees. Note the brown and white facial feathers, distinctly different from the patterns found on our other area nuthatches, the White-breasted and the Red-breasted.

Mary Ann Robertson (Los Altos) writes: “I am honored to have two Pygmy Nuthatches in my backyard. They are using a hole created by a Downy Woodpecker in October 2022 in a dead part of my locust tree. A Nuttall's Woodpecker investigated the hole at the end of October but didn't move in. By January 2023, I noticed a fungus lining the interior. On August 15 and 23, I saw a Pygmy Nuthatch checking it out. Finally, on August 28, I saw two Pygmy Nuthatches go into the hole. Hopefully they are enjoying their ‘new’ roost.”

*A White-breasted Nuthatch photographed by Steve*

In early September, Carolyn Straub and Steve McHenry (San Jose) told us: “We had a first-ever this past month - a male White-breasted Nuthatch - at our feeders. He seems to be returning often enough for our patio seed, suet, and nyjer seed. We hope he becomes a regular visitor and brings a female friend.”

A Steller’s Jay visits Curt’s suet feeder. Steller’s Jays are not as widespread in Santa Clara County as California Scrub-Jays, and are more typically found in wooded areas or in places with dense tree cover.

Curt Bianchi (Saratoga) writes: “This summer we've had a couple of Steller’s Jays visiting our front yard feeder. At first I thought there was only one bird, but then I saw two visit at the same time. Sometimes they also come to our backyard bird bath.”

He adds: “We also continue to get Great Horned Owls here in our suburban neighborhood. A few nights ago I made this audio recording at around 11:00 p.m. They were very close by!”

Emma Shelton (Menlo Park) says: “Our year-round regulars, for many years, continue to be Mourning Dove, California Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Bewick’s Wren, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, California Towhee, Spotted Towhee, and so many of them! We’ve seen many more California Towhees than in previous years. We are seeing our Anna’s Hummingbird(s) almost constantly during daylight hours getting nectar from the flowers in the yard.”

Emma writes: “Bath time for the Lesser Goldfinch family! They seem to be conversing, ‘Come on in, the water’s fine!’”

“We occasionally get flyovers of Canada Geese on their commutes, and you sure know it when we do! Rock Pigeons and California Gulls continually inhabit the busy grocery store section near where we live. During July and August we could see the gulls flying over our yard and circling around, but that has quieted down in the past several weeks.”

“Our regular woodpeckers are Downy Woodpeckers and Nuttall’s Woodpeckers that live in the big valley oaks near our house. This summer we had a Hairy Woodpecker sighting, and lately we have seen and heard Acorn Woodpeckers a couple of times. That’s pretty cool!”

Other sightings include a Barn Owl - “had and heard a fly-by in August!” - and Western Screech-Owls: “This was and is a treat - several evenings in August and early September, while sitting in the backyard after dusk, there they were, either one or a couple talking to each other!” In mid-July, Emma “had Bushtit parties coming through every morning for several days. Not sure how often, but it seemed that if you were sitting in the yard all day a lot was going on bird-wise that you’d miss if you were out busy doing other things.”

She continues: “I spied a White-crowned Sparrow again in the yard on September 13 after they and the Golden-crowned Sparrows left in April, but I haven’t noticed it yet again. Last year White- and Golden-crowneds showed up on September 24 and stayed until April. Waiting for more sightings. Meanwhile I have seen them around the bay in parks.”

A plant gall, drilled into by another creature that was perhaps seeking a tasty treat inside. Was the searcher a bird? Galls are growths from plant tissue, often chemically triggered by insects. The resulting material is used to house and feed the insects’ larvae.

Emma adds: “Another fun thing to find around here is the incredible variety of plant galls, and I’m wondering what birds might nibble on them to get the treat inside. Maybe a woodpecker or sapsucker was after the larvae inside a California gall wasp gall?”

*A male Hooded Oriole visits Deanne’s yard.*

Deanne Tucker (Los Altos) sent us a selection of photos from August and September. A Hooded Oriole visited in August. She says: “a treat for me as I have only ever seen them once before in my yard, and that was years ago.”

In mid-September, a Western Tanager visited Deanne’s fountain (above). The bird in the photo is a female or immature bird.

The Dark-eyed Junco above also visited Deanne’s fountain.

On September 15, Melanie Barnett (Sunnyvale) spotted a Northern Waterthrush along a creek trail in Santa Clara that borders an industrial area. She writes, “I was lamenting this morning that I didn’t have time to go farther afield,” but then she saw this life bird close to home! This is the first reported sighting in eBird of this species in Santa Clara County in 2023.

The Northern Waterthrush spotted by Melanie, a rare find in Santa Clara County. This bird is a vagrant, one that is very far from its normal migration route. Waterthrushes breed in the northern forests of Canada and the US, then migrate south through the central and eastern US to their winter grounds in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

Melanie was also able to capture a sound recording of this bird.

*A Long-billed Curlew forages for insects in Melanie’s neighborhood. A shorebird typically found at the bay during the winter months, the curlew will forage in grasslands during the summer.*

She writes, “In other fall news, I saw my first-of-season Long-billed Curlew at our neighborhood park. This is the third fall.”

A Painted Bunting in Melanie’s yard, another rare find. Painted Buntings breed in Texas, other parts of the central US, and in the southeastern US. They spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, southern Florida, and the Caribbean. This bird is quite far from its normal migration route.

Melanie continues: “Our most exciting backyard news is that we have a new backyard bird to report! On September 8, we had a rare-for-Santa-Clara-County Painted Bunting, which was ground feeding on white proso millet. We saw it in the morning and evening on that day but haven't seen it since.” This bunting is a female or immature bird.

*Brown-headed Cowbirds snack on Melanie’s millet, which grew from birdseed.*

“We've also had Brown-headed Cowbirds ongoing since earlier this summer. The ones earlier in the summer appeared to be adults. Now they all appear to be immature birds, and the most we've seen at the same time is twelve. We don't remember seeing this species in our yard before. They mostly eat seed from our squirrel-proof feeder or seed scattered on the ground.”

“Some of the white proso millet seeds sprouted and we've let the plants mature and bear seed. The cowbirds like feeding on the seed heads, jumping up to reach them with their beaks. Unfortunately, the plants’ stalks are not sturdy enough to support a cowbird's weight, hence the jumping up. The birds don't appear to hold the seed head down with their feet, so maybe that is something they either haven't learned (or cannot learn) to do.”

On September 15, Eve Meier (San Jose) reported to us: “This morning I birded my neighborhood park for just a little bit before my day’s errands. I had my first-of-the-season Lincoln’s Sparrow! Such a handsome little bird. No other sparrows around.”

On September 18, Jack Cole (San Jose) had his first Western Bluebird of the month, at his bird bath. On August 2, he also had a bluebird visitor.

On July 31, he wrote: “Since Sharp-shinned Hawks are uncommon this time of year, it was neat to have one fly out of a tall juniper and fly right over my head in the backyard, calling ‘kik kik kik.’ Nice square flared tail.”

*Steven photographed this Anna’s Hummingbird visiting his sage plants. Note the beautiful gorget (throat patch) on this bird.*

Steven Rice (Palo Alto) photographed one or more Anna’s Hummingbirds visiting his plants (photos above and below).

*In this picture, you can see the black and white outer tail feathers of the bird. The white tips are characteristic of a female or juvenile bird.*

*Note how the bird’s color appears to change with the light and our angle of view, looking green in the center of the back and turquoise on the side.*

*A side view of an Anna’s Hummingbird photographed by Steven, showing the bird’s wing structure*

Happy backyard birding this fall, everyone!

Bird species reported to All Around Town from October 2020 onwards

Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
California Quail
Wild Turkey
Indian Peafowl (feral)
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Vaux’s Swift
White-throated Swift
Anna’s Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Allen’s Hummingbird
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
California Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Golden Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Barn Owl
Western Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Acorn Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Hutton’s Vireo
Cassin’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Steller’s Jay
California Scrub-Jay
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Bushtit
Wrentit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
House Wren
Bewick’s Wren
European Starling
California Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Western Bluebird
Varied Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Scaly-breasted Munia
House Sparrow
House Finch
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
Lawrence’s Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Western Meadowlark
Hooded Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Northern Waterthrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Painted Bunting

Hybrid ducks, domestic ducks, unidentified gull species, and Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbirds have also been reported to All Around Town.

References

All About Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Birds of the World. Edited by S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home

eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. http://www.ebird.org

All Around Town is compiled by SCVAS Member Julie Amato.

Banner Photo: Red-breasted Nuthatch by Molly Graham