I’ve been somewhat negligent in the upkeep of this blog.  I’m still attempting to process the 800+ photos I took on a Texas trip in April and another 800+ photos I took on a trip to California this month.  And in the meanwhile, the birding here at the house has really picked up.  We have a multitude of birds that are being attracted to the yard which includes newly fledged young.  So here are some of the current visitors to the yard…

We have at least two pair of California quail visiting the yard but strangely, there is no sign of chicks

After two to three weeks of meager warbler sightings, I have finally observed and photographed at least two Orange-crowned warblers visiting the yard.

We’ve had at least one pair of Spotted towhees in and around the yard all spring and we now have at least two fledged young visiting the yard.  The young can be difficult to identify as they look nothing like the adults and can resemble some members of the sparrow/finch families.

A few of the other rather nondescript young include a Brown-headed cowbird…

and a European starling.

After seeing relatively few House finches this winter they have returned to the yard.  We have at least one mated couple but there is also an apparently an unattached male that hangs out with the pair.

The yard is filled with American goldfinches which utilize both the seed feeders and the watercourse.  This male is enjoying a bath in the watercourse.

This is one of our male House sparrows which is now feeding young.

We’ve had two families of crows that nested in the vicinity.  In one case the nest was in a tree in the front yard.  To date I haven’t seen any evidence that young have fledged, and a couple of weeks ago I saw a pair of crows building or repairing the nest in the yard.  In some past years the crows’ nests have been predated by ravens, but I’m usually alerted to that event by the crows.  As far as I know there are no ravens nesting in the neighborhood.

The particular crow pictured here is one that enjoys handouts… peanuts and the occasional grape or cherry.  It’s not obvious that this crow has a mate and it enjoys spending a considerable part of its day monitoring yard activities.

And finally, a female Black-headed grosbeak permitting a rare photographic moment.  The grosbeaks are probably our most shy birds… any movement on my part usually terminates their visit.

I’m still waiting for some rarer visitors… an Olive-sided flycatcher, Red crossbills, a Western tanager or Cedar waxwings… birds we’ve enjoyed in past summers.