It’s that time of year when juvenile birds begin showing up in the yard. Some have little or no resemblance to their parents and can be difficult to identify. I’m going to display some of the juveniles in our yard and point out some characteristics to help identify them.

I’ll take up the rogues gallery first…

This is a juvenile House sparrow. The juveniles look similar to a female House sparrow but the juveniles can be distinguished by the yellow at the base of the bill, a characteristic of MANY species of juvenile birds. The House sparrow families are often gregarious, with the birds traveling in family (or larger) groups.

Next up, a juvenile European Starling, another introduced species. These birds are initially a dull gray color and are best distinguished by the length of their beaks.

This is a White-crowned sparrow juvenile. Note the gray and brown stripes on top of the bird’s head, and the yellow at the base of the bird’s bill. The bird’s crown will eventually morph to black and white. (There is a very prolific and widespread tan (Taiga) morph that closely resembles this juvenile, but the tan morph lives in the interior of the country and I see none in this area.)

Again, note the yellow at the base of this Spotted towhee‘s bill. This juvenile has very little resemblance to the parents. The juvenile has a yellow eye which will eventually turn red. The bird’s striped breast and flanks will eventually disappear. All of the juvenile towhees I see are already independent of their parents, feeding and exploring independently.

Another juvenile bird that can be difficult to identify, the Dark-eyed junco (Oregon race). These birds are ground nesters and the young are almost always independent by the time they show up in our yard. In the winter this species can constitute the most numerous species in the yard, but the adults leave in the spring to breed at higher elevations.

Pine siskins are more easily identified but can quite closely resemble the adults. Most, but not all, have some yellow on their backs/wings. One of this bird’s notable physical characteristics is its relatively sharp bill which it uses as a threat to defend its place at bird feeders. I usually assume that the birds with an unkempt look are juveniles… they may appear relatively ‘naive’ and approachable.

I spent considerable time working and birding in the yard on June 14, 2020.  There were LOTS of birds in the yard but a limited number of species (23 if I haven’t forgotten any).  House sparrows accounted for the largest number of birds followed by House finches (with families of juveniles) and then American goldfinches.  I decided to provide a mid-June inventory of yard visitors but was not able to photograph each of these species. 

Crow 

Quail, California (2M, F, ~11j) 

Hummingbird, Rufous (M, F) 

Hummingbird, Anna’s (M, F) 

Flicker, Northern (M, F) 

Woodpecker, Downy (M, mj) 

I obtained photos of an adult male feeding a juvenile male. 

Wren, Bewick’s 

Flycatcher, Pacific Slope 

This was the bird of the day!  It’s been showing up here once about every other week for the last month or so, and considering past history, is a very rare visitor.  

Chickadee, Black-capped (A, j) 

We had chickadees breed in one of our bird houses this year and presumably fledge young.  

Chickadee, Chestnut-backed 

I had a chickadee land on my hat while I was sitting in the yard photographing birds,  I was unable to identify the species since it was on top of my head!  

Creeper, Brown 

Nuthatch, Red-breasted 

We had a family of four juveniles fledge somewhere in the area and some are apparently still frequenting the yard.  

Robin, American 

Finch, House (2M, F, j) 

Sparrow, House (M, F, j) 

Sparrow, White-crowned 

Towhee, Spotted (M, F, 2j) 

Junco, Dark-eyed (A, 2j) 

Siskin, Pine (A, j) 

Grosbeak, Black-headed (M, F) 

Goldfinch, American (M, F) 

Starling, European (A, j) 

Dove, Eurasian Collared 

Sadly, we haven’t had a single warbler visit the yard in about three weeks!

M = adult male 

F = adult female 

A = adult of on determinant sex  

j = juvenile of indeterminate sex 

We saw our first California quail chicks about a week ago but the parents wouldn’t let them venture far beyond our brush pile, which was out of effective photographic range. I’ve been in the yard almost daily and the parents with chicks keep ranging further and further, and yesterday (June 11, 2020) they finally made it into photographic range. So here are some photos of the quail chicks!

The chicks made several forays into the greater yard so I got multiple opportunities for photos. Later in the day, as I was in the process of shutting down for the afternoon, I happened to notice the parents with their chicks in another area of the yard and obtained this photo. They were all huddled around their mother and enjoying what little sun there was. I estimate that there are about 10-12 chicks. If even half make it to maturity it will be a good year.

Yesterday was a great day for photography… slightly overcast with our salvias in full bloom and with a small contingent of hummingbirds. I took 257 photos and most of them were of hummingbirds… and a surprising number were good photos. Target acquisition and focusing are always problematic with hummingbirds and many of the photos end up on the proverbial cutting room floor.

These are photos of a female Rufous hummingbird accessing one of our Lipstick salvias.

I’ve noticed recently that there is a male American goldfinch that didn’t seem to properly perch when it landed. Yesterday I looked closer and it appears that the bird has some kind of foot deformity. I see such conditions a lot more than one might expect since I’m able to examine details in photographs that an observer might not notice in the field. I had thought about posting a blog showing related observations but then decided it was too morbid. Some of the birds seem to live well with their handicaps and other birds seem to disappear after a few days.

I’ll start with a less than welcome visitor, a female Brown-headed cowbird photographed in the yard on June 6, 2020. Oddly enough, I have yet to see a male in the yard this year.

This Bewick’s wren has been a regular visitor to the yard and suet feeder this spring. It always leaves the yard to the east, presumably returning food to a nest.

I spent considerable time in the yard with not many results. I was just about to give it up for the day when a male Black-headed grosbeak showed up in the yard. These photos made up for all the time I had spent outside!

This photo of another less than welcome visitor from from June 8 is an introduced species, an Eurasian Collared dove. The best I can say about the three that currently visit our yard several times a day is that they help some of the other ground-feeding birds and squirrels clean up under the feeders.

June 10 began with my morning walk in Washington Park. Not long after returning home I received a call from friends/neighbors who told me that there were three Turkey vultures sitting in a dead tree in their yard. I grabbed my camera and drove to their house and took many photos.

Later in the day I obtained more photos in the yard. The overcast weather provided a great day for photography, in this case a male American goldfinch.

A male Northern flicker which is a versatile feeder… suet, peanuts and sunflower seed.

A Brown creeper, a daily visitor that comes only for the water. Its favorite water feature is a stone bird bath but on this day it accessed the watercourse which gave me an opportunity for closer photos.

We had a pair of Black-capped chickadees which apparently fledged young on our west patio. I photographed this parent feeding a fledgling on the east side of the house.

And sadly, I had a rare visit from a Pacific Slope flycatcher late in the day but was unable to obtain a photo, even though for an instant I had an opportunity to do so.

The afternoon of June 5, 2020, began rather slowly. I photographed a juvenile Brown-headed cowbird coming to the watercourse. I haven’t observed any foster parents so I don’t know who raised this bird.

About 4pm I was sitting in the yard becoming rather bored with what I was seeing. A pair of Eurasian Collared doves kept coming and going, flying down to the ground and then back up into the trees. Suddenly an accipiter launched an attack from the trees and barely missed getting one of the doves, which flew from the yard. I couldn’t see the accipiter but was aware that it had remained in our Golden Chain tree (which is no longer blooming).  I carefully positioned my hands on the camera so that I would need a minimum of movement to adjust the camera if the accipiter reappeared. 

After about three minutes the accipiter flew to staging sticks over our constructed brush pile (in our front yard).  I was about 35-40’ away but was lined up perfectly so that no movement, other than my shutter finger, was necessary to take photos. I took several photos as the accipiter peered into the brush pile for prey. I was disappointed that I couldn’t see the lower portion of the bird’s legs where it might have been banded. 

After a couple of minutes on the brush pile the accipiter flew from the yard. It’s been an infrequent visitor to the yard for the past three weeks or so.  The infrequency of its visits is somewhat surprising considering the number of birds in the yard. 

A while later we had a Bewick’s wren take a bath in our stone bird bath, which is another unusual event. We’ve had at least one Bewick’s wren around the yard all spring, but this is the first time I can remember seeing one bathing. 

My slow afternoon was picking up! A Brown creeper flew into the yard, choosing to bathe in the watercourse instead of its favorite, and more distant, stone bird bath. This gave me good opportunity for photos and at a closer distance than usual.

Before my afternoon observations ended I had visits from both male and female Black-headed grosbeaks, but unfortunately they didn’t pose for photos.