The Birds of Spring

This time of year there is a lot of activity in the garden, with birds, bees, wasps, crane flies, tree squirrels fetching buried acorns, and a few early butterflies like swallowtails, mourning cloaks and gulf fritillaries. We have a lot of very aggressive hummingbirds and mockingbirds. The house finches who were trying to build a nest on the porch have given up.

Outside I can hear the unique sounds of song sparrows (photo) and the whistle of grosbeaks.  Song sparrows are chubby brown-streaked sparrows that seem quite unafraid of people and I usually see them alone, unlike other sparrows. Their song is a good indicator (listen here). Male black-headed grosbeaks are the most strikingly colorful birds in the garden, but quite shy. In the backyard salvias above the pond is a family of lesser goldfinches. The wrens are out there too, picking off caterpillars, slugs and other pests. Hopefully they will take out the grasshoppers.

The strangest visitors I have are the flocks of cedar waxwings that arrive once a year – 50 or more in a group perched in the camphor tree eating berries - and the phainopeplas, a family of which stopped by once and once only. The most exciting visitors would have to be the hawks when they are out hunting the locals close to ground level.

Birds and their nests are legally protected, so now is not the time to trim trees and shrubs if there are nests. Do trimming in Fall and Winter.

Photo: Wikipedia