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Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays (often mistakenly called Blue Jays)

11/25/2019

The CornellLab of Ornithology website calls Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay reclusive. This isn't my experience. These guys are all over, filling the air with their distinctive "schreak" call. They remind me of the seagulls hollering "Mine!" in Finding Nemo.

Fittingly, a group of jays is sometimes called a scold of jays. Note that these Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays lack the pointy head-crest of a Blue Jay.

This thinner fellow reminds me of the Geico gecko. I half-expected him to request peanuts in a proper British accent.

Speaking of diet, apparently Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays eat everything from nuts, juniper berries and seeds to insects, eggs, lizards and other bird's babies! I'm not going to think about it.

The white eyebrow makes them look quite wise, and they are pretty smart! I love this website, which calls them "Gregarious and Gluttonous" as well as "Insanely Smart." Like crows and ravens they hide food for later use, remember where they put it, recognize when it might be so old as to have spoiled, and watch to make sure nobody saw where they hid it. Bird brain, indeed!

This fellow seems to have a deformed beak. An Audubon article from a few years ago suggests that several species can get an Avian Keratin disorder, perhaps caused by a virus. Whatever caused this, it sure looks like it would make it harder to eat.

Also notable in this picture is the grey shoulder wrap, which distinguishes Scrub-Jays from Blue Jays, along with the lack of a crest.

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Rain At Last!

11/20/2019

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In honor of the first significant rain in months, I'm veering meteorological today, (with a touch of astronomical at the end). We're up to 3/4" for the last 24 hours, with more expected. Yipee!

Stop laughing, you Oregonians and Washingtonians!

I love the sound of it in this short video. Unfortunately, I can't share the smell.

We did get an impromptu hailstorm on November 6, complete with rainbow accessory. It didn't amount to much precipitation, but the birds were notably less thirsty for a few days, which made me realize that birdbath isn't just for my entertainment.

Here's lightning strike from September...

...and a lovely full-moon-set the husband caught the morning of November 12.

He also nabbed this artful receding mountains shot that morning. I don't think I've ever been able to capture those fading purples in a photo quite this well. Maybe because I'm always looking the other way in the evenings instead.

The prize goes to the early riser.

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Red-Shafted Northern Flicker

11/12/2019

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I suppose most people aren't thrilled to find a woodpecker resting in their rafters, but this male Red-Shafted Northern Flicker has been an amiable house guest for many nights. Only once has he knocked about, so I don't think he's causing any damage. He may, however, have been feeding on baby bats that were previously roosting there. Audubon mentions that this behavior was observed in Wyoming.

You can tell he's a male by the red-orange cheek patch. Here in the west we get the Red-Shafted variety. (See the orange tail feathers. They show up brighter in flight.) In the north and east they have a Yellow-Shafted form. All About Birds has some lovely comparison pictures.

Every night when I take the dog out for her final constitutional, I look up to see if my bird has found his way home. Usually he's perched in the porch rafters. This night (above) I disturbed him with a flash photo, but I guess we're still friends.

Here's a female (no bright orange cheek patch) in a more typical woodpecker pose. Fortunately, she's pecking a tree, not my house.

You can just glimpse orange under her tail feathers. If I could catch her in flight you'd see a beautiful bright orange flash under her wings and tail, and possibly the white top-of-the-rump patch, depending on the viewing angle.

Here's the male, photographed and added a week after this post was first published. He was being shy earlier.

This girl is sharing a drink with a bluebird at the local watering hole. May we all show such kind conviviality to our neighbors here and around the world.

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White-Crowned Sparrows

11/6/2019

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Turn up the sound on this video for the music of White-Crowned Sparrows squeaking and squabbling. Audubon says we'll likely have them hanging around Arizona all winter, which should be fun. Winter can feel pretty empty sometimes.

Speaking of empty, there's been a lot in the press lately about the nearly three billion birds we've lost in the US since 1970. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology discusses it here with a video that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. (BTW, Cornell Lab make the great free Merlin Bird ID app that I use all the time!)

Not to beat a dead bird, but Audubon used a White-Crowned Sparrow as the cover-bird in an article about pesticides putting our bird populations at risk. These are the same neonicotinoid pesticides killing our bees. My sister-in-law the beekeeper knows all about it firsthand.

Okay, back to the fun stuff. Toward the end of my video above, a black-headed bird slips in a couple of times. He's sitting far right in the last few frames, hiding in the shadows. This little party-crasher is a Spotted Towhee. They're frustratingly secretive this time of year, but in the spring they perch high in the trees and sing for all they're worth. I can't wait for spring!

Here's another photo-bomber trying to outshine the White-Crowned Sparrows. Notice the Western Bluebird posing in the left foreground. These guys are hanging around in lots of noisy, flighty flocks lately. We might get to see them all winter, too! So says Audubon.

The less flamboyant fellow on the right above is probably not a different species, but a young one. Perhaps, based on my research, a first-winter baby. Best of luck to him!

Yes, they fly. But I'm generally too slow to catch the action.

And the water flies as they bathe! Requiring frequent birdbath refills by the caretaker of this bird resort.

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Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays (often mistakenly called Blue Jays)

Rain At Last!

Red-Shafted Northern Flicker

White-Crowned Sparrows

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Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays (often mistakenly called Blue Jays)

Rain At Last!

Red-Shafted Northern Flicker

White-Crowned Sparrows

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​Subscribe

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Archives

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