Dickcissel

I was so excited to see a pair of Dickcissel in the little green space that I banded at a few weeks ago, until I keep seeing the posts of this species being seen practically everywhere.  Bumper year for them, I guess!  Cool looking birds, though - and a great call.

Colonnade Peregrines

There were four chicks hatched and fledged at Colonnade this year.  The first three pics are of a parent bird coming in to land just above one of those hungry chicks.  Fourth photo is of parent flying; fifth is parent taking food up to a chick at another location on the building.  Last three are of the last chick trying out his wings before a first flight. 

Urban Goodies - Kestrels and Kingbirds

 Am looking forward to heading to SD soon to see the wonderful goodies that are always there.  Turns out - goodies are everywhere in the metro area, too.  I headed to one of my fave little hangouts before the gym, and found this female just-fledged kestrel.  I'd always thought that just being a kestrel got your street-cred; turns out she thought that, too, and we were both wrong.  She was trying her best with "I'MAKESTREL-I'MAKESTREL-I'MAKESTREL" and the bluebirds, mourning dove and house finch in her tree really weren't all that concerned.  To make matter even more embarassing, a male yellow warbler was actually scolding her as he was on his way to deliver food for his young. 

She took off, flew around a bit, came back, and tried once more to convince the neighborhood that she WAS SOMEBODY.  Finally, in the ultimate show of disrespect, two eastern kingbirds - let's remember that their Latin name is Tyrannus tyrannus (king of kings) - decided to come over and mess with her by diving at her head.  Poor kestrel.  She took off and went to nurse her bruised pride. 

Yellow and Nashville Warblers

 Got some beautiful birds at a Ritter Farm banding a while ago.  Male Yellow Warbler and a Nashville -

Downys and Blue Jays

Hungry chicks of any avian species are pretty insistent and vocal, so they are easy to find, too.  Found some Downy chicks and Blue Jays in a local park near me.  Both of these species are already starting second clutches. 

Red-winged black birds nesting

Pretty easy to find red-winged blackbird nests.  Some have already fledged young, and are starting a second clutch for the season. 

Indigo Bunting

Female Indigo Buntings obviously don't have the initial "wow" factor of a male's plumage, but there are a lot of subtle, lovely details.  There is a little aqua right on the wrist.  There is also quite a range of lovely tans and almost yellow in her feathers.  This female was banded at a recent Ritter Farm banding session. 

Great Horned Owlets Again

Had forgotten that I still had some shots of the great horned owlets from this spring that I had not posted.  More to come!

Random Gull Feeding

 I know - gulls and anything they do is not normally of much import to many people.  I had a good time watching this one at a local beach/lake try to get his "find" clean, out of the water, and somewhere where his buddies couldn't steal it.