More on Insects and nectar eaters

I mentioned the wetness being good for bugs. Well it's also been a boon to spiders. They are everywhere and so I took a photo of our most abundant, the spiny orbweaver,



This one is a boring white, but I've seen red, yellow and orange too. And they eat a ton of mosquitos, which are everywhere at dawn and dusk this year.

Not pictured are the toads that are also abundant this year.

And of course, it's been a good year for butterflies.

Here's a gallery of what I've seen.

Giant Swallowtail


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail


Monarch










Unclouded Sulfur

Wet Year means bonus for nectar and bug eaters

After 9 months here, where we average 34 to 36 inches of rain for the year, I've recorded 57.3 inches.

The grasses never died back in the summer like they normally do in July and August. Plants that should be done flowering aren't. Nectar, bugs and the birds that eat them are having a really good year.

Lately, I've seen swarms of hummingbirds and Wrens so abundant that they are fighting, nastily over territory.

Here's an immature ruby-throated hummer I saw today at the Turks Cap.




And every day, I hear nasty fights between 2 to 3 to 5 Carolina Wrens over breeding territory.

Here's a blurry image I caught of one sounding off.



Also quite abundant, Blue Jays, Inca Doves (pictured below)


and at least one hawk that has the white winged doves very nervous. It was Dark headed and backed, white from the throat to the tail and reddish-brown in between. Swainson's Hawk? Don't know. I know I've seen red tails around, but this was not one. I only saw it in flight, but it might have been a falcon or kite due to more pointed wing tips than round. But I'm just not sure.

Hooter is back

Heard the great horned owl in the back yard this last weekend. As usual, I couldn't get a shot of him in the dark, but I did get these shots of a GHO at the Aquarium in Vancouver. This was an injured captive female used for public outreach.







We were in Vancouver for our Honeymoon, Aug. 11-15. These we're taken on the 12th.








































The next day we went on a whale watching boat ride down to Victoria. As we got close to Victoria, we wound through some of the coastal islands. That's where I got these shots of Bald Eagles.












































Those were the most exotic. The most common were the Glaucous-Winged Gull and the American Crow. Pictured below.


































Also saw a female mallard, a mute swan, canada geese, a black-capped chickadee and some common loons. All of which are pictured except the loons as they came out pretty fuzzy.

Best I could do

For some reason, I've had hard times getting decent pix of the birds I'm seeing, especially house finches and Carolina Chickadees. Today for instance, a male house finch was feeding at the sunflower seed feeder and all I could get was a blur. However, I did get those nice ruby throated humming bird photos in that last post.

Here's a female house finch at the thistle feeder July 31.



Here's a chickadee I shot 8-23-07.




Here's some Inca Doves on the phone line about my back yard, shot 8-31-07.

Hummers

Finally got some pictures of hummers in the yard. Been seeing them in numbers over the last month or so as the chicks have matured and are now busy finding stuff to eat. Last year they were at the feeders on the side of the house. Now they seem to like the oriole feeder on the front porch.

More Friend photos

Since I showed off Stephanie's White Pelicans in Lake Winnebago, I thought I'd do the same for Dipu's pictures from his July trip to the Lake Tahoe area. These pictures are on his blog (look for Blogacharya in the links to the right), and you can find them there, but I thought I'd give you a direct link.

You'll see a lot of birds we don't have here: Northern Harrier, Stellar's Jay, White Crowned Sparrow, Audubon's Warbler and the Western Tanager.

Lots to share

I got permission to show off those White Pelicans from Wisconsin Stephanie shot 7/28/07.

Here they blow:





For some reason, I didn't have much luck shooting the birds in Austin in August. Saw lots of house Finches, wrens, chicadees, and ruby throated hummingbirds, but the photos came out pretty poorly, so I won't post them.

However, I did get these shots:







Check out how pollen laden that bee is.

I can't identify the B-fly feasting on the fig with the eye spots. It looks like a Satyr or nymph, but it doesn't exactly match any in my field guide.

The orange b-fly is an eastern comma. Purty. By the way, wanna attract the B-flys? Lay out your apple cores, orange rinds and figs for that matter. They love rotting fruit.

Here's some more wildlife from the yard.







Okay, close up of the pollen laden bee.

Another shot of the comma.

A juvenile cardinal in my vegetable garden.

A male tropical checkered Skipper.

A dragonfly nymph? Not sure. Anyone know for sure?

Recently, I decided I needed Barn Owls in my yard. I have a bit of a rodent problem and one brood of these amazing owls can eat 2000 rodents a year. So I built and installed a barn owl box. Put it up Aug. 1. Will let you know when I get tenants.

Boston Mass birds

As I mentioned in the previous post I had to go to Boston on Family business. While I saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk along one of the highways, I couldn't get a photo of it. Nor did I get a shot of the many gulls.

However, I did get a shot of some robins, who apparently summer up here.



I'm not posting the shoot of Starlings and house sparrows, since they are plentiful enough here right now. I didn't think I could say this, but they may have 10 times the starlings we have. I saw a flock of about 500 hundred at one time. Pretty amazing.

Chimney Swifts Revisited

Man, I apologize for the long, long layoff. Got super busy with video editing and a trip to Boston, Ma. But better later than never. On July 20, my kitty, Tortuga was staring at my fireplace. Since I had heard lots of twittering from the chimney in the last week, that could mean only one thing. Chimney swifts in the fireplace again.

Unfortunately, a nest had come down with the newborns. See the pix.




I scooped them all up and placed them on the ledge above the fireplace in hopes the parents would attend to them. They have in the past, so I thought I'd try it again.

Sure enough, the parents did attend. However, they have this tendency to come below the ledge, and aren't smart enough to go back up. Then I have to let them out the front door. Check the parent I had to let out.


This happened are few more times over the last few days. Some of the little guys didn't make it, but I think at least 2 did. Nature is a cruel master/mistress depending on your point of view.