An "In Your Face" Hummingbird

[Bugbear]

Ya, BoldHighlander, they do sound like a little jack hammer.

And I've noticed, sydnie7, the woodpeckers like my palm trees,; they also seem to have very noisy calls. There's a whole bunch of birds out there, so it's been interesting trying to identify some of them just by their sounds.

Some of the hole boring birds like to drill holes in my spineless prickly pears: the taller cacti. It doesn't seem to hurt the cactus too much, just looks a little ugly, I guess.

[BoldHighlander]

Ya, BoldHighlander, they do sound like a little jack hammer.

Yeah, we played this little game for about 4 or 5 days, then I guess he grew tired of irritating me

[Bugbear]

Ya, woodpeckers are funny little critters.

We also have, I think, quail that tend to walk around in families or groups; sometimes down the side of the road, in a line, or crossing it. My neighbors have told me about having to wait for the birds to pass by or cross the road before pulling out in their cars.

There's even Feral parakeets and parrots out here that have apparently been breeding; several articals on it when I did a web search. My friend rescued a hatchling parrot, and raised him; I don't remember which kind he is. And I know of at least one parakeet that has hung out in my neighbor's mulberry trees. Guess they do well in our climate.

[Bugbear]

Ok, I looked into woodpeckers. It turns out that the drumming they do is to defend their territory or for mating calls. The actual boring they do in wood for insects is a lot quieter. That is according to Stokes Bird Feeder Book.

There are some nighttime song birds in the neighborhood that I need to identify by their calls. Last year there was, what I think to be, a Great Horned Owl over on the next block for a few evenings. At least it sounded a lot like one.

[BoldHighlander]

Ok, I looked into woodpeckers. It turns out that the drumming they do is to defend their territory or for mating calls.

That makes sense Ted, as I recall a short while later a female(?) showed up in response to his drumming, and then they flew off together.

[MacBean]

I hear Great Horned Owls everytime I go to the Phoenix area (up on Mummy Mtn). We had a Philadelphia vireo at the dining room window today - a first for our yard over the last 22 years. I think he was here for the hockey game!

[BoldHighlander]

Just now looked out the far window & saw a hummingbird hovering outside....a good reminder that I need to put our feeder up!

[Bugbear]

They're waiting for you to feed them. My citrus have pretty much stopped blooming at this point, so the hummingbirds aren't hanging out in that area too much. I've been in the middle of harvesting the garlic over the last week and haven't been in the trees too much either. I'll get it set up for them to have plants to visit that are safe from cats as the summer goes on.

I think that was a Great Horned Owl, MacBean, unless there is another owl that has a similar call. There's so many different birds out there that it is difficult to figure out what they are by going through bird sample recordings. I do know there are several different doves, and pigeons that call endlessly all day. I'm working on it, Slowly.

[Bugbear]

I'm thinking about getting the book, Messages from an Owl, by Max R. Terman. It's about a scientist of some sort who was able to rescue and raise a young Great Horned Owl, then train him to hunt for himself, and let him back into the wild after radio tagging him. Sounds like an interesting book.