Birdblogging: Oak Titmouse

I took some time this afternoon to just sit in the shade about 12 feet away from one of our bird feeder "trees." These are stout wood poles (about 8" diameter) fitted with six cast-iron "branches" to hold feeders. We have three of these trees, with feeders on each for oil sunflower, Nyjer thistle, and safflower seeds. Also, right next to this particular tree we have a pole with another feeder: a suet/bug/seed mixture designed to attract woodpeckers, but which so far has attracted only nuthatches and grosbeaks (but ok on both of them!).

Anyway, one of birds that landed on the feeder whilst I was lurking was this perky little oak titmouse (baeolophus inornatus). Debi and I really enjoy watching these little guys — they flit about in a big hurry, rarely lighting anywhere for more than a few moments. This makes them a serious photographic challenge, and these pictures (click on them for a larger version) are the first in-focus pictures of the oak titmouse that I've ever been able to take. I've got a couple of additional ones that I didn't post, because they're blurry, but they're interesting nonetheless, as they show a behavior peculiar (at our house, anyway) to the oak titmouse. They will grasp an oil sunflower seed between their claws while they're perched on the cast-iron branch, and then hammer away at it like a woodpecker to get the hull off. Apparently their beaks are not strong enough to simply crack it, as a larger bird like a finch or jay would do. So he does it the hard way...

In our Sibley guide, the range for the oak titmouse is very limited; parts of California and a little bit of south-central Oregon. As usual they give the song in some kind of code that apparently makes sense to some people, but which I've never figured out. I know the song of the oak titmouse, and what I know doesn't seem to fit Sibley's description at all. Here's how Sibley says the oak titmouse sounds: "Song of strong, whistled, repeated phrases tjiboo...or paired tuwituwi...and other variations." Is that clear to you? If it is, could you please explain it to this befuddled one?

Yardblogging: flowers

I don't have a clue what this flower is, but it sure is a beautiful thing. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Each spring and summer as I walk my yard, I discover a few new wildflowers. Some return year-after-year; others show up just once and never (so far) again. This red flower I've never seen in my yard before (though I've seen it elsewhere); we'll see if it comes back. For some reason this year we have a fair number of (very pretty) yellow Mexican poppies in the lower part of the yard — we've seen these often in the Cuyamaca Mountains, but never before at our home. And just as oddly, these year we have almost none of the California poppies I love so much. Very mysterious, these flora comings-and-goings...

Yardblogging: classic chapparal

I took these pictures inside our fenced yard, on the hill directly above our home. To me, this scene is absolutely classic "chapparal in the summertime." The pale orange flowers (which I have not been able to identify) are very common at this altitude. I hope they're natives, and not some alien outcompeting the natives, as they're very successful. This year, with the rains, our hillsides are offering a spectacular display of them. And of course the manzanitais a classic native chapparal flora, and the rocks and dry grasses are very evocative of the environment.

I love living out here!

The leftmost photo is a closeup of the blooms visible near the bottom of the rightmost photo. Both were taken with a 100mm (effectively 160mm with my Canon EOS 10D) in the morning light (around 10 am). You can see in the wider view just how saturated with light the scene is; the extreme contrast between light and shadow makes for very tricky photography.

For the past five years, each summer when I whack weeds in my yard I've been preserving the plants of these blooms. The payoff was this year — huge mounds of these pale golden blooms all over the upper reaches of our yard. Lovely!

Yardblogging: oriole

More specifically, a male Hooded Oriole. All of these photos were taken from a window in the back of our home this morning, using a handheld 640mm stabilized telephoto. Click on any of them to get a larger version. Some information from Jeannie's Cottage Aviary:

Orioles are colorful tree-dwelling birds, quite different in habits, appearance, habitat preference, and nest structure from their ground-feeding relatives. All North American orioles have the same basic pattern. Adult males and most first-year males are strikingly marked with brilliant breasts, bellies, and rump patches that contrast with black wings, black throats or heads, and in many species black rounded tails. Most females are similar to one another and pose a real problem in the Southwest, where several species occur. All have conspicuous wingbars and very sharply pointed beaks.

Orioles migrate primarily by night, but loose bands of 5-10 may sometimes be seen just above the treetops in the early morning.

The nest is made from grasses, plant fibers, hair, strings, etc. and firmly interwoven and hung from the end of branches in shade or fruit trees at heights of from 10 to 90 feet. Eggs are four to six white with irregular streaks and blotches of brown and black. Orioles feed on caterpillars, beetles and other insects; wild and some cultivated fruits.

The Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) is from 7-7-3/4 inches long. This is the only common U.S. oriole with an orange crown. The bill is long and slightly curved. The song is a series of whistles, chatters and warbles. This species breeds from central California, southern Nevada, southwest Utah, central Arizona, southwest New Mexico, western and southern Texas (near the Rio Grande) to southern Mexico. A few winter in southern California and southern Texas. Its habitat is open woodlands, thickets, palms, and shade trees.

These beautiful birds, along with the nearly-as-beautiful Bullock's Oriole, are spring and summer visitors at our home. They seem to be attracted to the birdbath we keep, along with our hummingbird feeders. The couple of times we've tried attracting them with their own feeder, it didn't seem to work...

BTW, if you're looking at the leftmost picture and wondering what that green thing snaking under the oriole's feet is, here's the explanation: the oriole is perched about 15 feet above ground on a dead branch in a flowering plum tree. The entire tree is nearly dead, killed by the prolonged drought and...the owner of the green snake — a nearby Chinese wisteria that is taking over the skeleton of the flowering plum tree.

Yardblogging: California Towhee

I took this photo with a handheld 640mm stabilized telephoto, shooting right out an open window to the bird about 20' away. Click on the picture for a larger view. About the California Towhee, from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology:

California Towhee Pipilo crissalis

Cool fact: The California Towhee was first named as a separate species in 1839. Yet when the first American Ornithologists' Union checklist was published in 1886, it had been lumped with the Canyon Towhee, and the two were known collectively as the Brown Towhee, despite conflicting views held by ornithologists because of the many differences in the two forms' appearances, songs, behaviors, and nests. Relationships between the two forms have recently been clarified through mitochondrial DNA studies, and they are each once again considered full species.

California Towhees are relatively common in brushy habitats from southern Oregon to Baja California and from the Pacific inland to the foothills of the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. The primary habitat type is chaparral, followed by riparian thickets of alder and willow. Human disturbances have created additional habitat, which is found along roadsides, clearings, and open lawns. California Towhees are permanent residents and, except for the dispersal of juveniles away from nesting areas, are quite sedentary. They are highly territorial birds, aggressively defending their territories year-round. California Towhees often battle their own reflections in windows, hubcaps, and other such reflecting surfaces. Territories range from one to five acres in size.

Nests are sited in dense foliage in shrubs or trees usually within 4 to 12 feet from the ground. Nesting occurs from mid-April through June. The low height and openness of the California Towhee's habitat enables males to detect intruders and rivals visually. Accordingly, song is not as important in territorial defense, and males sing infrequently, most often in the evening. Song is used primarily to attract mates, and birds that sing most are unmated males. The song, delivered from an open perch, consists of the bird's typical chip note repeated three or four times, followed by a descending and decelerating trill. At other times, a faint warbling song can be heard. California Towhees apparently pair for life.

During the breeding season, insects make up most of the towhee's diet; at other times seeds and some fruit are important. Most food is found on the ground, and California Towhees may forage in the manner of Eastern or Spotted Towhees-by scratching the soil using both feet at once. They find water in dry habitats by drinking the dew from grass, and they can be frequent visitors at feeders.

Description: California Towhees are large, unstreaked sparrows (approximately 8.5 to 9.0 inches in length) with long tails. This towhee has a dark brown back, rump, wings, and tail. The crown is warm brown, contrasting slightly with the upperparts. The lores, chin, and throat are cinnamon, and there is a thin necklace of brown spots below the throat. The underparts are slightly paler and more buff-colored than the upperparts; undertail coverts are a distinct cinnamon brown. The bill and legs are brownish, and the eyes are orangish brown. Sexes are indistinguishable. Juveniles are similar to adults but streaked below.

The three brown towhees (California, Canyon, and Abert's) are closely related and similar in appearance. Abert's Towhee (P. aberti) is found in dense streamside thickets in desert areas in southwestern California and southern Arizona. It is distinguished by the dark face that contrasts with its pale bill and by the lack of throat or breast streaking. Canyon Towhees (P. fuscus) tend to inhabit territories at higher altitudes than California Towhees, and the ranges do not overlap. Canyon Towhees are slightly paler and more slender than California Towhees. Canyon Towhees are distinguished by a paler throat with a necklace of dark spots, a contrasting rufous-brown crown (some Mexican races lack this crown), pale buffy (rather than cinnamon) lores, whitish bellies, and a dark spot below the throat necklace.

If Cornell is correct about their territory size, then we have a super-abundance of California Towhees in our yard. We have something like 10 or 12 pairs of them who are either residents of our yard, or who are here so much they might as well be — including one pair who nests in a helmet on our patio!

Yardblogging: rabbit

Early this morning, I had the telephoto mounted (for some Hooded Oriole pictures), and this little guy showed up about 15 feet away. Seemed like too good an opportunity to miss!

It's very hard to accept just how many rabbits we have here — early in the morning, or in the evening, it's not unusual for us to have more than a dozen in sight (from our windows) at any given moment. My personal record is 27, early on a Saturday morning. They're attracted to us for several reasons: we have reliable water (an automatic waterer out for all the animals to use), we put cracked corn out (mostly for the quail, but it doesn't get any better if you're a bunny), and we've got about 3.5 acres fenced in around the house and largely free of four-footed predators (though we do see the occasional bobcat, and there are our neighbors' housecats out and about). We do have other predators, though: numerous hawks, and (if the rabbit is small enough) gopher snakes. Just once, we've seen a golden eagle sitting on a pole just outside our yard...

By and large these rabbits do us no harm. They keep our citrus trees trimmed to about 14" off the ground (apparently the limit of their reach), and they eat things we'd rather they didn't (this is one reason — along with gophers — why almost all non-native plants in our yard are in pots).