This is the Bullock’s Oriole nest near the Ashland Dog Park.

Note in the second and third picture there is a yellowish and roundish shape sticking up above the edge of the nest, now with its tops knocked off.  That shape is the head of one of the nearly fledged young’uns. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GARDEN BIRDS:  A pair of Lesser Goldfinches have returned to our feeders in the past few days.  Perhaps they have raised their first clutch of the season, so nw mom and ada are going out to eat…before the next round of egg-laying begins.  The little guys join the roster ofbirds that are daily regulars in this season: Mourning Doves, Black-headed Grosbeaks (including the one-year old male pictures below with about half his adult plumage but a still-white belly), both jays, Spotted Towhee, Flicker, Downy.  In the area but at the feeders: Robin and Tanager.  The Band-tailed Pigeon is another recent regular. Haven’t seen the female Mallard for few days.  Mammal note: my wife saw the first newly-born fawn of the season, about five houses down Granite Street from our house.

The first-year male Black-headed Grosbeak who comes regularly to the feeders in our garden. Note the pale belly with just a hint of the yellow keel stripe, and an orange notch at the back of the black skull cap.  Got that full-sized, industrial strength beak of the species, however.

 

 

The female, starting to look a little scruffy as she hardly has time to preen, too busy with nest and nestlings.

Swallow Tornado

A recent picture of swarming Cliff Swallows when Dick Ashford and I approached their nesting site, an underpass along I-5 near Mount Ashland.  Perhaps their nests have been disturbed in the past by highway workers or simply passers-by.  They did not attack but were very suspicious unlike some swallow colonies that seem almost tame. 

During the summer no bird is more abundant along I-5 from Sacramento to Ashland than the Cliff Swallow.  Nearly every bridge has its colony of nesting birds.