Blues and Friends

Its a Halloween treat for me!  Three beautiful bluebirds welcomed me home from work...

And they brought friends!  Well, not really friends...one of the bluebirds wasn't a big fan of this bird and chased it away.  I believe this might be a Carolina Wren, but I'm not sure. There were two of them, but I couldn't get a clear shot because they flitted so quickly around the backyard and spent a lot of time hidden in the grass.  (Please forgive the poor picture quality in these.  I was excited and struggling with the afternoon sun!)

I believe this is a house finch...

But, the bluebirds are still my favorite!

Junco on the Fence

This morning was met with a surprise flurry of bird activity.  A flock of finches, including a bright red house finch, swooped into the yard, sat on the seed feeder and a nearby tree.  For a moment, my empty feeder syndrome from the hummingbirds was lifted.  By the time I grabbed my camera, however, the high-strung finches had flown away.  A Junco, which had been part of the flock, flew to the fence, and I was able to get a few shots. 

We typically don't see Juncos until the weather cools.  Because temperatures are still reaching the low 80's during the day, I'm surprised to see this Junco so early.

Empty Feeder Syndrome

My last hummingbird for the season left on October 4, 2010.  I've been suffering from empty feeder syndrome since.  Every time I pass our back door, I quickly scan the backyard in hopes of seeing another one.

Yesterday as I scanned, I didn't see a hummingbird, but one of our resident bluebirds (Constance) sitting on the fence!  We rarely see our bluebirds after nesting season, so this was a nice surprise.  The male (Bubba) then swooped in and perched on the bluebird house and had a look inside.  I've heard of bluebirds wintering in nest boxes, but our pair never has.  I would love to experience these beautiful birds during winter!

This morning, Bubba was on the fence again, but quickly flew away.  He was replaced with our resident harassing Mockingbird (Marvin).  If the bluebirds were considering wintering in our backyard, then I'm afraid Marvin might have discouraged them. 

My Bird Dog

Okay, so she's not THAT kind of bird dog, but Sophie the schnauzer likes watching birds almost as much as I do.  She's surveying her backyard kingdom in the above photo to see what birds dare to invade.

I have to admit that I've taught her some bad bird habits.  When big cowbirds were hogging the bird feeder, I told Sophie they were "bad birds," and she barked and rattled the blinds on the backdoor to scare them away.  She'll do this whenever I say those words now.  If I dare open the back door after saying the magic words, she'll shoot out the door like a bullet and chase away any birds that happen to be around.  This was actually really helpful when I was trying to keep house sparrows out of the bluebird house, but if the bluebirds happened to be in the yard too, she would happily chase them away as well, returning to the back door very pleased with herself.  Oops!  Sorry blues!

I caught Sophie watching the hummingbirds a few times this Summer.  She always had a curious and annoyed expression like "what the heck is that noisy thing?" but she never tried to scare them or chase them away.  Of course, I never identified them as "bad birds" either!