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So as of this morning - we have 4 eggs in the Bewick’s nest. She has been laying one egg per night - so each morning there is a new surprise!

coming up this weekend!

This has been the best birding day in the yard since we have moved here. The temp is dropping steadily - about 32 right now and we have seen birds this morning that we have never had in the yard before. Here is the list as of 12:30p.
1) Golden Fronted Woodpecker - black oil sunflower seed from blue feeder, hanging seed cake
2) Northern Cardinals - sunflower and special mix
3) Chipping Sparrow - sunflower,special mix, millet feeder, and hanging seed cake
4) House Sparrow - sunflower
5) Female House Finch - male must be somewhere close - special mix
6) Tufted Titmice - sunflower and special mix
7) Black-capped chickadee - sunflower and hanging seedcake
American Goldfinch - flock of 10, had one mature male w/black cap, and one that had a white cap, but otherwise was marked as a male. One also had a very white tail. Have not had these prior to today.
9) White-Winged Dove - sunflower on ground
10) Mourning Dove - sunflower on ground - don’t normally see them as much as the White-Winged
11) American Robin - 2 male, 2 female out the side yard in the grass
12) Carolina Wren - all over - enjoying everything
13) Northen Mockingbird - out the side yard in the grass
14) Ruby-Crowned Kinglet - male - saw his red head crest clearly
15) Dark-Eyed Junco - Dean spotted them in the leaf litter beneath the Live Oak out back - two or more
16) Bewicks Wren - on the side of the house - flitting
17) Greater Roadrunner - Spotted him all poofed out sitting on a paver in front of the privet. He was so poofed out that I could barely recognize him. Spotted several times after hunting the privet.

Dean is off to Houston for his sister Melony’s 40th B-day - so I figured Eija and I would spend some quality time prowling the yard counting as many different kinds of birds as we can.

Sat Morning:
1) Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2) Northern Cardinal
3) Northen Mockingbird
4) Tufted Tit-mouse - black-capped
5) Mourning Dove
6) House Wren
7) American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
9) Black Vulture
10) White-winged Dove
11) House Sparrow
12) Warblers - these guys are migratory and really hard to tell what kind - I saw about 5 of them in the front oaks, maybe Nashville or Yellow warblers

I spotted my first fall migratory bird this morning - a Least Flycatcher. Dean had already spotted him about two weeks ago, but did not know what he was, just that he looked like a small Mockingbird. This guy mainly hangs out up North - Canada, MN, MT but migrates to the tropics via Texas. I am going to try and log as many migrants as they come through this fall. They say the fall migration happens here as early as June, it is a slow gradual process unlike the much quicker spring migration.

If you have not already - check out the pictures on Dean’s site of the fence lizard and the roadrunner. It absolutely amazes me that both look just like the live oak trees that is part of their habitat. Both predator and prey have evolved the most perfect camoflauge to both stalk and hide in the oak trees. I just love it.