Just kind of a strange time….

I looked really hard today to try to find something to post since I seem to have a loyal following, despite the fact that this months reports have been slim to none!  Thank you for that. It just seems to be a very strange time of the year – or maybe it is the weather…

water levels are staying constant at a higher level than I ever remember for this time of the year.  I’m hoping to get out on that water one of these days, if it isn’t either blazing hot or too windy – which seems to the case lately as we switch from one extreme to the other.

Sometimes bird numbers are very sparse and at other times they seem to be everywhere.  There are quite a few House Finch around, like this male, I find they seem to visit the feeders in the evening, bringing a lot of youngsters.  Purple Finch show up then too but haven’t noticed any young with them.  Goldfinch are either in great numbers, or totally absent….and just the other day a few Pine Sisken started appearing again.

there are still quite a few American Robin’s running around with mouthfuls of food.  The Bullock’s Orioles and Cedar Waxwing are still in large numbers down near the water….

Spotted this Northern Flicker in the grass today…lots of Barn Swallows but haven’t seen too many Tree Swallows lately.  The male Rufous Hummingbirds are long gone but there are females and young ones around but more spread out now as they concentrate on natural food rather than feeders.  Both Black Capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees show up from time to time and there is a family of Red-breasted Nuthatch in a cedar tree, identified by sound as they are too high up for pictures.

It seems most of the adult Steller’s Jay are taking a vacation elsewhere because pretty much every Jay you see is a youngster.   Black-headed Grosbeak are showing up now and then, as are a few Brown headed Cowbirds – they normally pretty much disappear by the end of July.

Spotted this out on the road today.  This is the moth from a Tent Caterpillar.  You may have noticed these guys on the news lately as the city of Prince George is apparently over run with them.

and just as a follow up, I haven’t seen that baby Towhee again, but I have see a male Towhee around now and then, so perhaps he is still busy feeding.  There has also been an adult White-crowned Sparrow in the yard occasionally, not sure what happened to the young ones that had been around earlier.  Oh, and I haven’t seen that Grackle again either.