They're back!

The female  rufous humming birds are back in town! They are such bossy pants- chasing all of the Anna's humming birds from all of our 6 feeders.

We always feel best when we are outside connecting with nature. One of our favorite ways to do that is go birding. We have been able to get out and do some fun birding in the last few days on our own and with friends. We had an incredible day at Rye Springs on Saturday. I think the numbers were something like 450 sitings in 5 hours! We had hundreds of juveniles- Hermit Warblers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Audubon's Warblers, Golden-crowned Kinglets and more.

There were reports of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo & a California Thrasher on Pilot Rock so we took a hike up on Sunday Morning. We did not see the Cuckoo or Thrasher but we did see lots of other birds such as; Spotted Towhees, Oak Titmice, Chipping Sparrows  & Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers to name a few and they were all with their young.

This morning we took a hike up Grizzly Peak. It was a beautiful morning. We were greeted by Golden-crowned Kinglets, MacGillivray's Warbler & a few juvenile Hermit Warblers. We went on up the trail and met up with families of Steller's & Gray Jays in the forest. Once we reached the summit we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a Mountain Quail and her young!! This was the first time either of us have had the opportunity to see this bird. Here are a few photos from today. You can always check out more photos at the Flickr link on the right hand side of the page under links.

                                                         Black-headed Grosbeak

                                                       Brown Creeper

                                                      Chipmunks

                                                      Golden-crowned Kinglet

                                                       Hairy Woodpecker

                                                       House Wren

                                                        Mountain Quail

                                                         Northern Flicker

                                                           Red-breasted Nuthatch

                                                          Red-breasted Nuthatch

Good night,

Bettina & Bob