This morning I headed south to join a group of birders at the Wildflower Center. Since I don’t have a dedicated set of binoculars (yet), I can’t officially call myself a “real” birder, based on my personal definition, but given that I got up at 6am to drive across town to trek along trails and into woods to find our avian friends, I guess I might as well stop fooling myself. Our guide Travis loaned me a set of binoculars, though — thank goodness, because my zoom lens only goes so far. Note to self: Add birding binoculars to my wish list. Might as well add a bigger zoom to that list, too.

Western Scrub-Jay

Today we hoped to see the Painted Buntings that have arrived at the Wildflower Center, but of course we took a full walk around to see as many birds as possible. The key to finding a bird on a wildlife walk among trees and shrubs is to keep a keen eye watching for movement and a careful ear listening and distinguishing bird calls. Even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll see what the person next to you caught a mere glimpse of, and there were several birds we never saw at all but only heard. There’s a whole trick to finding birds through binoculars, too.

Northern Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds greeted us the most with song, though I suspect it had far less to do with us and far more to do with their mates.

Among the 30 species of birds we caught glimpses of or recognized the sounds of were White-Eyed Vireo, Bewick’s Wren, Downy and Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers, Brown-Headed Cowbird, Lesser Goldfinch, Cooper’s Hawk, Estern Phoebe, Bobwhite Quail, and oh so many more.

As hard as it was to find the birds, even with binoculars, it was even harder to get a picture with the camera. Here is the only evidence I have of the Black-Throated Green Warbler we saw — it moved just as I got into position to get a photo:

This next pitiful picture hides a Yellow Warbler. See it?

Alas. At least the nearby flowers cooperated. You know me, I couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the flowers while I listened to the birds.

Above, the ever-beautiful Purple Coneflowers commanded attention from their blue backdrop of Mealy Blue Sage, and below, a bee took a pollen bath in a Winecup. 

A Carpenter Bee took a rest on Antelope Horn Milkweed.

But I digress.

The Great Horned Owlets continue to do well, and we took a few moments to visit them, being cautious not to linger too long.

There are three of them, but the prime hiding spot is behind the sotol, so capturing a picture of all three at once was a challenge. I felt lucky to get “the eye” of the third.

I’m cheating here — the above images and the one below I actually took two days ago during another visit to the Center — look how big the owls are growing. I think the one standing tall in the image below might actually be the youngest baby — see how the others are farther developed in their plumage? The Center’s staff is keeping an extra watch on it.

Now take a look at the owls this morning. With the cooler temperature, they were fluffed up, but what a difference in plumage two days can make.

We didn’t see Mama Owl (or Papa Owl, for that matter), but I’m sure she was watching us from afar. She no longer stays in the nest with her babies — they are so big! — but she continues to feed them during off hours.

 As for Painted Buntings, we heard several but only saw a couple from quite far away. They just didn’t care to let us get close. This very-zoomed-in photo, my friends, is the best I have to show you.

But we saw them — that’s what counts!

It’s been an emotional time in the bird world of our habitat. First we were concerned we’d accidentally startled away our Screech Owl resident during a well-meant daytime branch pruning. But happily the owl returned and is once again watching over all backyard activity.

I’m hopeful that the owl being so quick to flush might actually indicate that there are babies in there, but really I’m just looking for any sort of sign at all that we might get to see baby owls at some point soon. For all we know, we’ve just got one extremely comfortable bachelor hanging out in his awesome pad.

The other owl house has become occupied by a squirrel and most likely its family, and well, that’s not such a good thing, as you’ll find out shortly.

Very exciting is that we recently enjoyed a flock of migrating birds all taking baths together in the waterfall of our pond. They arrived together and left together — I invited them to stay but they clearly had places to go after they got all clean. They wouldn’t let me get too close for pictures, but as long as I was a safe distance away, they splashed about eagerly.

We had Chipping Sparrows, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, one Ruby-Crowned Kinglet– I’m still working on IDing the rest. There’s another sparrow in there, and that yellow bird looks like something other than a finch — possibly another kind of warbler and one Nashville Warbler (this yellow bird is new to me — Audubon gurus Jane T. and Laurie F. identified it for me — thank you both!). Even Carolina Chickadees (not pictured) and White-Winged Doves (also not pictured) flew down to join in. Safety in numbers, I suppose — plenty of birds to look out for danger while the rest splash about. 

Some bathed in the waterfall plants, while others went straight to the waterfall.

The flock was only here but briefly, but those few minutes made us so happy that we had a waterfall to offer them.

But today we feel sad, because yesterday afternoon our young Carolina Wren babies were snatched away. We are blaming the squirrel seen in the vicinity during the hour when it must have happened, as we had just prior checked on the babies and they were all there. I had no idea that squirrels would eat baby birds until that happened. It’s upsetting, but it’s nature. Plants provide food for animals, who in turn become food for larger animals, and so forth. That’s why I don’t hang out with saltwater crocodiles. 

But even though it’s all the circle of life, I’m not thinking squirrels are so “cute” anymore. They were clearly setting me up, doing all their silly antics and making those innocent faces! Then they go and eat the baby birds I’d been daily protecting and documenting the growth of. But while my habitat is songbird-friendly and apparently a squirrel’s delight, it’s also owl-friendly. Squirrels might be on the larger side of a Screech Owl’s diet, but they are definitely on the menu. So those squirrels better realize they are in prime viewing range of that which might eat THEM. 

Speaking of owls, if you have a chance to visit the Wildflower Center, be sure to take your camera. There’s a Great Horned Owl nesting right where visitors can stop and say hello.

Apparently her big-eyed owlet is peeking out now, too — if I can, I’m going to head down there to get a picture! I’m going to venture a guess that this baby is safe from squirrels….

One of our screech owl houses has a new occupant. For the first few days, it was quite difficult to capture a picture of her — she was reluctant to stay visible when we were in the backyard. But each day she’s watched us for longer period of times and seems to realize we’re not going to fly up there after her.

This afternoon she let me approach quite near her, not even bothering to watch me like a hawk an owl. In fact, she closed her eyes and snoozed for some of the time I was taking pictures. 
You can tell in the pictures that she’s backlit by the sun in the afternoons — I keep trying to get a picture of her in the morning, but she always seems to prefer getting right to sleep after a night’s hunt. What’s up with that?!!

She’s also the most vocal owl we’ve had to date. Either that, or she’s got a male trying to get her attention — ooh, I hope so!