I'm SO glad you started this thread, Chicka!! You have so many different birds! I would love to see one turkey vulture in the vicinity, let alone groups of them. :D

Do the juncos usually arrive there in fall? He needs a tiny wristwatch! LOL

I had a new visitor to the yard this morning!! Woohoo! A Wilson's warbler followed me around the creek as I was watering plants, then he stopped on a branch tip...and I swear he winked at me. LOL He was so handsome, and I finally have a new bird sighting!

Brenda

As usual, I had to fill the hummingbird feeder twice a day for about 2 weeks, then suddenly last Friday.. .it was still full at the end of the day. Our resident HBs were gone. We had had just females for the past week, which is normal.

On Sunday I was visiting a neighbor and she said the same thing. Then, as we talked, a hummingbird went to her trumpet vine, but not the birdfeeder. We looked toward our yard and could see a hummingbird at the top of the morning glory tower (over 20' in the air). It would go higher if the pole were higher.

Our guess is that these hummingbirds are transients coming down from higher in the mountains or even Canada and go to the flowers which they can easily identify, rather than the birdfeeders that are strange to them but known to the resident hummingbirds.

Are we correct in our thinking?
Anne

Juncos already CD3???? That's awfully early, isn't it?
Hmmmm....wonder what that means?
I haven't seen any different birds lately, except for a female redstart yesterday. Doesn't seem like migration has started for us yet.
I did notice that the male hummers have been gone for a couple weeks. I haven't seen any females today, so maybe they're gone too? :( Where did the summer go??
We should be hearing the barred owls in our woods soon.

Where did the summer go?!?!? Our Hummers are gone. There seems to be new visitors daily. They come, eat, poop, sing and ..... GONE!

Your Hummers are probably migrants on their way south, Anne. Here it is advised that we take down the hummingbird feeders on Labor Day. This way we won't artificially keep the Hummers longer and perhaps get them in trouble when cold weather hits. They will move south as needed and have enough food on their travels.

Wilson's Warbler? How cool is that?!?!? :-) We have some-kinda-Warblers going though here now but I don't know exactly who they all are. Too tiny ... Too quick ... Too high up in the trees and too well hidden behind all the leaves.

I don't remember seeing a Junco before November here. Oh oh... We might be in trouble this winter. *Thank God* for ski lodges! 8-)

I've had a fabulous turnout of migrating warblers, etc this fall! Or maybe because I'm too pooped to do anything but sit at the window and stare, I'm seeing more this year. I still have hummers, even a few males although it's mostly females and younguns. Around here they say to leave your feeders up until end of November, that it won't keep the ruby-throats from migrating and there are more and more sightings of west coast hummers who end up on the east coast in late fall and early winter. There was an Anna and a rufous hummer in Ohio in the last two years. One showed up in December and stayed until the middle of January. Nobody is quite sure why there is an increase of these hummers but there are more and more reports each year. It would be fun to see a hummer in December but I'm afraid I would worry myself sick!

Most of my summer birds are still here. The wood thrush no longer sings (sniff, sniff) but I still hear his little "Pip, pip, pip". I've seen both the summer and scarlet tanagers in the last week - both had molted into their winter colors -why can't they show themselves in their pretty summer attire?

I've added two new yard birds this fall - a warbling vireo and a yellow-bellied flycatcher which is one of my rarest yard birds. I've had a nice variety of warblers so far - american redstarts, bay breasted, black-throated green, black-and-white, blackburnian, black poll, blue-winged, canada, cape may, chestnut-sided, magnolia, ovenbird, prairie and tennesee and vireos - red-eyed, warbling, white-eyed, and yellow-throated and a swainsons thrush. I also had a juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak, not sure if it's a migrant or from the pair that I saw this summer.

I do love see the fall migrants but I am really going to miss summer ... and the mosquitos and the heat and the drought ....

jeanner.......did you get any pics of the other hummers? It would be sooooo cool to see the other kinds. Are you near the Ohio? I'm in central Indiana, and I wonder if we get birds around the same time.......but I think you're more south than me, and that makes a big difference.
I only heard a wood thrush once or twice this year, which made me really sad, since their song is so enchanting.
I'm sorry you're so pooped that you just sit at the window all day, but I wish I had more time to do that. I feel like I haven't watched for birds in a long time. My mother went into a nursing home this summer, and I'm cleaning out her condo. No fun! I'd rather be sitting in front of my window watching for birds! :)
Hey.....I'm just going to make time and go out on my deck right now and look for some! Thanks for reminding me to stop and smell the roses!

Oh! I went out on the deck and saw several female hummers flying around! I hadn't noticed the white tip on the end of the tail feathers before. One was very small, so I'm assuming it was a juvenile. So I guess they're still here......or passing through. I'll take them any way I can get them! :)

After a summer-long hummer extravaganza here, filling the feeder at least once a day, they have moved on for me, too! There is a straggler or 2, but I sure miss their sassy squeaks and smooches as they flirt and chase each other away. :)

Amen for ski lodges, Chicka! :D

Congrats on your new birds, Jean!! I have a warbling vireo in my book - so adorable! No pic of the YB flycatcher, but I can imagine by the name how beautiful it is!

I'm sorry to hear about your mom, Catherine! No, I'd much rather be watching birds than cleaning, too. :D

Here in crazy Cali, I SO look forward to fall - cooler temps, rain on the way (maybe!), and the best time to plant stuff! I sure hope the Farmer's Almanac is wrong in predicting a cold, dry winter for us, though. :(

Brenda

Oooo, I thought I had a new bird sighting yesterday when I saw a female black-headed grosbeak at the feeder!!! But it turns out that I must have seen her before, because she's on my bird list. Hmmmm, I'm LOSING it, people! LOL

I mistook her at first for a punk rocker (white-crowned sparrow), with her amazing black-and-white striped head!! But no...the size of her compared to the sparrows at the same feeder, that beautifully streaked breast, that yellow flash under her wings. *swoon* There was no mistaking her.

She's already been here this morning, too, and DH got to witness her gorgeousness. Life is SO good!!!!

Brenda

Congrats on the re-lifer!

I had a re-lifer this weekend too, a golden-winged warbler - it was only here for a total of 1.5 seconds :^(.

The warbling vireo was back this weekend too and lots of warblers so life is GOOD! I just wish I had charged my camera battery before we lost our power - arrrgghhh!!!