Pin Tailed Whydah

This Pin Tailed Whydah lives in our neighbor's beautiful garden.
He is very aggressive, chasing other birds away from the feeder.
He is one bird that really puts on a show, flying from limb to limb, then to the ground then back up in the tree again., wish I had one in my yard. :)

Click below to hear their singing:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species.php?species_nr2=7450.00 

American Gold Finch

Male Gold Finch eating thistle seed.
Click below to hear their song:
http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=23

Black Phoebe Flycatcher

This Phoebe and others like it, keep the yard almost free of flying insects. They also eat spiders from their webs.

Hear his song below:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black_Phoebe/sounds

Cedar Waxwings

These birds hang around trying to strip the berries from our blackberry and blueberry bushes.. Flocks of them will swarm a fruit bush and leave it striped within a minute. I've noticed they were eating the red berries/peppers on my neighbors brazilian pepper tree. I understand it's not their norm to eat peppers but perhaps they were very hungry that day. I have seen up to about 50 or more sitting in our pine trees. They fly in large flocks.
Click below to hear their sound:
http://pjdeye.blogspot.com/2009/05/waxwings.html

Hummingbird

This little guy feeds all day about every 5 minutes.

Click below to hear his sound:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/sounds

Hummingbird nest in our front porch fig ficus tree. Notice our dog's fur and bits of newspaper weaved within other materials. I compared the nest size to the size of a quarter. 

Cooper's Hawk

We have to be concerned about this Cooper Hawk.

Among the bird world’s most skillful flyers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds.

It dives in for smaller birds. We move the bird feeders around the yard so the hawk doesn't develope a food diving routine and we will place some feeders inside a larger wire housing so the hawk can't swoop in on them. Notice this birds striped pajamas and cute yellow legs. I think he is quite beautiful.
Click below to hear one of it's changing screech sounds:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/sounds

Male Bluebird at our feeder

Little Blue loves to perch on my garden rake handle.







This male bluebird comes to the feeder regularly to gather worms for his brood.
He shares the feeding responsibility with the female bluebird.
He's very friendly.

Click below to hear its song:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Bluebird/sounds 

Red-Tailed Hawk

Overhead shot of hawk circling the yard for prey. Double click on all pictures for magnification. Notice the beautiful design under his wings. Awesome!