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OC Register -  Birding 101

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/benson-533921-ford-hutchinson.html

Coopers Hawk

Yorba Linda, Ca.
This beautiful hawk landed on friend and YLWC member Kim C's backyard pool fence today. They are such majestic creatures... Good fast pics Kim! They usually fly away before a camera debut.

Winter bird food

Packing the backyard habitat pine trees with home made winter bird suet. 

It provides the birds with the fat they need in the colder winter months. They love it. It attracts all kinds of birds and is a good way to get a good birds eye view of some birds in your area. Place some in your yard and sit back to watch the show. 

Helping birds in cold weather

Read about helping birds in cold weather.

 

This is a Townsend Warbler visiting my backyard suet bar. 

Click Here

Create a Certified Wildlife Habitat

Create a Certified Wildlife Habitat in your yard.

It only takes four things.

Step 1 - Provide Food

Step 2 - Supply Water

Step 3 - Create Cover

Step 4 - Give Wildlife a Place to Raise Young

 Click on  link below:

Create a wildlife habitat

Golden Eagles are in our Silverado Canyon

We have Golden Eagles here in Orange County. On occasion you can see them soar at Silverado Canyon by the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary. This picture was taken by daughter Shannon  in Montana but it's the same bird.  Just beautiful!

Cedar Waxwing

Another amazingly beautiful cedar waxwing sighting.

What's in your backyard? Send in your pic to be posted.

Rustic Bluebird Houses

Michaels woodcraft and blog.  Some amazing woodwork, a true artist.


http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/

Monarch Butterflies

For an extra 'winged treat,' add monarch butterflies to your backyard. It's easy!

Beautiful Monarchs - Certified Wildlife Habitat's picture.
Our backyard is a certified wildlife habitat. This passed summer we had the joy of adding another species, that is, raising majestic monarch butterflies. Depending on the cycle growth of their host milkweed plants, our yard was nature filled with an abundance of butterflies. Thank you cousin Gina Papadakis for your inspiration and how-to pictures.

So. Cal. Bluebird Club

HELP! Hurt or truly injured birds, what do I do?

What do I do when I find a hurt or truly injured bird?

Review the website below regarding bird care education:  


http://www.songbirdcareandeducation.org/foundababybird.html

Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary

Went to Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary today. Had the most amazing educational discussion with Uyen Tran, curator and graduate student of CSUF in animal behavior sciences. She was absolutely informative about our area birds. We had a discussion about many bird types. I learned why most likely we are not able to attract red-winged black birds to our yard. They prefer areas closer to the water, she said. Hence, now that I think about it, I always see them in Y.L. yards and businesses situated closer to our local Santa Ana River. Also, the Anna's and Costas hummingbirds are the only two hummingbirds that have a song. Anna's hummingbirds are local to Yorba Linda, Costas are not.  Do you have an Anna's hummingbird singing in your yard? Hear their songs. Click here > Anna's Song 

Thank you Uyen, for a most enjoyable visit.
TuckerWildlife.org

 

 

Female Robin collecting mealworms for its brood.

 

Notice how many worms she can gather in her beak at one time.

She was still collecting after I took the picture. The pic is  

a  bit foggy looking as it was taken through a window and screen.

 

 

American Robin Songs 

Amazing! - Smart oriole behavior

By Greg D. of Huntington Beach:

Olivia,

Not a made up story.  The male catches his prey, strips the wings and dunks in nectar and flies it back to the nest.  I have yet to locate their 2^nd nest.   They actually removed one of the yellow baskets from the Hummer feeder so the larger hole could accommodate their bill, pretty smart. 

This is a great observation and more knowledge about these amazing birds.   

   

 Hooded Oriole - Male

Female

 

A Hummer for Hummers

Magnificent photos shared by Karlene B.  

 Yorba Linda (ylwc member)

Karlene says:

"We hung a ceramic hummingbird in our backyard. To my great surprise...a hummingbird built a nest on it. Two babies were hatched.  I loved watching them grow.  We have had other nests over the years but this one is unique where it was built."

Absolutely Precious! Thank you Karlene.

For Rufous Hummingbird/sounds just click here

       

Bird Watching - Yorba Regional Park

The Santa Ana River still flows through Yorba Linda. The shallow waters are a perfect place to go local bird watching.  See article by Bruce Chambers/Orange County register

                                                  Click here to read the article.

Backyard picture of a majestic Great Egret

click on pic to enlarge

This beautiful bird picture was taken by Symon L. of YL when he saw it wandering on his drop down backyard slope.

Good Job Symon!
  

Click here to hear its sound

Exciting Pic - Male Oriole with spider for its brood

This is an exciting picture of a male hooded oriole getting ready to feed its brood a delicious spider. Notice the oriole nest is engineered in a long cylinder type bag construction . Nature is amazing! Photography by Greg D. Huntington Beach 
Click once on pic to enlarge

click here to hear oriole/sounds

It's Official, Yorba Linda is a Bird Sanctuary!

It's official! Yorba Linda is a Bird Sanctuary!

Today was the Yorba Linda Woman's Club (YLWC) 1st city sign dedication with City Mayor Tom Lindsey and YLWC President, Marcia Willett. For you Yorbalindans, it's located at the south side of Y.L. Blvd, just east of Jefferson Ave. It is the first sign with others to come. Historically, the YLWC was instrumental in claiming YL as a bird sanctuary to help deter a large airport from being built in our Chino and YL Hills, thereby keeping our peaceful, country-like environment and wild birds galore.   —                     in Yorba Linda

Click on pictures once to enlarge

Mayor Tom Lindsay and Yorba Linda Woman's Club President -Marcia Willett at the unveiling of the first Bird Sanctuary Sign. 

Some Yorba Linda Woman's Club members at the sign dedication.

L-R standing: Karlene Ballard, Pamela Harrell, Mayor Tom Lindsey, YLWC-President - Marcia Willett, Mary Moo Karpel, Esther Murray, Pat Porter, Sandy Castle, Karin Rinnert, Kathy Carswell, Jewell Hollingworth

kneeling: Heather Laporte, Heather's grand daughter Baylee Hicks, Susan Hillman and me.

The city's First Ever, Yorba Linda bird sanctuary sign dedicated on June 26, 2013 at the south side of Yorba Linda Blvd., just east of Jefferson Ave., Yorba Linda, CA.   

   

Tranquil Nesting Place

Good friend and neighbor Jane S. took these pictures of a nest being built in her peaceful patio. Each Spring Jane has birds building nests in her tranquil yard.

Click once on picture to enlarge. 

Mothers' Day Surprise

May 12, 2013 - Returned home Sunday, Mothers' Day to find this sweet little surprise. They are so cute. Stay tuned to see their growth.

I returned from a wonderful time in Nature Land, Mariposa, Ca. to find these 5 little beauties. Stay tuned for some hatchlings.

Canadian Geese at our local Santa Ana River

Click on pic to get a closer look.

Click here for Canadian Geese Sounds



American Gold Finch

 American Gold Finch happily enjoying their thistle feeder outside friend Jenelle's art studio.

We're so fortunate to live in Yorba Linda's wild bird sanctuary.

Photo by Jenelle 

 

 

Click on >American Goldfinch sounds

Great Egret

Photo by Julie A. - of  Yorba Linda
It visits her yard's compost pile so it's not a wonder why he looks so healthy. 

Thank you Julie, for this wonderful treasure.

Click once on the pic to enlarge.

Find out a little bit more about Egrets and click below to hear its call sounds.
It sounds similar to a frog croak:
 http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/great_egret/id  

The Big Babies are back - All Five

Two males and three females.

To hear a western bluebird, click here

 

Female Woodpecker

This picture taken through a screen, a bit foggy but you can see it.

Mystery Bird ?

Can anyone tell me the name of this little bird. It is about sparrow size. Notice its bright orange beak. I can not find anything like it in my audubon book. Email me at garden_gal101@sbcglobal.net   THE MYSTERY BIRD HAS BEEN RESOLVED! Thanks to Valerie at Wild Birds Unlimited, the bird is a juvenile pin tailed whydah. See the last picture below and then a mature pin tailed whydah following.

 

Pet Hummingbird Video :)

              

Click hear for the Cutest Pet hummingbird video

Exciting Bluebird news

It's been some time now, but I believe all five of the baby bluebirds are back... They are teenagers now, large with spots awaiting their adult feathers... They come for worms and cranberries when I whistle. The same whistle  before I fed them as they were growing.  They seem to let me get within about 3 feet, whereas, others fly away. Also, they aren't afraid of the barking dogs as they heard the dogs barking from the time they hatched.  There are five that stay together.  They've probably always been around, I just haven't kept up with a regular feeding schedule as they needed to learn to feed on their own.   It's rewarding to know all five were able to survive and are back visiting. They are so beautiful. :)  I hope to have a picture of them before too long. My Canon camera is broken and have to take it to be repaired.
                 Scroll Down to Saturday, May 12, 2012's post below for their growing journey....

Hummingbird in Hand

Daughter Shannon is holding a baby hummingbird. She works at a garden center in Montana where she saw this little bird apparently exhausted. It was given some water and before long it flew away.

 

Bluebird House-1st Egg, Sat. May 12, 2012 (Scroll downward for bluebird progression) Enlarge Pics by double clicking on them.

With much gratitude to Linda Violett who has been my bluebird mentor, sharing her experience and professional knowledge.  

                       

                                        
Bluebird Box with newly constructed nest inside.

First Bluebird Egg appears on Saturday, May 12, 2012

The mated pair of  bluebirds land on our french door handles looking inside the house to catch our attention to refill their chopped cranberry container.  Yes, I said chopped. 

'Who has who trained?'

Sunday, May 13, 2012, Mother's Day :)

A second egg in the nest pictured below.

I placed the hawk feather you see, outside the nest box yesterday and found it in the nest today.   

Monday, May 14, 2012

Egg number 3

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Egg number 4

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Egg no. 5,

THE LAST EGG

Now waiting on 13 to 14 day incubation period for a hatch which may be May 29th or 30th.

See you all back here then.

DAY ONE. :)

We are back! Right on schedule too.

It's May 29th and at this point 4 eggs have hatched by 12:06 noon. Not sure if the last egg will hatch.

Good News!

(well maybe)

Below, the 5th egg has hatched by 6:20 p.m.  I'm hoping it's not too weak.

Now for the challenge of the parents to keep them all alive. Hopefully worm feeding assistance will help all five survive.

May 31, 2012
Below: Blues get a new two-holed mansion box.
It  took only 30 seconds to switch the old  bird  box  for the new one along with the nest.
I was very concerned the parents wouldn't go in their  new two-holed mansion. Linda assured me they would. Sure enough, the parents didn't  hesitate to fly right in and check on their kids.  The new box will  be roomier once the chicks start growing.  
(Double entry holes  to provide a defense from house sparrow invasion.)
Developed by Linda Violett. See my favorite sites above, tab titled-"Linda's Bluebird Boxes"

Snuggling in their new home.

Day 6 below.
All five chicks are alive and healthy.
At this point they look like they are all beaks.
So cute!

June 6th.

Eyes are starting to open. 

What a difference a few days make. This pic was taken on June 11th.

The chicks are starting to hop around in their nest box.  Unfortunately, nature has taken way. 

June 9th was the last time the male bluebird was seen. I'm certain he lost his life to the area coopers hawk. The mother bluebird is feeding the chick all on her own now. He was much help to her. 

  

The bluebirds fledged while Robert and I were on vacation, Sunday, Father's Day June 17th.

Our pet sitter Karen not only watched our two hounds but also helped feed the bluebirds cranberries and meal worms.  Karen thinks worms are yuckie but she braved it through assisting the mother bluebird in feeding  her kids as the helping father bluebird fell prey to the area coopers hawk.  

We appreciated Karen's daily texts and picture account of the birds while we were gone. Here are her Pics of June 17th's fledge. 

Good Job Karen. :)

So here we go with the count down below..

   

June 17th, Count 5 

June 17th, Count 4 

June 17th, Count 2 (missed count 3 pic)

June 17th,  And then there was ONE.

So long sweet bluebirds.......Please come again.