Today was a great day for birding in our Portal yard. Across the road in our neighbors yard the male Great Horned Owl was day perched in a cottonwood tree. He frequents that tree, so I look for him there and in spite of his attempts to stay hidden from most of the people with binoculars on Rockhouse Road, I found him.
We then heard a beautiful song from high in our pine trees. It took a while but we spotted a beautiful male Summer Tanager. The first of the season. He sang for a good 1/2 hour! From there we walked downtown to the Portal Store & Cafe to record the tanager on the bird sighting list. There we were able to see the day perched Western Screech Owl that used to be at the Library, but has moved downtown. :)
Back in our yard we sat for a short while and saw the male Bullock's Oriole cautiously approach the jelly feeder and get a little sweetness. He didn't stick around long, but I did get a picture. The Summer Tanager approached the jelly feeder too, but was intimidated by both the male and female Scott's Orioles. Finally it just forged in and got some sweet grape jelly too. We haven't had the Lazuli Buntings in the yard yet, but they are being seen just down the road, so any day now, they'll find our bird haven.
We worked on our water feature in the butterfly/hummingbird garden this week. Our friend Kathy brought some Verbena and helped me plant them. Yesterday I purchased some Penstemons
from Barbara Miller and planted them and though more than half of the plants are drooping, I think enough will survive to fill in the area and reseed themselves. The water feature is working as we hoped and eventually we'll have a return channel to an underground cistern for recycling the water.
We then heard a beautiful song from high in our pine trees. It took a while but we spotted a beautiful male Summer Tanager. The first of the season. He sang for a good 1/2 hour! From there we walked downtown to the Portal Store & Cafe to record the tanager on the bird sighting list. There we were able to see the day perched Western Screech Owl that used to be at the Library, but has moved downtown. :)
Back in our yard we sat for a short while and saw the male Bullock's Oriole cautiously approach the jelly feeder and get a little sweetness. He didn't stick around long, but I did get a picture. The Summer Tanager approached the jelly feeder too, but was intimidated by both the male and female Scott's Orioles. Finally it just forged in and got some sweet grape jelly too. We haven't had the Lazuli Buntings in the yard yet, but they are being seen just down the road, so any day now, they'll find our bird haven.
We worked on our water feature in the butterfly/hummingbird garden this week. Our friend Kathy brought some Verbena and helped me plant them. Yesterday I purchased some Penstemons
from Barbara Miller and planted them and though more than half of the plants are drooping, I think enough will survive to fill in the area and reseed themselves. The water feature is working as we hoped and eventually we'll have a return channel to an underground cistern for recycling the water.
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