Birds, birds, and more birds!

Here in the desert we do have a lot of different birds.   We don't have the same ones as cooler locations, but the desert DOES maintain a fairly diverse amount of birds.

We have hummingbirds, ravens, finches, sparrows,mockingbirds, and different kinds of doves.   Those all seem to stay here year round.   Ducks and geese fly down for the winter and can be seen in the parks and around golf course waterways.   Our daughter even has a duck couple that come to her neighborhood every spring, which delights the two grandkids.

Here in my yard, because I do feed the birds, I seem to get more species.   We've had about 7 grosbeaks for the last 10 days or so, although I do not see or hear them this morning.   They stop by every year, about this time.   I know this because I have documented their arrival on my blods and now I've done so in my personal journal too.   Alas, this morning, I don't see or HEAR them at all...

We also have attracted a family of Cooper's hawks who prey upon the doves.  Alas, I can often see them swoop through the yard.   I have actually stopped and chatted with one of them several times. 

We once had a hummingbird nest right outside my office window, but that was about 20 years ago and one of my collies ATE the nest!   Ugh.  Once in a while I do see a dove nest.   They are very messy and not well organized.   The verdin make their nests in the acacia trees and there was a nest out front, but during one of our horrible wind storms this spring, it fell apart and they haven't returned to it.  The verdin do, however, enjoy the Niger thistle seed that I put out in a feeder and I now see them devouring the pollen from my sunflowers out back.  I wish I could get a photo of them, but my windows are too dirty for a decent photo!   Alas...

The birds will probably thin out this week when we have temps of 100 degrees for 5 days.   I DID look out (looking for the grosbeaks this morning) and see a WOODPECKER with a beautiful red head on one of the orange, so I will continue to set them outside.  He was enjoying it until I moved...