How nice, I have never had a baby blue jay, but I did have a visit from a male last week, he took a nice long refreshing dip and drink it my birdbath, of course I could not get to the camera. I just enjoyed watching him take a break, I was happy to be able to provide some water on his journey, I'm sure to a much cooler place, Colorado, perhaps? They are just so beautiful, even if they do dive bomb, etc.
Debra

Feisty, aren't they? I'll place a wager that the blue jay will take your kindness for granted. ha

Noticed a cardinal the other day. Ever since I've greened up the place more birds are coming around and my leafy greens are bug-free. I'm constantly amazed how quickly the climate responds to change. The only thing I haven't noticed are swarms of bees on the buckwheat in flower. But that may be from them pollinating in the early mornings when I'm not around. I do see lots of bees on the white clover, as it should be.

It's all so beautiful and an honor to be included.

Last week there were two blue jays throwing an absolute hissy fit just outside my garden fence. They were repeatedly dive bombing something and screeching their heads off, which generally means one of our cats is irritating them merely by its existence. I knew my cats were indoors so walked over to the garden fence, looked out and didn't see anything. I turned and went back to my work. A minute later I stood up and looked in that direction and a rather large (non-venomous) snake was headed my way. I think that snake is the reason the blue jays were so upset.

I had a calmer bird encounter yesterday with another one of my favorite birds--a painted bunting. Generally the painted buntings prefer to stay away from houses and live more out in the wild. Normally I won't see them at our place until we are in the midst of awful drought in the summertime, which drives them into residential areas seeking food and water. So, in a way, seeing one in our yard in May would be considered a bad sign. This one was a real cutie . It was a juvenile male, so not even full-sized yet, and it was splashing in a puddle of water I had made for the birds . I have birdbaths, but some birds prefer puddles on the ground so I make new puddles for them (and for the butterflies) every few days.

I'd never seen a live painted bunting in the wild until we moved here . They are a beautiful bird and it is such a treat to see one

I am jealous. It's been years since I've seen a painted bunting. The indigo buntings show up every year though. Haven't seen one this year yet.

I rarely see indigo buntings but always see a few painted buntings. That same little one came back yesterday. With both food and water being scarce because of the drought, my bird baths and feeders are incredibly popular. I hope all these birds that are coming here to eat and drink are eating grasshoppers as well because we have tons of little ones with more hatching out every day. I do have tons of birds in my garden, especially early in the mornings, so I do think they are in there eating insects.

I rate how bad a drought is here by how busy the containers of water and the wildlife puddles are, as well as the bird feeders. Right now? This is the worst spring drought we've ever had, based on how many animals of all kinds, and not just birds, that are coming here to eat and drink. I hate to think what summer will be like for the wildlife if more rain doesn't fall. At this point, we've had only about half the rainfall for Jan-May 2014 that we had in 2011, and we all know how 2011 turned out. In fact, so far this is our lowest Jan-May rainfall total since moving here, but we only need about a third of an inch to fall before the month ends to move it to #2 on the "least rainfall" list behind 2005. Surely we'll get at least 1/3 inch more rainfall before May ends. I remember 2005 well and don't want another year like it.

I've never seen an indigo or painted bunting. I have lots of sparrows, though! Plus cardinals, obviously blue jays, mockingbirds, doves. My neighbors have a mulberry (I think) tree in their backyard and every year there are tons of cedar waxwings around when the fruit is ripe. I think that's the most exciting it gets here in town.

Leslie

Bluejays are great for pointing out snakes. Had that happen with a visitor in a tree, once. Was good to know!

You guys need to stop with the snakes in the trees stories. *shudder*

If it helps, I've never seen a snake in a tree. Of course, I have seen a snake in my kitchen. I guess that probably doesn't help.

Leslie

On paper, that doesn't sound as bad...not sure why :) but I"m sure in reality it is EVERY bit as bad!!

Leslie, To get full enjoyment of the cedar waxwings, you need to watch them after they've eaten fruit that has fermented over the winter. Let's just say they get tipsy and have trouble walking, much less flying. It is pretty entertaining.

Most of the birds we have that I cherish most only really started coming in large numbers in drought years. Once they figured out we were a reliable food and water source, they began visiting regularly. The worst the drought (or the colder the winter weather), the more birds we have.

My favorite bird sightings since moving here include the two golden eagles I watched for weeks in the spring and summer of 2004---they finally flew right over our house together one day while our friend, Ken, was here working on the roof of the barn so he got to see them too. I had mostly seen them when I walked the dogs on a road that runs between us and the river, so having them fly right over our place was real convenient. Other favorites are the Chuckwalla's Widow, which you hear more than you see, and the Whip Poor Will---common in our childhood but rare now. The bird we see least on our property but all over the neighborhood, running the roads naturally, is the roadrunner. They can forage for all kinds of food so rarely come here to eat or drink. That means that on the rare occasion a roadrunner is here in the yard eating or drinking, you know that the drought is just about as bad as it possibly can get. We have a lot of wooded acreage and it is full of birds. We get woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches, brown creepers, phoebes, bluebirds....just all sorts of interesting birds.

I've had my fill of snakes for the year already, in or out of trees. Last week I had a close encounter with 3 different snakes, and one of our cats is acting sick and listless as if he was bitten by a venomous snake. For a few days I wasn't sure he was going to make it, but he seemed to show improvement today. The snakes seem terribly prolific this year and I'm not happy about that.

Dawn

Growing up, my family had a cabin at Lake Altus and bald eagle watches are a really big deal all winter there. We had the best view and I can't tell you how many times we'd get up early and watch a bald eagle catch a fish and then eat it in a nearby tree. We also had a roadrunner try to nest on top of the decorative mailbox right next to the front door. Of course, we also encountered lots of rattlesnakes, so I guess you have to take the good with the bad. We don't have the cabin anymore, so the most exotic it gets now is a possum running along the top of my fence here in town. Not nearly as cool.

Leslie