I have been anxiously watching the dogwoods for Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and
they finally showed up yesterday (Sept16). There were 2 females and 1 juv.
male with a splash of red on his breast. (They were looking for the berries
but sadly there aren't very many this year.) I also had a Scarlet Tanager.
I'm guessing it was a female as the wings were dark but not black. Right?
Today, Sept. 17, I had 3 Scarlet Tanagers - looked like one male and two
females. They flew back and forth from the dogwoods to the bird baths.
Then a beautiful burnt orange bird with black and white wings showed up.
It took me a minute to figure out what it was as I so seldom see Baltimore
Orioles! This was a female. I wish I could have taken a picture of her
with the red berry in her bill. She didn't stick around very long.
I was standing at my kitchen window thinking that it had been a very long
time since I had seen any sparrows and wished some would come. Well,
suddenly, as if in answer to my wish, 2 Chipping Sparrows appeared! A few
minutes later 6 House Sparrows arrived. ( Be careful what you wish for.
:-)
Here is my list of yard birds today (Sept. 17) in the order that I saw them
(no time to sort them properly)
N. Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1
Blue Jay 3
Carolina Wren 1
House Finch 6 (or more)
American Robin 5
Northern Cardinal 2
Scarlet Tanager 3
American Crow 1
Tufted Titmouse 3
RT Hummingbird 3
Downy Woodpecker 1 male, 1 female ( they must be finished molting as they
look so very bright)
White -breasted Nuthatch 2
Common Grackle 1
American Goldfinch 1 male, 1 female
Pileated Woodpecker 1 (heard)
Red-bellied WP 1
Chimney Swift 6
Chipping Sparrow 2
House Sparrow 6
Carolina Chickadee 1
Hairy WP 1 (heard)
Baltimore Oriole 1 female
Mourning Dove 3
Phoebe 1 - maybe (it was taking a bath so I wasn't 100% sure)
Total 25 - which is about 10 more than I have been seeing lately.
Nancy Young
Blue Ridge
Botetourt County
