Springtime Birdservations!

A briefing on what the birds have been up to in my neighborhood:

• While on a walk we heard the chickadees with their two-note call. One bird called out and another answered, descending down the musical scale. As they continued with their individual rhythms, the notes were soon in tandem with each other to make perfect harmony.
• The goldfinches are gaining their summer plumage back so they look more as their name describes and not the buff color they were all winter. I saw one call out from a spindly sprig at the top of a pine tree, alerting all available females to his grandeur.
• A crow also took advantage of the highest point on the street and claimed himself to be king of the hill from atop a chimney.
• Every time I see geese my heart melts a little. Often in pairs on grassy areas, one picks away at the ground while the other watches for danger. 
• Two bluebird sightings in one week! It's so exciting to see rusty red and cerulean blue dart through the air.
• There is what I believe to be an egret living in the pond by the community center. They move so carefully, even their flight appears in slow-motion.
• Our backyard has been full of activity from the robins as they hunt worms and enjoy old berries still on the tree.
• Also in the backyard was a large bird I didn't see long enough to figure out what it was. It was bigger than a robin, was feeding on the ground, and when he took flight there appeared to be a bright yellow coloring under his wings. This would lead me to believe it was a flicker but I'm not certain.
• I've heard more red-winged blackbirds than I've seen.
• And finally, I've seen many birds of prey gliding overhead. Their cries reminded me of something you'd hear in an old western movie as  the sun bakes the desert landscape.

A Few Items Worth Mentioning

• Just a few hours after I posted about male cardinals feeding the females, I actually witnessed this! I don't think they were mating because it seems too late for that, and the female was not scruffy like the juvenile I had seen a few weeks prior so I assumed it was an adult female. It looked like she was receiving a sweet kiss from her love. 

• Later that day a bluebird took a quick respite from flying in the heat to perch on the top of the shepherd's hook. I have never seen a bluebird before so this was very exciting for me. He had his mouth wide open. I've seen other birds do this and I wondered if it's a cooling mechanism, much like panting for a dog. Turns out it is, the internet says. It was pretty hot that day. 

• The blue jays have been very noisy today! I rarely hear them, and usually only so when I walk through the parts of the neighborhood where the trees are thicker. They're so loud I expect a flock of them to land in my yard to begin the Angry Blue Jay Territory Convention.  

• On my way to the library yesterday I saw a dark wide wingspan circle over the street a ways in front of me and land over some road kill. I was able to drive right up to it before it flew away revealing itself to be a turkey vulture! Before I knew what it was I was describing it to Rob and said it looked like a big black bird with a red turkey head. I wouldn't call them "pretty." 

• I love it when I surprise the birds at my feeder. Many of them are so focused on eating that they don't hear me walking from the car to the front door. When I get right next to the feeder they all scream, fly to the nearest branch, and if they're chickadees, they scold me until I shut the front door behind me. Last week I surprised a goldfinch. He looked right at me, paused as if processing what he saw, then gave a startled warble before flying away.