Where have all the hummingbirds gone?

Here is a photo of a hummingbird at my feeder late in May. However, since early June there has not been a single hummingbird that I have seen at the feeder. It seems that during the mating season they birds tend to disappear. Perhaps there are plenty of flowers so that no artificial feeders are needed or perhaps they are busy raising young. Anyway they will probably re-appear later in the season. We enjoy watching them. They are very territorial and quite unwilling to share the feeder with other hummingbirds.

Brownheaded cowbird.

The last couple of mornings when I have looked out at the feeder I have seen a brown-headed cowbird. This is the first year I have even seen these birds at the feeder. There have been a number of starlings visiting the feeder lately as well and even some of the local crows have taken to the sunflower seeds. I feed the crows scraps so they are always around. The poor local cats do not stand a chance anymore since as soon as I put something out the crows see it and pounce upon it before I am even back inside!

Little blue heron..?

We drove all the way to Regina and back. I did not see any new birds until we were just about twenty miles from home where I saw a heron in a large slough by the side of the road. I think it was a little blue heron but perhaps it was a green heron. The photo is of a little blue heron taken from the internet.

There were plenty of crows along the way, oodles of red-winged blackbirds, and also one yellow headed blackbird. The latter seem to be rather scarce the last few years.

Mourning doves.

This is not a photo I took. I haven''t been lucky enough to see a Mourning Dove''s nest. When we drove to Winnipeg the other day I saw a few along the way perched on wires and a couple flushed from the side of the road. They do not seem too common this year and I haven''t heard one yet around our place. They have a plaintive coo and hence the name.

Kildeers

We drove all the way to Winnipeg yesterday-in spite of the price of gas! On the way I watched for new birds. I saw several kildeers that flew off from the side of the road as we passed. There have been none around my yard but if I had the energy to walk to the lagoons at the edge of town I would probably see one or two in the fields. The kildeer is easily recognisable by its call that sounds like "kildeer".

Black tern

I saw my black tern at the side of the highway near a big slough. This is the first black tern I can recall seeing. The photo is not mine as can be seen by the inscription.

The bird feeder is busy these days. The most prevalent bird for a change is the house sparrow though there are also chipping sparrows, gold finches, pine siskins and even a few starlings. The house sparrow young are already flying. On father''s day some offspring were busy begging dad to pop some sunflower seeds in their mouths.

Brown Thrasher

I managed to get a photo of the brown thrasher who visited this morning. There must have been strong wind overnight as the feeder was blown off the platform. There is glare from the window but you can clearly see the thrasher's rusty tail. It looks rather well fed. This is the first thrasher I have seen this year. They never seem to appear in any numbers.
Today house sparrows are back in force and along with them quite a few pine siskins.

My fuzzy crow!

Even the setting to prevent blurring doesn't always work when I hold the camera!. Here is a fuzzy crow feasting on sunflower seeds under the feeder. It is taken through a window and so there are reflections along with the fuzziness. I feed the crows our old chicken bones and any thing that is left over or in the fridge too long. I had some outdated ham and put it out the other day but it was stolen by a local orange cat before the crows could get it.

American goldfinches

There are quite a few American goldfinches about this year. Here are two with another coming in for a landing. There is also a pine siskins. The siskins are also quite plentiful. They probably enjoy the spruce trees around the yard even though they are pine siskins!

There are also a few chipping sparrows. The slate-coloured juncos are long gone. However, I still here Canada geese going north the last few days. Humming birds seem to visit infrequently these days. Perhaps they are busing nesting or keeping warm. We have had no warm weather the last while.

Barn Swallow Roost

This is what is left of an old barn at my farmer friend's farm. The barn is not used by my friend but it provides sanctuary for many barn swallows at a time when they seem to be less plentiful. Perhaps he can get a government grant to use the barn as a sanctuary!

Purple martins

There are several places in town with purple martin bird houses. On a recent walk I noticed that the large house in the small local park is almost full. The martins tend to be a bit on the noisy side but they cannot match the crows for volume.

Tree swallows

At my old property there is a bird house on a clothesline pole. There are a pair of tree swallows who have nested in it. They seem to already have eggs if not young. When I cut the grass with the ride-on mower they seem quite interested. One of the pair uses flies off but the other sits look out of the hole!