Backyard Bird Sightings from our Members and Friends

This month, Scaly-breasted Munias make their All Around Town debut, visiting one contributor’s bird feeders in San Jose! Native to Asia, munias are an introduced species in the Americas and are most likely escaped cagebirds. They now have an established population along the California coast. In Santa Clara County, they are consistently found in the south San Jose area.

As we head into winter, there’s been an uptick in raptor sightings, and you’ve reported Golden Eagles, Northern Harriers, Merlins, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, as well as that most ubiquitous of backyard hunters, the Cooper’s Hawk.

And more winter yard birds are here! In November, you observed Northern Flickers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and Yellow-rumped Warblers in your yards and neighborhoods.

Read on for stories and photos of backyard birding in the past month.

On November 14, Becky Ewens (San Jose) had Scaly-breasted Munias visit her feeders for the first time. An adult came with two juveniles. Becky says: “The two juveniles, like typical kids, fought over the same perch although there were four other empty perches available.”

*Two juvenile Scaly-breasted Munias fight over a perch at Becky’s feeder.*

The following day, Becky observed six or seven munias at her feeders, at least two adults and the rest juveniles. She writes: “Maybe the munias came because it is easy food - but maybe not their preferred food. I wonder if they are coming more often but I miss them.”

*An adult Scaly-breasted Munia at Becky’s feeder. The bird’s breast and belly feathers have scalloped edges, giving it a scaly appearance.*

After these two visits, the birds disappeared for a while (a lone juvenile visited on December 2). Becky says: “I'm so sad these guys didn't stick around. They were a nice addition to the masses of House Finches and House Sparrows, with the handful of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Oak Titmice (who stick around year-round). The Bushtits are back in force, moving from trees to the bushes in the backyard. The most exciting visitor has been a single Northern Flicker. This guy spends about an hour or two calling in the mornings, then takes a bath in the little water bowl I have out. I haven't been able to get a photo of him. He is so shy and very aware if I'm near the windows.”

On November 18, Jack Cole (San Jose) observed two Western Bluebirds copulating in his bird bath.

Deanne Tucker (Los Altos) sent us a portfolio of her November backyard birding photos.

A Cooper’s Hawk poses in Deanne’s yard.

A House Finch perches in the foliage, its red feathers catching the light of the sun.

Deanne photographed this Anna’s Hummingbird at an interesting moment!

A Lesser Goldfinch visits Deanne’s bird bath.

At the end of November, Steve Patt (Cupertino) wrote: “Yellow-rumped Warblers are back, including this one (above) who landed on our balcony railing. Not sure why he's giving us such a menacing look, after we provided him with nice fresh water in our fountain!”

Airdrie Kincaid (Santa Clara) reports: “The Merlin is back on the same tree near my house. Our persimmons are getting ripe and have attracted a small woodpecker or sapsucker, lots of Cedar Waxwings, and some American Robins.”

She adds: “Here is a photo of a Merlin (above) on the same branch as in February except that the top branch has broken off since then. I assume it’s the same bird. When a crow was bothering it, I heard a distinctive call. I’ve seen it fanning tail feathers and also eating prey but not when I had a camera handy.”

Jennifer Oliver (San Jose) writes: “In November we saw the return of Yellow-rumped Warblers to our feeder, more American Robins in the neighborhood trees, as well as a female Northern Flicker (above) that I can hear calling out from the top of our oak tree many days.”

“I’ve also seen a lot of Ruby-crowned Kinglets (above) in the bushes. So cute! Looking forward to seeing the Cedar Waxwings soon, one of my other favorite winter birds. None so far yet.”

*Jennifer captured this moment of tension between a Golden Eagle and a Red-tailed Hawk.*

She continues: “I’d have to say that the highlight for me though is walking around my neighborhood and watching the bigger birds that have started visiting. I was lucky enough to see a Golden Eagle twice - one just soaring overhead, the other I happened to catch right as a Red-tailed Hawk did a fly-by. Wow! Look at the eagle’s talons in full defense mode!”

Jennifer adds: “I also saw a beautiful Northern Harrier (above).”

On December 1, Curt Bianchi (Saratoga) wrote us to share a story he discovered on his trail camera:

“We just finished doing some work in our backyard. Last week I put up a fairly small bird bath. We had a similar bird bath before, but it never got much in the way of takers. There were some juncos, a squirrel that visited regularly, and the occasional nocturnal rodent.”

“I put up the new bird bath in a more open area and put a trail camera on it. Until today, the only visitor was a junco. But this afternoon I was out back and noticed some wet spots around the edges of the saucer, making me think something had visited.”

*Curt’s bird bath visitor (photos above and below cropped from original trail cam images)*

“I checked the camera and could tell from its tiny screen that something fairly large had visited. I assumed it was a squirrel, but when I looked at the card on my computer, lo and behold it wasn't a squirrel at all, but a juvenile Cooper's Hawk! It came to the bird bath at about 2:30 in the afternoon. So cool!”

Emma Shelton (Menlo Park) writes: “Every so often I wonder if the birds have all gone elsewhere, since I’m out and about a lot, then at certain times of the day ‘everyone’s in the pool,’ and the backyard in particular is full of all the birds here! This morning I was wondering about the Pygmy Nuthatches and all of a sudden there were two! And sometimes I wonder about the Spotted Towhees, and then I hear “Mraaack” by the bedroom window.”

“Our most abundant bird these days has to be the White-crowned Sparrow, but it’s only a narrow margin ahead of the House Finches.”

“I saw Cedar Waxwings at a friend’s house in Atherton eating the Hachiya Persimmons off the tree, so I hung up a few of those to see what would happen. The only birds interested were our Anna’s Hummingbirds.”

Here is Emma’s bird list and some of her notes from November:

Canada Goose
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna’s Hummingbird - still going after all the salvias and geraniums in the yard, and the persimmons I hung out
Gull species
Red-shouldered Hawk
Western Screech-Owl - heard by a neighbor
Great Horned Owl - heard by a neighbor
Acorn Woodpecker - Although I see and hear them in other neighborhoods nearby, I hadn’t seen or heard them in this neighborhood at all until last week when I saw THREE in the valley oak across the street!
Downy Woodpecker - Almost every day I see our little Downies on the suet or the feeder in the yard, or in the flowering quince out front.
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Black Phoebe - seen by a neighbor
California Scrub-Jay - every day. They really seem to annoy the other birds.
American Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - used to be the most common bird here but has been replaced by the White-crowned Sparrows
Oak Titmouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - I saw one here in late October and one in Woodside, but that’s it lately.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Bewick’s Wren - They like to flit around in the bushes and on the perimeter of the yard, pecking at stuff on the fences and arbors and occasionally swooping in for a sampling of what the feeder offers.
Hermit Thrush - I think that was one seen in the photinia tree in the backyard two weeks ago!
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco - lots, everywhere I go as well
White-crowned Sparrow - along with the Golden-crowneds, they are now all over the front and back yards
Golden-crowned Sparrow
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Yellow-rumped Warbler