Birds of a Feather

One of the neatest things about our house/neighbourhood is the abundance of non-palm trees. I think that's one of the many reasons I like older homes: they have established trees. And the over-useage of palm trees in Southern California really only started (as near as I can tell looking at the various neighbourhoods in the area) sometime in the 1980s, so homes built before then typically have more than just palm trees.

And what I didn't realize when we bought our house was that there were TONS of different types of birds populating the trees. In the morning, I sit at the alcove created by one of the dormer windows to apply my makeup. Every morning, I am greeted by the amusing antics of the various birds that live in our trees. I'm relatively certain we have a pair of Western Scrub-Jays nesting. They're pretty little birds with a lovely shade of blue covering their sides, wings and tail, along with a dusty grey on their back.

A few weeks ago when we got home from work, I looked up at the sole palm tree on our property, and there were three woodpeckers pecking away (and I must confess to a flutter in my heart when I thought of the woodpeckers making quick work of the palm tree and killing it in all its ugly, worthless glory. I wholey admit the possibility that I'm wrong, but I believe they are Acorn Woodpeckers. The telephoto on the camera is great, but the birds were in shadow and I couldn't really get a great look at them. Here are some grainy Patterson & Gimlin sasquatch-esque pictures.

The First One.

The Second One. (We've counted 7 different ones)

The link to the bird website includes an audio sample of their call, and that's similar to what I've heard (I mistakenly thought they were Conures, and I was very happy). I can't quite figure out what they're eating, as it seems like they have a particular affinity for acorns (seeing how it's in the name and all) and there don't appear to be an abundance of oak trees on our property/nearby...

So I guess they also eat palm nuts (!?). I guess the wretched economy is making EVERYONE do things they're not used to.

In addition to the Western Scrub-Jack and the woodpeckers, we have a nice selection of hummingbirds zipping around the neighbourhood. Lawd knows they're not after any sweet flowers on our DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD earth property, but it's still nice to see them.