Birds

Mourning Doves

Mourning Doves are a wonderful visitor to your garden. The males sing the distinctive song. The doves tend to mate for life. I have seen the young doves fed from the crops of the parents. The doves are very sloppy nest builders: A few sticks; a few inches; eh, fine enough.

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Birds

My garden has over a dozen species of visiting birds. Anna’s hummingbirds – If you add a hummingbird-feeder, you will have them year-round Lesser Gold-finches – they like the small niger seed House Finches (aka Rose finches) – they like the small niger seed plus larger seeds up to sunflower size Oregon juncos Chestnut-backed Chickadees Bewick Wren Scrub Blue Jays …

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Oak Titmouse

As plain as a bird can be, marked only by a short crest, the Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus) nonetheless has personality. Pairs or family parties travel about the woods together, exploring the twigs for insects and calling to each other frequently. Before Sunnyvale was Sunnyvale, the community was known as Encinal, the spanish word for Coast Live Oak. There are …

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Nuttall’s Woodpecker

California’s oak woodlands are the place to look for Nuttall’s Woodpeckers. If you find an oak tree in California, even in suburban areas, there’s a chance that a Nuttall’s Woodpecker will be around. These small woodpeckers don’t just forage on trunks and branches, they also forage on tiny stems in willows and alders where they might look more like a …

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Anna’s Hummingbird

anna's hummingbird at feeder

In our Sunnyvale garden, there is always one, and only one, dominant male hummingbird. He tries to keep every other hummingbird away from the feeder with one exception: During breeding season, the male allows some females to feed. tbd

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Bewicks Wren

bewicks wren

If you come across a noisy, hyperactive little bird with bold white eyebrows, flicking its long tail as it hops from branch to branch, you may have spotted a Bewick’s Wren. These master vocalists belt out a string of short whistles, warbles, burrs, and trills to attract mates and defend their territory, or scold visitors with raspy calls. Bewick’s Wrens …

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House Finch

rose house finch

The male House Finch (aka Rose Finch) has a attractive red crown and throat. It is larger than the goldfinches and has a heavier beak for cracking seeds. While goldfinches prefer the small nyger seeds, the rose finch can eat sunflower seeds and other larger birdfeed.

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