Feathers

Hooded Oriole

Another hobby I’ve enjoyed since the pandemic has been to really notice the many different species of birds we have just around our neighborhood here in Thurston County, Washington.  I found an app for my phone (Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology) that helps identify a particular avifauna from a photo or specific call.

It’s been great because this app has a provision that enables you to keep a list of all the birds you’ve identified and the location where you saw it.  So far is have a list of 28 different species from here in our back yard in Lacey, a couple from our trip to Mexico earlier in the spring, and one from a trip we took to Kauai, Hawaii last year.

Red-Wing Blackbirds

In Mexico this year we saw brown pelicans, cactus wrens and beautiful orange hooded orioles.  It was wonderful to be able to identify these using the app.

It’s common for us to see bald eagles and red-tailed hawks as we're driving.  And we regularly have California scrub jays, woodpeckers (particularly flickers), crows, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches (the official Washington State bird) and black-capped chickadees come to feed at our feeders in the back yard.  We have a chickadee nest in a hanging pot on our deck.

Cooper's Hawk

I was very surprised to see a Cooper's Hawk sitting on our face one morning also.  Dark-eyed juncos have nested in our vegetables the past couple of years.

We also have at least two types of hummingbirds (Anna’s and Rufous) daily visiting year round.

Humming Birds At Dinner