Sunday, May 15, 2011

Western Tanagers in My Back Yard

The other day I saw this Strange Yellow Bird in my back yard, just hanging out. I knew it wasn't an American Goldfinch, but had no clue.  My friend Gayl (who knows all the birdies and all the wildflowers) said it was a Western Tanager and I was very lucky to see one in my yard. She said their feeding grounds are on the east side of Portland, somewhere in the Cascade foothills, or somewhere there. (Yes, I'll have to check with Google to get more information)
     This little guy has been out there the past few days chirping merrily away, even while I was out planting my dahlias and other pretty things. He didn't seem to mind sharing the space with me. (I think he was calling the family to come and spend some time with him.)

This morning I looked out my window and here's what I saw:
    
They seem to be attracted to one of our suet feeders.  And he did manage to get the family and friends to share his lunch. I counted at least 4 males and a couple of females (I think).
I snapped these pictures from my back window and the birds were across the yard in our catalpa tree (that's a snowball bush in the background).
I think this is the female:
Anyway, I wanted to share the pictures with you. I was SO excited to see a bird I hadn't seen before.
     The American Goldfinches are gone now (or else they didn't like it when I changed the bird food.  Note to Self: Change back), and the Chickadees are in and out.
      And it's raining here in Beaverton, but Oh, My -- are the flowers ever happy!   Color everywhere.  It looks like someone pulled out all of my Brazilian embroidery floss and threw it in the air and let it land wherever it wanted.
Rosalie

No comments:

Post a Comment