Spring Migration is on at The Holler~

Mar31

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Look who showed up, the Hooded Orioles!
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It is cause for celebration when these raucous, rackety, bickering-beauties show up each spring to spend the summer.
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I so look forward to another season of their antics. They make scrub jays seem shy, quiet and retiring by comparison!
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The Black Headed Grosbeaks arrived with the Orioles.
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They are much shyer birds but hopefully they will assert themselves a bit more with the orioles this season.
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These birds have such powerful beaks they can crack sunflower seeds in one chomp!
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They seem to be arriving in greater numbers which is encouraging.
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The Bullocks Orioles are new arrivals at The Holler this year. They are less assertive than their hooded cousins and can be identified by the black stripe across their eyes.
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The California Thrashers live at The Holler year round, and stay mostly on the ground where they run around in such a hysterical, late-for-a-date-state, they are hard to photograph.
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I think this one was stunned into temporary paralysis by the sudden arrival of all the spring competition which enabled me to finally get a few clicks of him!
Cheers to you from the still arriving Holler Birdies~
Some of your might like to listen to these birdies vocalizations:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Oriole/sounds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-headed_Grosbeak/sounds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bullocks_Oriole/id
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Thrasher/id

215 thoughts on “Spring Migration is on at The Holler~”

      • Actually (when we lived 12 miles south east of Sierra Vista AZ) what we had was ground squirrels…and they’d eat anything that wasn’t tied down 🙂 To feed the birds I used a really long piece of wire hanging in a mesquite tree, attached to a large wooden tray, They were never able to go down it to the food…yay! I like squirrels and don’t mind feeding them but not at the expense of the birds. 🙂

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  4. Great photos, Cindy. I love all these signs of spring popping up here and there. Most people associate spring with the budding of flowers and trees, but the return of our birds is a true announcement of spring’s arrival.

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    • Yes Mark Twain and I agree with you on the wonderful scrub jays. One actually flew close today. He couldn’t stop himself. They generally do not deign to leave the oak and cotton wood creek and come up here to hang with the hoi polloi, but his curiousity got the best of him. I played female scrub jay calls but couldn’t entice him back.
      And yes the beak specialization is so marked and interesting. It tells you what exactly each bird eats, and thus lives.

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      • Our jays, both scrub and Stellar, hang around our house and are constantly scolding us for some infraction or the other. 🙂 I have fun watching how the different birds handle sunflower seeds. Jays will rapidly shove 20 or so into there craws before flying off to process them. Grosbeaks sit there and open their treasures on the spot, Nuthatches grab one and dash off to a tree to shove it into a crevice and chip away at it, sparrows grab one an fly over our porch to chip them open on the cement… always leaving a mess. –Curt

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      • You are like me Curt. I find this all endlessly entertaining and interesting. Birds behavior is just a lot of fun to observe. I wish I could get my scrub jays closer. I want a Mark Twain scolding from them~

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  9. Oh wow Cindy! They are just gorgeous and your captures of them are absolutely stunning! Such colourful little birds. I would sit and watch them all day long and of course, if I could take such great shots like you do, I would sit and take photos all day long. 😆

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    • It is super interesting because these are wild and extremely scared of people creatures, smart birds. I can spend serious time with these intelligent and suprising creatures and not even notice that it has passed. I am interested by them and their behavior. Today a grosbeak chose to eat out the feeder by my hand, only the finches do this, and then an oriole joined him. This never happens with any bird except the hummingbirds.
      It just somehow feels so right to me to be here with them. Thank you for sensing this.

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      • These wild little creatures are quite clever Cindy and they absolutely know who they can trust. Time sure flies quickly when spend with these awesome beauties of nature. 😀

        That is so awesome. They know that you will not hurt them and the only shooting that will happen, will be by your camera. 😀

        Have fun with them and hope to see some more of your magical shots of them soon. ♥

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  24. They are unbelievably beautiful. Love the details and colors your captured, Cindy! I can see they are so happy to be back to Holler. 🙂 🙂 ❤

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  25. What a fantastic repertoire of birds at The Holler, Cindy. I can tell they are very pampered, lucky birds — it’s no surprise that they return. Having both orioles is a real treat, the grossbeaks are a treasure, and oh how wonderful to have the thrashers year round. Exquisite photos.

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  31. The sound of spring is one of the best symphonies Mother Nature adorns us with…and you’ve captured this well. The third shot of yours seems to fit this spirit ~ crisp and clean and with all the vibrancy and chaos of spring. I’m happy (as I sure you are!) that it has finally arrived.

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    • Yes I love spring because it brings the migrating songbirds to The Holler. I so anticipate the hordes of hummers and orioles and anything else that flutters over! Happy Spring Randall~

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  37. I wonder why they are called hooded orioles, especially when its only the heck and throat which is black. In India, we often see Golden Orioles. And wow, the trasher bird looked cool, nice pic. we have Indian Robin in same colour as thrasher, but thrasher is longer slender and its curved beak is distinctly different from Indian robin (female)

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  40. Wow! those are glorious little birds. I’m amazed that you can put fresh oranges on a feeder. If I did that, it’d be wasp city in a heartbeat. Do you get wasps in The Holler? They’re very aggressive here and will bite you for no reason.

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    • Yes, we do have them and their nests. I have never had one go after me, and would not like it one bit if one did! We also have tarantula wasps and they are one spooky stinging machine. They kill and eat tarantulas.

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      • Holy Crap and any number of expressive words come to mind. Cindy !! tarantula wasps that kill flippin tarantulas…..I would faint, scream my brains out or just die of fright. I’m sure I’ll nightmare this soon, LOL

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      • Oh, no nightmares please. You are not a tarantula so they don’t want to eat you! I must admit they a spooky bugs, but I have taken to following them when I see them to get a photo. Do you know there is a scientist who tested insect bites on himself to make a hierarchy of insect bite pain. He used anti-venom. Fire ants and the tarantula hawk were the worst. I mean this sounds even worse than the worst co-worker at my last job!!!

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