
Woody likes to people watch!

And he loves grape jelly,

which is why I glopped it in the palm trees,

for him and his friends.

He is shy, but quite a handsome fellow.

Herbert the Cat likes to watch him too!
Cheers to you from all The Holler Critters~

Check out some of The Holler’s shy guys like this very skittish Yellow Breasted Chat.

Black Phoebe’s are some of my favorite birds.

They sleep under our porch roof all year and will not budge from the perch in winter. It’s too cold to move!

They are avid people watchers.

Acorn Woodpeckers are extremely shy at The Holler, and hard to capture, because they have large oak groves to select acorns from and rarely bother to visit the feeders.

They always seem to know where I am before I do!

Mockingbirds only visit the bird baths on very hot days.

This Scrub Jay is worse for wear. It looks like something, probably the Roadrunner, grabbed him by the neck.

But he got away and recovered, helped by copious quantities of Holler seeds.

Spotted Towhees are very rare Holler visitors.

And then of course we have very shy Squirrely who thinks he’s a bird.
Cheers to you from The Holler shy guys~

I couldn’t do another post on Holler birds without including The Holler Hummers could I?
The year-round hummers are mellow and co-operative.

Right, and I am the Queen of Bavaria!

We have oak groves full of all sorts of birds including droves of Acorn Woodpeckers in their smart red pope caps.

There are Western Scrub Jays,

who don’t like being photographed,

and very shy Western Bluebirds,

who like it even less!

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without words
And never stops at all.” (Emily Dickinson)
Cheers to you from your Holler feathered friends~

Woody Woodpecker is so shy!

He sits on the roof and watches the wild birds on the feeders but will never eat, so I have bought a special woodpecker nut mix in hopes of drawing him in. For now though, he just watches from afar.

Beep-Beep spends much of his days snooping at us through windows. Here he is watching me at my desk as I blog. This was shot through the window so there is some distortion. He was about a foot from my face.

The baby house finches are still caging meals from their parents.

Grosbeaks are new Holler residents.

Hawks always watch over everything, and have never yet gone after any of the birds.

Although they certainly like to watch them closely!

Cheers to you from The Holler’s Audubon garden.

The wild critters seem happy we are back at The Holler. They staged quite the homecoming! Even Wiley E. came out in broad daylight, sashayed by, and winked at me and I have the pic to prove it!

Look how fat and healthy he is! I don’t even want to think about what he’s been eating. He’s not too shy is he?

And what big teeth you have Mr. Coyote! This is a different Wiley. Possibly a Willette. We have lots and lots of Wileys and Willettes at The Holler.

Beep Beep is always content snooping around us. He is a hobbyist human watcher. He doesn’t even pay attention to Wiley E….. Smart Beeper.

The shy little woodpecker even dropped by to say hello!

After six years I have finally learned to make a credible hawk call. I called, they came. Or maybe they were just flying by. But I think they respond to my call and it confuses the ravens too. They keep looking for the hawk on the ground!

And of course The Holler Hummers. I miss them so much when I am away.

Europe is incredible but they don’t have Wileys or Beeps or Hummers. Wild animals just make the very best neighbors. I like having them on my HOA!

And The Holler? Well it is rural, rustic, and in a horrible drought, but even so, it is awful purty.

Cheers to you from all the happy Holler critters~
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The California Quail. All of these birds were photographed during our current three-day trip to Julian California. There are more to come. Julian and the surrounding mountains are incredibly rich in wild bird life

Acorn Woodpecker

American Robin

Lesser Goldfinch

Male House Finch

Black Capped Chickadee?? I am no expert on bird identification, so if I am not correct, I would be most grateful to learn the proper names. So please do not be shy and I will correct as informed. Thank you!

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Are these Juvenile Western Bluebirds?

Western Bluebird?
We are alone everywhere we hike and picnic on this trip which is most unusual for this time of year. Cheers to you from beautiful un-crowded Julian!