Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) Male photos by Larry Jordan

After the rains we had last week, I checked on the bird feeders and found some wet Nut and Fruit Mix in the woodpecker feeder so I emptied it into the tray feeder for whoever might want it and filled the woodpecker feeder with fresh food.

I went back to working on the other chores needing to be done around the house (you know how that goes) until I heard a raucous going on in the yard. Four Acorn Woodpeckers had dive bombed and chased a Western Gray Squirrel away from the tray feeder.

This is what the squirrel looked like when it was eating out of the tray feeder daily last May (click on photos for full sized images).

By the time I saw what was going on, the squirrel had high tailed it far from the bird feeders and the Acorn Woodpeckers had taken over the tray feeder.

There were several woodpeckers at the feeder so I grabbed my camera and took a chore break to catch some of the action on film. As I watched the woodpeckers, they were taking mostly peanuts (like the female pictured above) and transporting them to the nearby rocks to stash them for later.

To see Acorn Woodpeckers stash acorns is not unusual around here. There are plenty of granary trees in the vicinity where acorns are constantly being stored and monitored buy the woodpecker community, but I had never seen them stashing food in the crevices of rock formations.

It was fun watching them go back and forth from the feeder to the rocks and seemingly search the rocks for places to store their treasure.

I never saw the squirrel come back to the feeder that day. The Acorn Woodpeckers dominated that food source.

If you want to see more great bird photos from around the world, go check out Springman’s World Bird Wednesday! And while you’re here, if you use Google Friend Connect, please consider joining my website via the widget in the right hand column of my blog and I will join yours in return.  Thanks for the visit!

Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) Female photos by Larry Jordan

I have two 36 inch Nyjer seed tube feeders made by Droll Yankees that attract goldfinches and Pine Siskins like crazy.  Little did I know that Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) like a bit of salad with their seeds.  Click on photos for full sized images.

According to one source I read, Lesser Goldfinches like the male pictured above, “nibble at leaf margins and eat small new leaves.”  Apparently, they not only like Nyjer and sunflower seed, they love the sunflower plant’s leaves as well.

Here you can see a few Lesser Goldfinches chowing down on a sunflower that’s growing next to a young Corkscrew Willow in our garden.

We actually planted the sunflowers mostly for the birds but they don’t produce many seeds when their leaves are all gone.

Well at least this activity must be keeping my Nyjer seed bill down a little bit

To see more great bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly.

Wildlife rehabilitation is essential to return wild animals that have been injured or orphaned, due to human activity or natural disaster, back into the wild.  It is an important aspect of protecting wild animals, biodiversity and the environment in our ever expanding human sprawl.

Luckily the folks in Shasta County can count on an excellent local, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1979, Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation (SWRR).

This is a pair of juvenile Red-tailed Hawk siblings in the flight enclosure built in 1992, nearly ready for release into the wild.

The flight enclosure was the first stop on the tour of the facility, given to me by Lynda Flaherty, one of the organizations longest standing volunteers and coordinator of their “Art On The Wild Side” fundraiser.  The enclosure was built by volunteers and greatly enhanced strength and endurance conditioning for large raptors prior to their release.

Some of the other raptors currently being rehabilitated at the facility were a couple of  Red-shouldered Hawks

a Peregrine Falcon

and a young Great Horned Owl

This organization is run by a dedicated group of volunteers that work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week from mid-April until the end of August.  They take in hundreds of injured and orphaned animals that they painstakingly rehabilitate and release back into the wild.

Some of these volunteers work more than their regular four hour shift because to keep a facility like this open 12 hours a day, it would take something like 97 active volunteers to fill all the shifts during the busy Spring and Summer seasons.

Baby birds that are brought in are evaluated and moved to the proper location for a feeding regime depending on condition, age and diet.  A strict diet protocal is in place to put birds on track for a speedy recovery and release.

The food, usually given by syringe or on the end of a stick, is mixed up in their kitchen. Those are the diet recipes and instructions up on the wall with the green borders.

These are, I believe, Western Scrub-Jay nestlings that are still in the incubator phase, when they must be fed every 10 – 15 minutes

and a nest of feathered sparrows that are nearly ready to move to the next stage of learning to eat on their own where they are fed about every thirty minutes.

This American Robin nestling being tended by Taylor, one of the youngest volunteers,  is just about ready to move to the “learn to eat on your own” flight room

and below is a male Northern Flicker (red shafted) that was compromised when its nest tree was unknowingly cut down.  The conscientious owners brought the nestlings to SWRR where they will surely be able to return to the wild when they are ready.

Here is a short video tour of the facility

Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation also has a foster care program.  The birds that are in their Educational Program very often also act as Foster Care Parents for young, orphaned birds of the same species. They are put in the same aviary as the adult Ed bird and the Ed bird takes over as the parent.

They raise up the orphans and also show how the young should behave as part of their particular species. Since the Ed bird usually can’t fly and hunt on it’s own, when it’s time for the young to start hunting, they are moved to the wildlife center and given live food to start their hunting lessons.

I was fortunate to meet Betty, Captain and KeHwani, the Great Horned Owl’s handler.  She is one of the many volunteer handlers that houses these precious animals so that people in the community can learn about wild animals.

This is one of the many owlets currently being fostered by Captain and KeHwani

Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation can always use donations and volunteers.  100% of donations go to wildlife rescue.  That’s right 100%!  This organization is entirely run by volunteers.

If you can help with a donation or have time to volunteer (remember, they need 97 volunteers to cover all the shifts during the summer season), please give them a call or go to the volunteer page for more information.

You can find a wildlife rehabber in your area, listed by state, here.  Please support your local wildlife rehabber!

After reading Wandering Weeta’s post on the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, I wanted to give you a link to her post, A Visit to O.W.L., in case you want to donate to her cause in British Columbia.

An if you want to see some excellent bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly.

California Quail Pair photos by Larry Jordan

I have seen several pair of California Quail with their young in the last week or so.  They have been coming to our pond to drink.  There had to be at least twenty little quail scurrying away when I came around the corner of the house the other day but today, I wanted to get some baby quail photographs and they didn’t show up.  I did have lots of young visitors though, like this Black-headed Grosbeak fledgling.

I counted at least five of these Black-headed Grosbeak fledglings

Most of the young fledglings will show the tell tale sign of a light colored beak at the angle of the mouth, the commissural point.  You can see it on this young Western Scrub-Jay.

This juvenile scrub-jay appears to be a little older, possibly going through its 1st molt

I observed several Acorn Woodpeckers at the woodpecker feeder with some adults feeding the juveniles.  There were also at least four White-breasted Nuthatches using that woodpecker feeder as well as the upside-down suet feeder.  I also caught a Pine Siskin at the thistle feeder along with several Lesser Goldfinches.

Then there were the hummingbirds.  I captured this young female Rufous Hummingbird drinking from the waterfall at the pond.

And this young male Anna’s Hummingbird fighting for his turn at the waterfall

With the temperatures having been in the triple digits for the last couple of weeks, our pond and waterfall has been a magnet for the birds.  Of course it helps to have several bird feeders up with sunflower seed or thistle seed, and a tray feeder with mixed bird seed (if you don’t have European Starlings or House Sparrows to worry about).

Some hummingbird feeders and at least one suet feeder and you’re good to go!  If you love woodpeckers, like I do, a woodpecker feeder is a bonus and will also attract nuthatches and Chickadees!

It is such a joy to watch the birds in my yard.  Watch them feed, bathe and raise their young.  Then we get to watch as the young birds grow and learn and come back the next year, with their parents, to continue the cycle.  Anyone can do it.  All it takes a little planning.  Check out the National Wildlife Federation to get started on your Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Acorn Female With Juvenile all photos by Larry Jordan

Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of a dozen or more individuals. I have been getting daily visits by a family teaching their juveniles where to go to get the good stuff!

Note this juvenile (in the foreground) has blue irises and a solid red crown. This is the plumage of both male and female juveniles of this species.

The adult female has a wide black band separating the red crown from her white forehead.

Female Acorn Woodpecker

The adult male Acorn Woodpecker has a solid red crown which I was able to capture standing up.

To see more great bird photos, go to Bird Photography Weekly.