Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) photos by Larry Jordan

Ash-throated Flycatchers (Myiarchus cinerascens) migrate to Northern California from Mexico and Central America every Spring to nest. They are cavity nesting birds and I one of the species that nest in my birdhouses every year. Every May I look forward to waking up in the morning hearing that sweet gurgling call.

The gathering of nest material and actual nest construction is done probably entirely or mostly by the female Ash-throated Flycatcher  seen here (click on photos for full sized images).

How do I know that the bird pictured above is the female? Because I watched her for quite some time as she flew back and forth to a nearby farm and brought back nesting material while the male gave his encouragement from a nearby perch. Here she is at the cavity entrance.

Nearly every time she brought in nesting material (as you will see in the video below) she would hesitate on coming out of the cavity and look around for a bit before taking off for more material.

In one instance a juvenile female Acorn Woodpecker inadvertently perched briefly on the same snag while the female Ash-throated Flycatcher was inside the cavity and the male was perched above in the same snag.

The Ash-throated Flycatcher pair immediately and aggressively attacked the woodpecker, chasing her off in quick order.

They then went back to the business of building their nest. The male Ash-throated Flycatcher following the female around during this nest building activity, apparently guarding his mate and singing to her.

In this short video you will hear the male singing to his mate around the 53 second mark as she flies by him on the way to gathering more nesting material. And she brings back a huge load on the next trip, looking as if she is exhausted.

If you love birds and you want to experience more great bird photos, you have to check out World Bird Wednesday!

‘Nuff Said?

They’re at it again! So far this year, Congressional opposition to public broadcasting has been pretty quiet. But yesterday all that changed when Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) began circulating a letter to his colleagues asking that the federal government eliminate future funding for public broadcasting.
Right now, Senator DeMint is pushing his letter to every office in the Senate- asking his fellow Senators to sign on.

We need to counter this dangerous attack on public broadcasting, and demonstrate the strength of the public support for public broadcasting to every Senator!

Please, help me spread the word now.

Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male photo by Larry Jordan

Check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post on “Hummingbirds of the West” over at 10000 Birds!

Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) photos by Larry Jordan

About a week ago I began seeing Violet-green Swallows (Tachycineta thalassina) flying overhead. The year before last, I was fortunate to have Violet-green Swallows nesting in one of my birdhouses but they also nested in this same oak tree last year.

I noticed the female (above) and male (below) flying around and perching near this oak that has several good cavity nesting holes.

This one oak tree has two very popular cavity entrances, one on the East side of the tree and one on the West side. The photographs taken above were snapped a couple of hours before sunset when I first spotted the swallows about a week ago.

I decided this past Sunday to check out the tree in the early morning light having seen some of the swallows approaching an entrance on the East side of the tree.

Not only was I lucky enough to see a pair of Violet-green Swallows enter the tree cavity several times, I saw them carrying nesting material into the cavity entrance as well.

Nest building activity for many species occurs primarily in the morning so my experience has been that this is the best time of day to observe this behavior, plus the light is best for photographing the bird’s activities in the morning.

From the back, this bronze-headed swallow at the cavity entrance looks like the female…

as she disappears into the tree cavity.

I shot some video of the pair as they checked out the nest cavity and perched near the entrance. I hope you enjoy it!

I know you will enjoy seeing the other bird photos at World Bird Wednesday!

Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) photos by Larry Jordan

Last week my friend Gary Stacey, the new Wintu Audubon Society president, took me out on Shasta Lake in search of Purple Martins (Progne subis). You see, Gary had told me that last year when he was out on the lake he saw Purple Martins feeding their young, and had gotten a good close look at their nest sites (without disturbing them of course).

Well, I had only seen Purple Martins nesting high up in a snag near Lake Britton and never gotten a good look at them. Being the largest swallow in North America and among the largest in the world, as well as being one of the most popular backyard birdhouse residents in the Eastern United States, you would think that I would have remedied that situation by now, but no. The prospect of observing Purple Martins feeding their young in a natural cavity on the lake was a very exciting prospect for me.

You see, this species in eastern North America now breeds almost entirely in backyard birdhouses. Its conversion to human-made martin houses from ancestral nest sites—abandoned woodpecker holes in dead snags—was almost complete before 1900; only a few records of natural nestings east of the Rocky Mountains have been reported during the twentieth century. Yet in the mountain forests, deserts, and coastal areas of western North America, where the species is less common, it still nests almost exclusively in woodpecker holes or natural cavities. Few other species show such a marked or abrupt geographic difference in use of nest sites¹.

Shasta Lake is an artificial lake created by the construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Shasta County, California. It is the largest reservoir in the state.

When they created the lake, the trees that were growing in the Pit River arm were left intact and are now seen as snags in that arm of the lake. Perfect habitat for cavity nesting birds.

Acorn and other varieties of woodpeckers help create thousands of nest cavities for several species of birds (click on photos for full sized images).

However, as we traveled further and further up the Pit River arm looking for the elusive Purple Martin we began to worry that we might be too early in the season to see them. We got great looks at Osprey, Bald Eagles, an Eared Grebe and several Clark’s Grebes…

we also spotted several Common Mergansers in various locations.

We finally began seeing Tree Swallows at some of the snags…

and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

Then, along the south side of the main waterway of the Pit River arm…

we spotted some much larger swallows flying with the Tree Swallows…

they were Purple Martins! The iridescent blue male on the left and the lighter bellied female on the right.

We only saw six Purple Martins in the four hours we were out there on the lake, but we did see them, and I will definitely go back in a few weeks to see if I can find a nesting pair feeding their young.

If you want to see more great bird photos from around the world, check out World Bird Wednesday and share some of your birding adventures!

References: ¹Birds of North America Online