Local Bird Watching

The lilacs are a favorite refuge for the birds.

The list of birds seen in our yard. Some are resident and live primarily at the "Holman Mission Seed Kitchen for Indigent Birds", others are just transients.	We have seen the following nearby, but not actually in our yard.
Crows Ravens Magpies Starlings Scrub Jays Steller's Jays Blue Jays Red-winged Blackbirds Grackles Black-capped Chickadees Oregon Juncos Dark eyed Juncos Goldfinches Housefinches	Wild Turkeys Canada Geese Mallard Ducks Road Runner Herons Coots Grebes Ferruginous Hawks Meadow Larks Prarie Falcons Blue Birds Clark's Nutcracker Turkey Buzzard Long Billed Curlew
American Kestrels Red-tailed Hawks Sparrows White Crowned Sparrows Pine Siskins Evening Grosbeaks Black Headed Grosbeaks Oriole Broadtailed Hummingbirds Rufous Hummingbirds Downy Woodpeckers Lewis Woodpeckers Northern Flickers Mourning Doves American Robins Pigeons Yellow Warbler Yellow Rumped Audubon's Warbler Barn Swallow Western Tanager

Besides the birds we have a resident cotton-tail and a nice fat green garter snake plus another kind of garter snake, probably a Western Wandering Garter Snake. (See photo.) Now a green snake, seen once. Also the cat caught a shrew. He didn't know what to do with it, but the stress was too much for the shrew. An occasional whiff in the air indicates skunks in the neighborhood, and we saw a roadkill porcupine nearby. Heard but not seen are coyotes. The poachers have nearly destroyed the mule deer, but we saw some about 50 miles north of here. Elk are common (except during hunting season.)