Picture Sundays: Backyard Birdbath

My beautiful picture
I trained our CritterCam on the backyard birdbath to see if it’s being used. Answer: yes. This bird and a few bees. Here’s another view of the avian visitor:

My beautiful picture

Can anyone i.d. this little guy?

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10 Comments

    • I agree, California Towhee. Big, finchy bill, orange under the tail are key characters.

  1. I disagree. Juvenile Western Scrub Jay. We have them in our yard and they dont get blue til they’re older. The head shape looks different to me.

  2. I don’t recognize the bird as one I’ve seen here in the Northeast, but in other bird-watching news, I’m pleased to report that we recently had two Pileated Woodpeckers in our woods just twenty feet from the house, a male and a female. Here’s hoping they set up housekeeping nearby and raise a family. They are large, impressive-looking birds with beaks that sound like jackhammers.

    We have several bird baths in our yard. One has a few large, roundish stones in it for the bees to land on, the others are just for birds. Few things in the yard are more enjoyable than watching birds bathe themselves.

  3. California Towhee. Odds are you’ll see more birds, and a greater variety of birds, with a water source than you’ll see at feeders.

  4. Thanks all! Having seen these guys dry, I’ll back the Towhee ID.

    We do have a scrub jay living around here, and get this — a couple of days ago I watched him harass a small paper wasp nest on our front porch. First he snatched up a couple of wasps and ate them, then he plucked up the entire nest (it was the size of a plum, say) and flew away with the whole thing. Maybe to feed babies? Or to enjoy the creamy filling at leisure? It was so bad ass!

  5. We just put out a bird bath in the side yard and are waiting for customers. In terms of placement, one site says to have branches of a nearby bush or tree hanging over/around the water and others say to place the bath in an open area so the birds have a wide, unencumbered view of sneaking predators. Any advice on this? Thanks again!

    • Yes, we’ve been confused by that as well. I think the answer is both. There should not be much ground cover for the cats nearby, but there should be branches somewhere nearby where a wet bird could flap to easily in case of threat.

      Our back yard bath, the one in this pic, has avocado branches nearby, but the ground situation is not so good. It’s open right beneath the bath, but there are low shrubs nearby. The bath itself is tall, though, so I think the birds feel relatively safe. A lower bath would be more problematic. Perhaps the rule is, the lower bath, the wider the view.

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