Some notes on a hot summer day

This week, several of the juvenile Eastern Bluebirds were frequenting my birdbath. I grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures through the glass of my porch door at about 35 ft. They aren't the clearest pictures, but you can see this young male getting his adult plumage. Check out the downy feathers still on him.

The cardinals, Blue Jays and Eurasian Collared-Doves had a great breeding year. The adults are bringing the juveniles to my feeders pretty regularly. It's fun to watch them. The testosterone levels in the cardinals must be dropping because the males are at least tolerant of each other at the feeders. I hear a Downy Woodpecker pretty regularly in the backyard, but have yet to see him at my feeders. When it gets cooler I'll start putting suet out again and see if he comes to that. I really hope the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker comes back to my suet this year.

I didn't go birding this weekend in the woods. It's still just a little early for fall migrants and it's really hot. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll start birding regularly.

The hummingbirds are slowly increasing their numbers. It's becoming harder and harder for the dominant bird at my feeders to keep all the others off. Yesterday I saw her chase one bird off and three came in to get a drink. She successfully got all three of them away and maintained her dominance. She's back this morning. If Gustav moves into Louisiana like they are forecasting, that could be good for my hummingbird numbers. We'll get a north wind out of it and that has encouraged them to move south. After Katrina moved into LA three years ago, my hummingbird numbers exploded within a couple of days. Guess I should get the rest of my feeders ready to go!