I can’t wait for the bluebirds to come back.
Wonderful thread! We have had MASSIVE snow in my location.
Sad to say, the wild turkeys which had regularly trekked through our yard (18+ at one time) vanished with the big snow. We have been unable to get to their feeders. I hope they come back when there is less snow on the ground.
The el-cheap-o “shed feeder” on the north side still attracts birdys, tho. Mostly bluejays, cardinals, 2 types of woodpeckers, chickadees, types of sparrows I cannot identify.
I hope to get hummingbirds and monarch butterflies in a few months. AND warmer weather :smack:
AND some goldfinches, too 
We have a pole with five feeders stocked with nyjer seed, raw peanuts, Wagner’s Greatest Variety Blend, and safflower. This regularly attracts tufted titmice, chickadees, downy/hairy woodpeckers, dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves, lots of goldfinches, cardinals, blue jays, and nuthatches. We also have a red-bellied woodpecker that’s started coming around recently. My wife says she’s seen pileated woodpeckers a couple of times, but I’ve never had the fortune of seeing one.
The goldfinches and the red-bellied guy are my favorites of the feeder birds.
There’s a red-shouldered hawk who perches in the yard from time to time; I saw him take one of our chipmunks once – that was impressive. Also, there are a couple of great horned owls in the neighborhood, whom I hear regularly, but have never seen. And we regularly see wild turkeys, robins, hummingbirds, and assorted sparrows in the yard.
No, the Calliope also seems to be an exclusively West Coast bird. You can getvagrants in the fall on the East Coast, but they’re certainly not going to be a regular occurrence.
Bald Eagles. Apparently there’s a family of them about 5 miles north of here.
The Bay Area is experiencing an outbreak of salmonellosis in songbirds. It’s recommended that people with bird feeders remove them for 3-4 weeks, and clean them thoroughly before returning them. More info here.
Rufous are native to New Hampshire. We see them fairly often.
I have a pair of ospreys nesting right in front of my work (which is a tutoring establishment) for four years now. We had the kids name them, “Jax” and “Jill”. Two healthy chicks 2 years ago, but last year one died from siblicide (the older one would peck and stomp on his nestmate until she starved to death), and the survivor fell and died a few days later. The other 2 chicks never did crap like that to each other, either (and the male is the best fisherman of his species that I have ever seen, brought back plenty of fish both years).
Sorry, you’re right. I was referring to the new sighting reported only the past year or so. For now they are non-breeding vagrants. The Ruby-Throated and the Rufous are both Summer residents (May to September). The Ruby-Throated definitely being the more common.
Well,not according to every authority I can find. At best, they’re vagrants. If you’re really seeing them that frequently, you should report it to ebird – they’d find that very interesting.
My Peterson Field Guide (Eastern Birds) says they are “A rare but regular straggler in fall and winter (Nov-Apr) eastward along the the Gulf Coast from LA to FL. Casual or accidental elsewhere in the US”. There is no range map included in the eastern guide, implying that they are not native to the east.
I agree with Finagle, you should report this bird.
Now that I live high up in an apartment building, I no longer keep a bird feeder but the neighborhood often rings with the cries of scrub jays yelling at one another and now that nesting season is upon us, the flickers should be joining in soon with their piercing squawks. And I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Caspian terns from points south. Once here, they’ll fly low overhead several times a day, commuting from one point in Puget Sound to another. Their elegant flight is quite at odds with the almost frightening screeching sound they make.
Since the OP briefly mentioned mammals, I thought I’d throw this in:
My niece participates in a program where they reenact pioneer times at a historic fort in a large, heavily wooded park a few miles from here. In the winter, her mom (my sister) takes her there once a month for meetings and in the summer she’s there much more often.
Last Saturday, my sister, niece and I went for a drive through the park and before we got there, I asked if they’d ever seen any deer there. They both said they hadn’t. Less than a minute later, as we entered the park, there were four of them grazing in the grass right by the road! Two does and two fawns! They were black-tails, which I don’t remember ever personally seeing here in Western Washington, though I know they certainly exist. They seem much smaller than the white-tails I’m used to. What a cool treat it was to see them!