by CKR
Every summer, there is a first day that reminds me of its end. The weather usually goes back to hot and dry after that, but then there is another and another. Usually that first end of summer day comes in August. This year it was last week.
The air bears a definite chill, if only for a day or so. There may be wind carrying in that new air, and possibly rain.
I know it wasn’t my imagination, because I have a flock of agreement.
The piñon jays descended on my neighborhood just after the wind. They were stomping on the roof of my office this morning, and earlier they were shouting (kirrr, kirrr, kwerrr) outside my bedroom window. They also have sort of a quacky chuckle, along with a jay-trademark squawk/shriek.
They look a lot like scrub jays, although bluer and less white around the face, a more squared-off tail. And they travel together.
I usually first see them just before the piñon nuts are what humans consider to be ready. The cones aren’t anywhere near that now.
But I put up a full-service bird yard last week. I have hesitated to put seed out because of the rock squirrels. But my poisoning campaign seems to have rid the neighborhood of the plague-carriers, so I am becoming braver. The thistle seed I’ve had too long in the larder doesn’t interest them, so I put out a sockful. I though I’d see if a seed block in a juniper tree a long way from what seems to be the squirrel entry point into my yard would be resistant. The jays have also found a suet block that I bought (erroneously) for the roadrunner and that has been nibbled at (bushtits, I think) since.
I’ve been more consistent about keeping water in the birdbath, too, even scrubbed it with bleach.
The thistle sock seemed to be going down rather quickly. Settling, I thought at first, but it seemed to keep going down. While I was working in the yard this weekend, I saw a pair of lesser goldfinches enjoying it. Not as spectacular as the American goldfinches I saw in North Carolina, but very nice indeed. The seed continues to go down, but I don’t see them much.
The jays have completely eliminated the seed block. I just went outside to fill the birdbath and they withdrew to a strategic tree while I checked out the area under where the block was. Nothing. I did hear the female black-headed grosbeak that has been enjoying the block. Nice that she hasn’t been intimidated by the noisy flock.
Update (later in the morning): I now have two seed blocks near the birdbath, one the giant economy size. We'll see how long it takes the jays to work that one down. I'm still seeing mourning doves on the ground around the birdbath, and a curve-billed thrasher that may be one of the nibblers at the suet.