Boise Locals

Guest post by Ed Dahlberg

American Goldfinch are everywhere around here. They get a little more drab in the winter and the male looses the black notch on the top of its head. It appears the color is already starting to return on this one, including what looks like the black notch…I suspect it’s a male.

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These Mallard ducks like to come out of the creek in our back yard and help themselves to my and my neighbors ‘scraps’ from the bird feeders.  Year ‘round inhabitants due to our moderate climate they like to make themselves welcome. They face competition from wood ducks, squirrels, California quail and other ground feeding birds, but pretty much dominate when present.

It’s not uncommon to see these birds fishing in our creek. There’s a heronry up the river where, I would guess, 30 pair or better nest in the trees in April/May. I’ll see if I can get a shot this spring!

Another species around here a lot. They’ve developed a unique behavior when going to the feeder. They don’t linger. They grab a sunflower seed and fly into a neighboring tree/bush to eat. Probably wise, I’ve seen more than one bird ‘picked off the feeder’ by a Cooper’s Hawk or Kestrel! – Ed