More daily visitors

Blue Jays come to the feeders in packs. If there's just one on the tray, there are five or six in the trees. They are the roving bullies. They will intimidate the smaller birds and even the large Mourning Doves. Yet they are also cowards. The Red-bellied Woodpecker can scare them away when she comes to the tray and they all take off when I step out onto the deck.

Their cowardice, however, can be a blessing for the little birds. When the Jays flee from me or a hawk that appears in the yard, they don't go quietly. They'll screech and scream quite loudly. When that happens all the little birds either freeze or head for the thick, protective branches of the pine trees and become still and silent as they assess the threat.

Blue Jay doing a little soft-shoe dance

We've only got a couple of Northern Cardinals that show up in the yard. Actually, just one pair--male and female--makes an appearance. Usually they feed on the ground beneath the feeders on the side of the house picking up seeds scattered by the other birds and squirrels. These visits frequently occur in the twilight hours of sunrise or sunset when it's just not practical to snap a photo. Once in a blue moon, however, one or the other will make a mid-day appearance on the deck.

Northern Cardinal

Another group that appears as a pack is the Mourning Dove. Or, given their usual docile nature, perhaps flock would be a better descriptive. Twelve to twenty of these subtly colored birds will be pecking at seeds on the ground, snatching one off the tray, or slowly policing the driveway for gravel that might be just the right size for their crop. (Without teeth, birds depend upon gravel in their crop to grind up ("chew") their food.) They don't pick fights with anybody but another Mourning Dove and will shoot off en-mass in erratic flight when they perceive a threat. Usually, they will fly in a circle and come back to roost in the pines to determine if it is safe to return. Sometimes they skip the circle flight and head right to the pines.

I expect to see some courting behavior from them in a couple of weeks. Males will walk after a female cooing all the while. She will act coy and rebuff his attentions right up to the last second. At least that's what it looks like. With both sexes looking the same, I could be mistaken. Perhaps they are merely re-enacting the last San Francisco street parade for Gay Rights.

Mourning Dove