Today in Front and Back Yards

Birds in my backyards include male and female pyrhuloxia -- perhaps a second female, the two resident curvebill thrashers that have been here since 2013 or earlier, a dark-eyed slate-colored junco seen in the front yard, a blue jay seen in the front yard (both on the budleia bush), white winged doves and eurasian collared doves, house finches of both sexes, possibly a male purple finch, and plenty of house sparrows.

The blue jay I spotted doing a woodpecker imitation pecking at a thick branch of the butterfly bush but it turned out he was working on a pecan from my tree across the street some 70 feet away and not boring holes in the wood.

The cardinal has not been seen since the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 5, about the time most of the snow melted.   And the day before this guy was spotted perching in my back yard right between two feeders:

Probable Cooper's Hawk, though the cape on the head plus the tail feather markings might indicate a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.       Keep in mind that I live well inside the city limits albeit only a mile from yellowhouse canyon and have never in a half century seen a hawk on these premises or close overhead.   

Here is the usual activity around that feeder behind the hawk:

Pecking order:   curvebill thrashers are top dogs, the pushy little cardinal next up, the male pyrrhuloxia, the female pyrrhuloxia.  The male does not tolerate the presence of femal pyrrhuloxia but chases when they come near.

This afternoon I glassed the fenceline in my yard across the street where there are cactus and shrubs and saw, through 8X bins at 70 feet a black bird amongst the house sparrows.   So far unidentified.   It was sparrow size and mixing with the sparrows and plain and dark except for some lighter texturing on the wing coverts.   Possibilities are --male lark bunting (I did not see white on the bird when it flew, so that's doubful), a juvenile painted redstart (but we are out of the usual range), a black-faced grassquit (waaay out of usual range), a male gray bunting (waay out of its range), or a male blue bunting (waay out of its range).   Keeping in mind I was a ways off when I saw this bird, best to suspend judgment, but I want to take a look at nearby e-bird sightings.   

This was not the only unidentified bird I've seen.   One sparrow-like bird I saw three times last fall with binocs at short range had a crest and upright stance and might possibly have been a lincoln's but there were problems with that ID.