The Avian Tribes

The first of my substacks this week. There may be 2, perhaps just 1 later on. Lots going on, but I wanted to share this with you all this weekend.

I am on retreat for a bit. Taking time to center once more.

G

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There are always conversations going on… (Thanks to my Mary for bringing this revelation to me.)

We get lots of birds in our back garden, from the local Crows, the Wrens, Black Caps, Sparrows, 2 varieties of Woodpecker (Downy & Northern Flicker) and many others including various Raptors. (Including Barred Owls, which used to come visit us at night when we were sitting outside.) You have perhaps seen the pictures of our resident ducks that come yearly to hang in the back yard. The Ducks have been coming back for several years, yet during Covid, they missed a couple of years much to our sadness. This photo is from late April this year. Mallards can live up to 27 years. Wild. (The late neighbors who moved away 3 years back said the Ducks were always coming into their back yard as well before we moved in.) These two are quite the characters. She runs the show, he stands guard when she eats, at times we think he is starving to death. In early may we had another Mallard hen emerge from the Rhododendrons in the back of the garden with a brood of about 10 little ones! They looked like little balls of fluff with wee legs churning to keep up with Mom. They went out through the front yard, onto the road much to the delight of the neighborhood kids on their way down to the creek (more on the creek later)

We live kind of on the divide of Semi Urban -Suburbia, we get all types of creatures. Deer have visited our back garden, coyotes of course, the resident rabbits (including the Oregon Dwarf which are often in the back garden in early morning) raccoons, rats, ground squirrels & garter snakes as well. Mary has set up bird feeders of course, for the hummingbirds by our window, along with other feeders for the various Avian Tribes in the neighborhood.

There is a reason of course for all of the local wildlife, and that is less than a 1/8th of a mile downhill, we have Kellogg Creek, which runs down to the Willamette River. (about a 1/2 mile as the crow flies from us, a nice walk in good weather) Kellogg Creek has Steelhead on occasion, and it is very waterfowl intensive. It serves as the main highway for many creatures locally, and perhaps has done so for millennia.

Kellogg Creek about a 1/2 mile northwest of our place near the Willamette River near downtown Milwaukie

Near to our house on a main road is a bridge over the creek. It was the location of the last Clackamas Indian Tribal Group that lived locally in the 19th century. Tangentially our next-door neighbor dug up an Obsidian Point that was dated to some 7000 years ago last year… folks have been around here sharing the land with our kin for time out of mind.

So, I am setting the scene with all of this background. One of the larger populations of birds locally happen to be Oregon House Finches. I would like to concentrate on two characters of this tribe who made an appearance this April.

Male Oregon House Finch lower left, Female Finch upper right.

One morning in late March, early April a young couple of O/H Finches flew up to the bamboo shade over the kitchen window, which overlooks the back garden. They were very interested in the rolled-up shade. (see the picture below) First, she jumped onto the rolled-up portion of the shade, then he did. They both hung around for a while hopping from the shade onto the outdoor light fixture next to it and our outdoor extra lighting wires. Eventually after all of this activity they flew off. Within a couple of hours later, they were back. This went on and off for a couple of weeks. Then, with a burst of activity, they built a nest over a week or so. More inspecting, more finch conversations. The nest turned out to be quite lovely, and as soon as it was built, they took off again. Every week or so they would come back to look at the nest. Mary, who when she was a child wanted to be an ornithologist, told me that they often build several nests at a time.

Right out the Kitchen Window

They (the finches) would come and go a couple of times a week. I became quite enthralled with the goings on. With the knowledge that they might have several nests, we eventually took the nest down as it was getting hot in the kitchen with the warming weather into summer, and almost immediately the finches showed up the next day. After they left, I put the nest back up in the shade. Sure, enough they showed up again inspected it and took off once more.

In the latter half of June, the finches returned, and the female settled in. We couldn’t tell if she had laid egg(s) or not. She would sit for a while, and then fly off, returning later of course.

We had lots of discussions if she had actually laid eggs or that the possibility the eggs she may have laid were or weren't fertile. I got up on the ladder one more time and took this photo:

Well, there was at least one egg in there!

With all of this we had almost came to the point of reaching into the nest to examine an egg when the finches weren’t home to see if the egg/s were indeed fertile. (there is a technique for this and no, they won’t reject an egg if it has been handled) We put it off after discussing it.

About 3 weeks ago I was making coffee early in the morning and I heard very faint chirping coming from the nest when mother bird flew in. Looking up I could see her head moving up and down she had done it! She’d hatched an egg or eggs! After that there were a constant flurry of activity and feeding over the hours.

For a while with the great heat that came early this year, we were very concerned if the baby/babies had survived as we weren’t hearing them. It got off to over 100 Fahrenheit for several days with the heat even greater underneath the eaves of the house. When the weather cooled we started to hear vocalizing again, much to our relief.

Curiosity got the best of us as to the number of hatchlings, so I took out a ladder and set it up about 8 to 10 ft away from the nest so I could try to take a look inside. I got up to the top of the ladder and I couldn't see anything, so I made a hissing sound, and a little fuzzy head popped up, much to our relief.

After that when we were sitting outside you could hear chirping emerging from the nest. I thought there were at least two wee ones from the noise. Still, we didn’t know how many and weren’t going to find out until they fledged.

Life carried on. Mom was doing most of the feeding coming and going, and Dad would sit on the light fixture and talk to the nest. He seemed less involved with the feeding, but he was very interested in all that was happening.

A week and a half ago the parent birds as a pair started to sit outside of the nest talking to whoever was inside. There was quite a discussion going on. Mary thought that the parental units were inspiring our local resident/s in the nest to come out. There was lots of encouragement but no action on the part of the baby or the babies at that point.

This past Tuesday morning we were outside having our morning coffee, and we observed the two mature finches sitting on the roof gutters with what appeared to be two fledglings. There were lots of vocalizations going on, and they all seemed very excited. Suddenly and in a flurry of beating wings they all took off together chirping excitedly. And just like that after all that time they were gone.

On Friday I saw them at the bird feeder with the adult male popping food into one of the kid’s mouths.

The local Finch Tribe continues to grow, lots of fledglings have joined the regular crew, it is a wild time for those that soar over the back garden and the surrounding forest. So many young ones.

Finally took the nest down, and we discovered 1 unhatched egg within…

I awaken to birdsong every morning; it is a joy that grows on you. I sit often listening, observing trying to understand all of the stories swirling around me. The drama of the Hummingbirds endless territorial squabbles, the Flicker’s plaintive cry when she lost her mate last year to a local Moggy, the Crows vocalizing and playing tricks on one another, the Swallows dancing on air overhead. So much life, in all of its manifestations.

I posit you could spend a lifetime deciphering what is going on around you with all of the various individuals, families, clans, tribes, nations. I have come to this late in life, after too many years spent in music studios, art studios, offices, construction sites. There are infinite conversations going on, so much to try and understand. So, this is one of my forms of meditation. Perhaps, the most effective.

Bright Blessings,

Gwyllm

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