My daughter gifted me a fun book for Christmas. It’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan. I love Amy Tan as an author as it is, so I was excited to read her book. I have always loved birds and enjoy my backyard feathered friends, but the book made me decide that I would become a backyard bird enthusiast. So I am attempting to start a new hobby.

For the past several years I have hung hummingbird feeders on my patio and enjoy these pretty, tiny creatures humming up to the feeders and taking drinks. Early in the Spring the Black Chinned Hummingbirds make their way to my area and come looking for my feeders. By August the Rufous Hummingbirds have made their way north, and to my yard, and then the battles begin for time at the feeders. It is probably around late July, early August, that I need to refill my feeders a lot more than I do Spring and early Summer. I do love sitting on my patio and hearing their little wings fluttering wildly as they fly over my head. I sense that they’re used to me because they don’t scare if I’m outside.
However, the regular birds are not as brave. Once I open my shutters, or open my kitchen door, they flit away quickly and take refuge in the trees on the edge of my yard. If I’m sitting outside and am still and quiet, they will venture onto my lower rock wall or hop around my upper grass area. But mostly the birds stay in the areas at the edges of my yard where most of the trees are located.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to lure them closer to my house so that I can take quality photos of them. I have a 155 mm lens, but it’s not as clear if I’m taking a photo from the kitchen and they’re at the edge of the backyard. So I ordered a new lens, a 300 mm, which apparently will do a great job with what I wish to accomplish: getting lovely, high quality photos of my sweet, little feathered friends.
I did purchase two feeders: one for Finch and one for general birds. Initially I hung them from the patio pergola, where I hang the hummingbird feeders, but there were no takers. I read that it can take up to two weeks for birds to figure out that a feeder is just that. But it’s also winter so I really don’t want to waste seed. I moved the feeders to a tree in the back corner of my yard, and then I spread seed on the tops of rocks along my back wall. I also placed some seed on the tops of rocks along my lower wall, hoping that I can lure them closer to my house, where I can get better photos of them.
The morning after I did all this, there was a swarm of birds around my feeders. It worked! I was able to identify House Finch, Lesser House Finch, Spotted Towhee, and Dark-eyed Junco, as well as my year-round neighbor, American Robin. A few weeks earlier I took some photos of a Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay. Then the California Quail always make their way back to the big pine trees at dusk. I assume that they spend their days at the pond to the west of us.






I haven’t finished Amy Tan’s book yet, but I am taking a beginner bird course on the Cornell University Bird Academy website. I’m also using the Merlin app to identify birds, and then I use eBird to keep a journal of what birds I see on a particular day. I’m sure that eventually I’ll venture out of my yard looking for birds elsewhere.
My goal is to keep up with this hobby and not place it by the wayside as I get distracted with my many other projects and hobbies, which I am consistently guilty of. I am definitely a Jack of All Trades and nary an expert on one topic. But maybe that’s okay. Right?