News from the Bird Feeder

After a slow start, the backyard bird feeder is going strong!  In fact, I may have to re-think the potential budget impact of this idea if I keep having to refill the thing every 2 days!

The feeder has continued to draw the main crowd of House Finches, but they've been joined by a supporting cast of House Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, a pair of Mourning Doves, a Rufous Hummingbird (who is getting so bold that he even tried to follow me into the garage today), and an occasional special visitor!

This visitor is so shy that he flies away immediately if I even try to peek out the window so it's taken me a few tries to get a good enough look at him so that I could identify him.

I'm not an expert by any means, but between the bird guide that I bought and the Internet, the closest I can come to an id is that it's a Yellow-rumped Warbler (above photo borrowed from the Cornell Ornithology Lab site).  There just seems to be the one and he doesn't come every day so I'm not entirely sure if he's lost or what.  We are on a migratory pathway so it's not unheard of to see unusual strays.

My next project is to figure out how to get some pictures...can't get any from outside because the birds all fly away immediately and taking photos through the windows doesn't yield good results.  I'm thinking about some kind of motion activated camera or something...assuming its not crazy expensive.

I'm excited to see who will show up at the feeder as the seasons change!

KJ

P.S.  Edited on 3/9/15 to add photos and links and to advise that the Warbler was back again this morning and remains the most skittish of all the visiting birds so he's hard to get a look at, but when he took off this morning, I saw something in his beak so am wondering if it's possible there's a nest getting built somewhere nearby.  Hummingbird was back again as well and spent a long time sitting still (for a hummer!) on the feeder and I even saw it try to go after a tiny gnat that was buzzing around.  The doves are getting bold enough that they are no longer content to pick up the stray seed off the ground and are landing directly on the feeder itself.