House Sparrows frenetically bathing under the mandarin this morning.

Last year this was not our view into the backyard from the house. Now we regularly see White Crowns, House Sparrows, European Collared Doves, Scrub Jays, and less often Lesser Gold Finches. Thanks, bird feeder! What this means for spring/summer tree fruit harvest… 😬

New bird in our backyard! Yellow-rumped Warbler. A pair was feasting on our cultivated California Grapes that now have raisins.

Toad in our bird bath tonight. That’s a first. We usually empty the baths to keep mosquitoes at bay and keep cats from being too keen on the backyard at night. Not tonight!

Northern Mockingbird in our backyard. They’re not nearly as brave as the scrub jays but they’re using our backyard more and more.

A happy scrub jay feasting on some big bird seeds.

Blue Jay yelling at everything this afternoon. Maybe it’s angry at the wildfire smoke.

A scrub jay checking out the new bird feeder. Birds haven’t taken to it yet. They’re still eating grapes and desiccated elderberries.

Our trio of Scrub Jays are leaving almond hulls behind. Maybe they’re giving us gifts for providing water? We do compost….

Here’s some hope that our trio of Scrub Jays will eat our cultivated California native grapes.