My Backyard Update

Things have been quite busy lately and noisy too. Yesterday I saw my Red-shafted Flickers bring in their two babies to feed on the suet. They look so funny trying to figure out how exactly to hang on to the tail prop suet feeder. The Blue Jays are bringing their babies in to feed on the peanut splits. You can easily tell when they show up because the babies haven't found their "voice" yet and squawk loudly. The same goes for the Flicker fledglings. The little house Finches are showing their babies how to land on the bird bath on our deck railing. They flutter around until they decide that they can land on the edge or the rock in the middle. The Lesser Goldfinches are teaching their little ones to hang on the long nyjer thistle sock. Most of the baby Robins are starting to loose their spots and have learned where the raisins are and carry on to let me know when the raisins are gone. On last Wednesday my husband called me to the kitchen window to see a chipmunk checking out our deck. We live near Kipling and Bowles and were wondering how the little guy came to our area. Are they finding their way into residential areas or did he just hitch hike down from the mountains via some one's trailer? Has anybody else seen chipmunks this close to town? Anyway I love this time of year and seeing all our new little residents.