Mountain Gardening

I am coming to the conclusion the birds are Mountain Chckadee's.

http://tinyurl.com/5apnpo

If you listen to the song on the above link, most of the song they are doing is their day-to-day chatter.. at the very end is similiar but not exactly what I am hearing when they play marco polo in the mornings.

They state:

"Spring song is similar to that of the Black-capped Chickadee, but 3-noted: fee-bee-bee, the bees at a lower pitch."

I could not find a recording of the spring song.

So,

Here is a link to the Black-capped:

http://tinyurl.com/ypbvaj

Apparently, this time of year they are very territorial, and the males serenade the females in the morning with their "special spring" song

Yep. The songs that the male chickadees do is called "countersinging." A number of species do it, but the ones you're hearing are mountain chickadees. Robins, being a thrush species, have a very melodic song, as do some of the larks, but larks aren't all that common up here.

Last summer I tended the garden of my neighbor across the street while she was out of the country for several weeks. Her back yard sprinklers were set to come on around 5:00 p.m., and the late afternoon/early evening period around 6:00 p.m. was just magical. All sorts of birds were out, squirrels would scamper about, and the trees were alive with band-tailed pigeons and woodpeckers. Sitting out there with a glass of peach iced tea and watching the wildlife was one of the most calming experiences I've ever had.

When a natural disaster strikes an area like Lake Arrowhead or Malibu or Rancho Palos Verdes, people are taped for TV newsd programs wondering out loud why people continue to live in hazardous areas. Why put up with the wildfires or landslides or floods? The answer is easy, and I'll paraphrase the original comment, which was about belief in God: For those who don't understand what it's like living here, no proof is possible; for those who DO live here, no proof is necessary.

Chickadees sure are talkers.
I like that Pete Why put up with the wildfires or landslides or floods? The answer is easy, and I'll paraphrase the original comment, which was about belief in God: For those who don't understand what it's like living here, no proof is possible; for those who DO live here, no proof is necessary.

I can never go back there.