On Sunday (8/25/2013) I decided to conduct a little experiment and document my bird sightings and observations I had in the yard.  It would be a document too long to list here so I’ll just offer the highlights.

I finished filling bird baths and feeders about 10:50am, a little earlier than I usually get out into the yard.  I had no sooner taken a seat in my chair when I saw a bird fly to the very top of my neighbor’s fir trees.  I thought it was probably an American robin but something didn’t look right so I uncapped my telephoto lens to get a better view of the bird… and I was glad I did.  The bird turned out to be a Stellar’s jay, a not by any means rare bird but certainly a rare visitor to our neighborhood.  I photographed the bird and then immediately called other birding neighbors toward whose property the bird had flown.  These other neighbors have better habitat than I and they guessed that they hadn’t seen a Stellar’s jay in the past couple of years, which would be about my guess as well.  (In processing my photos on the computer later, I surmised that due to the feather configuration on this bird it was probably a juvenile.  Maybe there’s some hope that it will stay and make its home in the neighborhood!)

Stellar’s jay – juvenile

I was still marveling at the jay’s appearance at 11:08am when movement in the sky caught my attention.  I looked up in time to see a Peregrine falcon soar overhead, heading north but veering west as it approached the end of the island.  While this bird probably isn’t a rare visitor, it’s relatively rare to see one because they are almost always found flying and most of the time I’m not staring up into the sky.

At 11:27am an Anna’s hummingbird arrived in the yard and accessed a hummingbird feeder at which I never take photos because it is in the shadows.  I noticed this morning that this hummingbird was nicely silhouetted against the sky and, instead of sitting on the feeder it was hovering and then dipping to the feeder.  I realized that this was perhaps an opportunity of which I hadn’t availed myself in the past and I took a couple of photos of the bird silhouetted against the bright blue sky.

Anna’s hummingbird

At 11:58am a Rufous hummingbird buzzed the watercourse but left the yard without lingering.  I’ve probably logged one or two visits a week from a Rufous hummingbird for the past 2-3 weeks, but I generally consider each sighting my last for the year.  The vast majority of Rufous hummingbirds left for migration several weeks ago and we are left with mostly Anna’s, some of which will spend the winter with us.

At 12:55pm a juvenile male Anna’s hummingbird entered the yard and hovered within about three feet of me while perusing the yard.  It then flew from where I was sitting to the watercourse, stopping for a short bath.  I was able to obtain a fairly good photo of it bathing, despite the morning light not having yet reached the watercourse.  While not apparent from this photo, one of the photos I took indicated that the developing gorget extended down the side of the bird’s neck and there was a small patch of color on the bird’s head, thus the identification of a male.

Anna’s hummingbird – juvenile male

I was on the proverbial horns of a dilemma at 1:04pm when a juvenile Spotted towhee, which had been eating seed in the shadows, decided to make an appearance at the better-lit watercourse… and at the same time a female Yellow warbler showed up in the yard!  Since the warbler was in motion I elected to concentrate on the towhee and snapped several photos before turning my attention back to the warbler.  I managed about four photos of the warbler but only while it was sitting on a section of fencing… hardly a natural setting.  (The photo appearing below was taken on the previous day – sans fence.)  The warbler then flew to the watercourse but was intimidated by the towhee and they both disappeared to the other side of the watercourse mound where I couldn’t see (or more importantly, photograph) them.

Female Yellow warbler (from 8/24/2013)

Spotted towhee – juvenile

The Yellow warbler left the yard high and flying south, but the towhee returned to the watercourse for more photos at 1:16pm.

So I spent about three hours in the yard, much of the time with highly contrasting light on what started as a sunny day.  And while you’ve read only about the highlights of my sightings and photography, there was a lot of activity in the yard during this period.  And virtually all of the time I spend in the yard increases my knowledge of bird behavior.

On Wed, Aug 14, I drove down to Smokey Point and birding my way back… Milltown, Fir Island and the Swinomish Channel.  I photographed the following birds on my excursion:

FIrst up, a Common yellowthroat…

Next up was this Bewick’s wren, one of two I saw and photographed.  However only this one furnished usable photographs despite my best efforts.

I photographed this male Wilson’s warbler on Fir Island…

One of the more interesting birds I discovered was what I think is a Swainson’s thrush.  It, and the next bird I photographed, were deep in the brush with minimal light available.

This next bird was somewhat of a puzzle,  I think it’s an Olive-sided flycatcher but it was in the deep brush and only a foot or so off of the ground… not the normal habitat I think of when I think of a flycatcher.

And finally, a couple of different male House finches at widely differing locations.  The second one seems to almost have a hummingbird’s gorget around its neck.

I had another nice day in the yard yesterday (8/12/2013) with sightings of a female Wilson’s warbler and a female Western tanager… and a possible sighting of a Golden-crowned kinglet.  I believe there were a couple of other interesting birds but I can’t recall what they were at this point.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any usable photos of the more interesting birds.

However, for any of you who are beginning birders or live in other areas outside of these birds’ ranges, here are a few photos of three birds that can be confused.

The largest of the birds is a male House sparrow with a seemingly inexhaustible population and range.  Although it is a substantially larger size, it can be confused with the Chestnut-backed chickadee pictured below it.

Male House Sparrow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

And another of our three species of chickadees here is the Black-capped chickadee…

Black-capped Chickadee

Finally, a sad story.  My wife told me several days ago that she saw a Dark-eyed junco (Oregon race) feeding a juvenile Brown-headed cowbird.  Yesterday I managed to photograph the interaction.  This means that a female Brown-headed cowbird was able to lay an egg in the junco’s nest and the junco is raising the cowbird as its own… despite the cowbird being almost half again larger than the surrogate parent.  And it’s possible that the breeding season was lost for the pair of juncos.  Plus they’re raising yet another cowbird that could do the same thing to them, and will do the same thing to other birds, next season.

Dark-eyed Junco in the process of feeding a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird.

I had to have a little work done on my vehicle down in Smokey Point/Arlington on Friday, August 9, 2013.  By about 10am I was ready to ‘bird my way’ back to Anacortes.

I first managed to stumble upon the Portage Creek nature area (not sure what it is officially called) and was surprised at how the good birding portion of the preserve had been allowed to deteriorate.  The entrance of the preserve has been changed to the far side from the entry with which I was familiar and it’s not nearly as bird-friendly, and to get to the better wetlands area required a long walk exposed to the hot sun… there and back.  I decided that was too ‘Texas-like’ for me and drove to the other side.  However before I left the new access I encountered a pair of small flycatchers (pictured below).  I understand that most of these small flycatchers are only identifiable by vocalizations so these may never be identified as to specific species, despite my having obtained good photos.

While I was photographing this pair of flycatchers another bird flew unexpectedly to the top of a nearby tree.  I think that it is probably a female Bullock’s oriole… but again, I’m not sure.

My next notable encounter, at the Fish and WIldlife HQ tract on Fir Island, was this warbler.  Again, I’m not sure of the species.

And finally, at the end of Channel Drive adjacent to the Swinomish Channel, I encountered this pair of warblers.  I have a birding friend who has suggested, and this was my original suspension, that this might be a pair of Common yellowthroats.  If it is, I think I photographed a mature female and a juvenile male.  The birds traveled together and, as you can see, in one of the photographs I was able to get them both.

I don’t normally like to publish photos on my blog that are of unidentified species, but I don’t know how long it might take to resolve the matter.  I have the photos out to a more knowledgeable friend and am hoping for a more educated identification… or at least guess.  If I receive additional information I’ll modify my post by identifying the bird(s) immediately under the photo with a caption.  However I just thought the photos too good to hold until the identifications are resolved.

After my success with warblers the previous day I had high hopes of seeing more today (8/1/2013). The entire day was cloudy, meaning I would be using reduced shutter speeds but wouldn’t have to be concerned so much with shadows from sticks, beaks, etc.   Alas, it was not to be a consecutive warbler day!  I saw not a single warbler.

However, as is usually the case if you just spend enough time at it, the day was far from a loss.  I had been in my birding chair only a short while when my attention was drawn to the activity in a dead pine tree over my head.  The yard was filled with chickadees and nuthatches but a newcomer with a slight yellow tinge drew my attention.  I realized that it had a ‘bump’ on the top of its head, more often referred to as a crest… but not what I term a true crest.  At any rate I realized that it was a small flycatcher.  I thought it was too close to take photos of it but it must have been just in range.  I quickly snapped about half a dozen photos before if flew into some young fir trees, never to return.  Many of these small flycatchers can only be reliably identified by vocalizations so I don’t have much hope of identifying a specific species, but I was happy to get the sighting and some photos.

Flycatcher… species unknown.

A short time later I heard the crows raising an alarm and their attention seemed to be directed at the ground.  Mindful that our neighbors had seen a coyote in the same area just the week before, I carefully crossed the yard to where I could view a hillside across the street.  It didn’t take long for a coyote to emerge and I was able to take over a dozen photos… my first of a coyote in the neighborhood.  We’ve had many sightings this spring and have been very careful about letting the cats outside.  In fact, I recently built a protective cage for our cat that likes to spend time outdoors.

COYOTE!

Along the way I managed photos of what I think is a juvenile Anna’s hummingbird.  Its gorget hasn’t fully developed but you can see the basic coloration that would indicate that it’s not a female.

Juvenile Male Anna’s Hummingbird

And finally, I had a visit from an American goldfinch family with four young.  The young, instead of having the brilliant yellow of the male or the subdued greenish-yellow of the female, have a sort of dull gold color on the wings that you quickly come to recognize when you spend time looking at the birds.

Juvenile American Goldfinch