Yesterday we had heavy fog for all but about an hour around 3pm.  I spent a little time in the yard but there weren’t many photo opportunities so I headed out in my car to see what I could find.  Making a somewhat longer story shorter, I happened on this female Belted kingfisher at the Cap Sante Marina and managed to take several photos before the bird moved on.

I just missed getting a really good photo of the bird with a fish in its mouth, but I had to settle for a photo of it in the process of gulping down the meal.

If you never remember anything else from this post, you can learn an interesting fact about the birding world.  The Belted kingfisher is fairly unique in the bird world, even among other North American kingfisher species.  The female Belted kingfisher has brighter colors (ie, a rufous-colored breast) than the male of the species.  (See who among your birding friends can name a North American bird species in which the female’s color is brighter than the male’s!)

I’ve gotten rather tired (and my neck has gotten beyond tired) photographing birds in the madrona trees in the neighborhood.  Yesterday (10/14/2013) I spent about three hours photographing birds in, around and under the madrona trees and found when processing my photos that I didn’t have all that much to show for my efforts.  Some of the problem is that I’ve spent significant amounts of time in the same location so I have not only a lot of photographs, but a very large backlog to process.  What I’m mainly interested in is some of our rarer (as in more difficult to find/photograph) birds and they just don’t happen along that often, so I content myself with photographing American robins.

Yesterday afternoon after returning from my second outing to the madrona tree I glanced out my kitchen window and spied a Varied thrush in the yard not 15 feet from me.  Shortly thereafter a Golden-crowned kinglet visited the watercourse.  That was enough for me!  I decided today (10/15/2013) that I would spend my time in the yard.  It was a good decision!

There were many, many birds in the yard.  I hadn’t been set up in the yard long, and was talking to one of my birding sisters in Texas, when a Hermit thrush flew to the watercourse area.  I could hardly believe it, but I was talking on the phone to my sister using one hand and taking photos of the thrush with the other.  I took what are probably my best Hermit’s thrush photos and my sister remarked that she could hear the ‘click, click, click’ of my shutter while I was talking!

Hermit Thrush!

Not long after I observed the first of two or three visits by a Golden-crowned kinglet.  I managed to take many photos of it taking a bath.  As I mentioned in a prior post, one of these photos shows the ruby crown that is usually hidden in the middle of the golden crown.  (And I should mention that there was also a visit by a Ruby-crowned kinglet, but it landed on a bird bath that was too close to me for the focal length of my lens.

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

Golden-Crowned Kinglet with Ruby Crown Showing

Finally, from the interesting sighting standpoint, a male Anna’s hummingbird, which will likely spend the winter with us, visited the yard on at least two occasions.  I’m not sure how these birds survive the winter but I try to help by keeping a feeder out.  The feeder doesn’t keep the hummingbirds from migrating south… they spend the winters here regardless.  I just try to make life a little easier on them.  A couple of winters ago we had snow on the ground for two weeks and we had a male that survived, so they get by somehow.

Male Anna’s Hummingbird

This past week or so we’ve had good weather and I have spent considerable time focused (pun intended) on the madrona tree in the neighborhood.  It is still very full of berries and there are others on which the berries haven’t even ripened, so the subject matter seems like it will be around for awhile.  Mindful of the once-a-year opportunity, and grateful for the nice weather, I’ve continued taking photographs of the birds in and around the madrona trees.  They are a veritable bonanza, with many different species taking advantage of the food sources (berries and insects) that the tree provides.  It’s tedious… I have probably spent more than a dozen hours at my mobile post and if you think you are tired of seeing birds in the madrona tree, please appreciate the hundreds of photographs I am still culling and processing to obtain some good images.

That having been said, I would like to list some of the birds I’ve seen in and around the trees…

• American robin
• Northern flicker
• Varied thrush
• Chickadee, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed
• Orange-crowned warbler
• Dark-eyed junco, Oregon race
• Cedar waxwing
• Golden-crowned sparrow
• Fox sparrow
• Song sparrow
• House sparrow
• Spotted towhee
• Kinglet, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned
• Hermit thrush!

I may have left off a species or two, but I think you get the idea.  Keep in mind that some of the species I’ve listed are not berry/seed eaters and visit the tree for insects or just because other birds are present.  So now a few more photos…

American Robin

Northern Flicker

Spotted Towhee

Cedar waxwing

Varied Thrush!

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Many of the madrone tree berries are at full ripeness and are being accessed by American robins, Northern flickers and other birds.  The berries provide a nice background for photographs.  These photos were taken around the Cap Sante area this past weekend.

And while I was out photographing robins in the madrones, I happened across this Orange-crowned warbler looking for insects in the Ocean Spray bushes.  In confirming the identity of this warbler I must admit that I never realized how much this warbler could look like a female MacGillivray’s warbler.  They both have broken eye rings but I believe that the MacGilivray’s warbler’s “hood” extends further down its breast.

On Thursday, Oct 10, 2013 we had a break in the weather and I used the opportunity to forgo my usual morning nap and head out birding for the day.  It was a good choice.

As I drove the March Point Road I was disappointed to see that the tide was out.  This normally has two downsides… there aren’t as many shorebirds and any shorebirds or waterfowl I find are further away, therefore my picture resolution will not be as good.  I had driven most of the shoreline portion of the drive when I spied a Great Blue heron fishing in the shallows.  I watched it for a minute and took a couple of photos.  Just as I decided to move on and the car was rolling behind a bush I saw it catch a rather large fish.  I backed up and began taking photos.  I have fishing/outdoor friends who I’m sure can identify this fish, and if I find out what it is I’ll modify this post since the fish looked rather interesting.  It appeared to have lots of fins and spines and looked not at all appetizing to me, but in the end that didn’t save it from the heron who, after lining it up with it’s beak, swallowed it in one fast, fluid move!

I next happened on what was apparently an apple tree… one I had driven by many times before except that this time I realized that there were some House finches feeding on the apples.  I didn’t have good lighting but saved several of the photos anyway.

Male House Finch eating an apple

Next up was Fir Island and the Jensen Access (WA Department of Fish & Wildlife) where I managed to photograph one or more Song sparrows and a Marsh wren.  I also saw a bright yellow warbler but it managed to elude me by descending from a tree in which it was perched into the tangle of blackberry bushes below.

Marsh Wren

At the Jensen Access I met with a photographer/friend and we drove to the WADF&W HQ tract.  There I found quite a few Cedar waxwings, most of which were juveniles without a crest, a Winter wren (now known as the Pacific wren) and a Hermit’s thrush.

Pacific Wren, formerly known as the Winter Wren

Pacific Wren, formerly known as the Winter Wren

I normally wouldn’t include this photo of the Hermit’s thrush but I have very few photos of them and I had a friend asking about one that had been killed in a window strike, so here it is.  Note the contrasting reddish/brown tail.

Hermit Thrush