A chance mid-morning sighting cost me my nap on 8/5/2014. I was standing at the kitchen window doing a little dish work when I glanced out the window and saw an unusual amount of water being thrown up from our watercourse. There was an American goldfinch on a staging stick above the watercourse and I assumed that another was taking a bath, especially when a very wet, yellow head popped up above the rocks. But I continued watching just to make sure, and was somewhat puzzled by the vigor of the bath as the goldfinches are generally much less active. A few seconds later the head popped up again and I realized that I was looking at a Townsend’s warbler! We generally average only a single visit from one of these birds and it is usually in the early fall.

I raced for my camera and just as I got set up the bird flew into a nearby tree. I tried to track it but couldn’t due to all the goldfinches and chickadees in the yard. I hoped that it might return to the watercourse for a second bath but it never did. However by now I was hooked and felt I needed to stay in case the bird returned.

About a half hour later another (the previous having been last week) Black-throated gray warbler (this one a male) came to the watercourse. Alas, I was unable to obtain any usable photographs of it, partially due to the differential lighting on the watercourse and partially because it chose to spend most of its time at another bird bath too far away for effective photos.

A while later an Orange-crowned warbler came to the watercourse but I was unable to obtain a usable photo of it either. So in the course of just over an hour I had three different species of warblers pass through the yard… but no acceptable photos to show for any of them!

I had offered to provide a birding tour to relatives of neighbors who were visiting from Texas so I called them and made arrangements to pick them up in the late morning. Unfortunately I decided not to take my camera on the excursion. We first drove to Washington Park where we encountered a sub-adult Bald eagle occupying a perch in a tree at the Burrow’s Island overlook. We (and a lot of other tourists) were able to get quite close to the eagle and despite some transgressions from tourists it never flew while we were there.

We next visited Bowman’s Bay State Park where we encountered a Bohemian waxwing (only the second I had ever seen, the first being in my previous watercourse about a year ago) and a flock of Red crossbills.

The last part of our excursion involved March Point where an Osprey, carrying a fish, landed on a power pole immediately beside our vehicle. I stopped and then circled around to allow a possible photograph but the Osprey flew before we could get into position.

After returning home I decided to do another stint in the yard, since my photographic efforts directed towards unusual visitors had been stifled earlier in the day. My first notable observation was of an Orange-crowned warbler, and this one visited the watercourse and I obtained a good many photographs.

My next notable sighting was of a very low-flying sub-adult Bald eagle, about 9/10s of which I managed to photograph! (I couldn’t resist including this near miss!)

Next up was a Brown creeper who not only visited the watercourse but also a nearby rock and madrone tree in the yard. I took many photos and was thankful for the opportunity since, if you read this blog regularly, I’ve found Brown creepers extremely difficult to photograph in the past. Note the equipment that the Brown creeper uses to cling to the sides of trees and rocks!

It wasn’t long before I had another visit from an immature Black-throated gray warbler. This one traveled all over the watercourse and took the opportunity for several baths.

It seemed to enjoy bathing at the very edge of one of the small waterfalls, and I watched several times as it would insert its head and body into the swiftly flowing water and the added resistance would send it over the waterfall!

Unfortunately my day ended with one of the Spotted towhees continuing to feed a young Brown-headed cowbird it had raised.

During the course of the afternoon, in addition to all the more common birds in the yard, I enjoyed visits from a Bewick’s wren, a juvenile Northern flicker, a Black-headed grosbeak, a female Anna’s hummingbird and a female Rufous hummingbird.

Epilogue:
The next day (8/6/2014) I had two Orange-crowned warbler visits and two male Wilson’s warbler sightings. In the late afternoon I returned to Bowman’s Bay State Park and failed to find the Bohemian waxwing. However I did manage to attract a male Wilson’s warbler by pishing.

Here it’s fighting with an American Goldfinch for a preferred perch to view my pishing performance!

If you didn’t see my last post concerning unusual visitors to the yard, all on the same day, scroll down past this post and enjoy!

The number of unusual visitors to the yard has slowed considerably since my last post.  Indeed, while I spent considerable time out monitoring the yard on 8/3/2014 I didn’t have much of anything unusual to show for it.  But just to get a photo up, here’s one of a Red-breasted nuthatch stretching a wing.

Thanks to a helpful comment from a viewer I had changed my “staging sticks” around the watercourse to provided a different setting for the birds.  I positioned the new staging stick to where it seemed stable, and it was for most of the afternoon.  However at one point it got loaded with a menagerie of American goldfinches, House sparrows and probably a couple of other birds.  As I watched the entire stick flopped over into a new position, sending not only ‘perchers’ but bathers into the air.

The previous day (8/2/2014) I also spent time in the yard.  My prime photos from that afternoon were of a (my guess is a juvenile male) Black-headed grosbeak that, like all his kin, like to sneak into the yard and look around without being seen.  I was very patient and still and the bird finally flew down to one of the staging sticks about a foot over the watercourse and stayed for a relatively long time.  (That translates into about 20 photos!)

I find it unusual in that of all the grosbeaks I’ve ever had visit the yard, I’ve NEVER seen a single one actually drink from or bathe in ANY of the water sources around the yard!

During the course of the afternoon on 8/4/2014 I noticed a number of gulls, white with black wingtips, soaring high overhead.  I’ve seen them before and guessed that they were Mew gulls, but on this afternoon I was able to photograph some and confirm their identity.  The first of these photos is presumably of a juvenile.

And as for the rest of 8/4/2014, I was just about ready to give it up after several hours when I noticed a Black-capped chickadee hanging upside down from a cluster of red currant berries, apparently picking out some of the seeds.  Chickadees spend a significant amount of time upside down but I rarely get a chance to photograph them in that position because they are almost always high in the trees when demonstrating that skill.  The situation lasted long enough for me to record the action with about a dozen photographs.