Photos taken in my yard the same day (10/2/2014) as the previous blog, but without regard to the donated staging sticks…

The stars of the day’s show, Red crossbills.  I had at least four visits… a single male, a male and female together and at least two separate visits by juveniles.  I believe this is a juvenile female since the juvenile male I saw was beginning to show some color and this bird does not.

This is a pair of Red crossbills drinking together.  (Unfortunately, at the 400mm focal length of my lens, my depth of field is extremely shallow, so only the female is in sharp focus.)

And finally, a mature male crossbill.  When I process Red crossbill photos and zoom in on the bird (as I believe you can do by clicking or double clicking on this image), I am amazed at the color palate that is on the bird’s plumage.  It is a wonderful, subtle blend of many, many colors.

Next are some photos of what has been a regular fall visitor, with several visits a day and occasionally multiple birds in the yard at the same time… the Yellow-rumped warbler.

My next star was a male Anna’s hummingbird.  For the first time since the new watercourse was constructed in early July, a hummingbird finally landed in the watercourse and took a bath.  The water in the new watercourse has an increased flow and that might have discouraged the hummingbirds, but this male Anna’s finally took the plunge!

The next photographs are of a Golden-crowned kinglet… the species I saw on this day  that motivated me to take to the yard with my camera.

This species, like the Ruby-crowned kinglet, is capable of raising a bright, crown… in this case orange-colored.  Here you can see the ruby crown, but it’s almost never this visible unless the bird is upset.