The bird that started my spring yard activities was a late afternoon, March 12, (2015) sighting of a male Varied thrush in the yard…

I was very excited when this bird showed up and migrated to our watercourse.  My wife alerted me to the bird and after verifying that it was still in the watercourse I tried to sneak out the front door, which in the last month has developed a squeaky hinge!  The thrushes can be quite in tune with human activity.  We had two frequent the construction site daily during the building of our house in the winter of 2007, but I can tell you that the birds don’t like being sneaked up on!  I managed about three photos of this bird before it left the yard and to my knowledge it hasn’t been back since.  I’ve seen and heard one or two birds in Washington Park on my walks but expect that what few we seem to have in the lowlands will be returning to their mountain retreat before long.

The Varied thrushes are beautiful birds.  We usually have at least a few around the yard in the winter, but this past winter we initially had two and then they quickly disappeared.  My theory is that they have been gone due to the accipiter that we had around for at least a couple of months as well as the fact that we have had a relatively mild winter and the cold and snow haven’t been enough to drive the birds down from the mountains.

Another species of bird that has been largely absent this past winter has been the Red crossbill.  During this same period they have begun returning to the watercourse, and on several occasions I’ve been able to see a group of up to three females and two males access one of the water features at one time.  This is a female in the watercourse…

A species that has been conspicuously absent is the House finch.  We usually have a plentiful supply of them at all times of the year, but they have been absent for the last couple of months until just recently.  I attribute their absence to the accipiter.