I had a great day birding in the yard on Sunday, April 19, 2015!

Our first visitor, and a fairly rare one for the yard, was a Ruby-crowned kinglet. In the winter we usually see quite a few Golden-crowned kinglets but the Ruby-crowned kinglet is much more a rarity.  Unfortunately, even though it flew all around the yard I wasn’t outside to try to obtain a photo.

Next up was an Orange-crowned warbler which took an extended bath in one of the static bird baths.

While the Orange-crowned warbler was bathing I heard another warbler call, and the Orange-crowned had hardly left the yard before I was visited by a male Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s race), the first of five visits for the day. (lAt the time the visits occurred I had no way to tell whether I was seeing one bird multiple times or the same bird each time. But after processing my photos from at least two of the visits I’m fairly confident that I was seeing at least two different birds.  All of our observed Yellow-rumped warbler visits so far this year have been by male Audubon’s.

About the same time we experienced the first of two Bushtit visits, each by a single bird. Bushtits are very gregarious but have probably paired for the breeding season by now, so they aren’t hunting in the small groups which we observe at other times of the year.  As I recall we had a single Bushtit visit the yard several times last year and they seem to show little interest in any of the water features.  I did manage one photo…

My next experience was in hearing a California quail call from across the street, where they used to be fond of hiding in a blackberry thicket. We heard no calls nor did we have any sightings all of last year and I assumed that they had been extirpated from the Cap Sante neighborhood. I didn’t see one come into the yard but since it apparently called from one of its favorite historical haunts, I would assume that it’s a remnant from one of the families that used to live in the area. I just hope that there is a breeding pair and that they can raise some number of young to adulthood, which hasn’t been an easy task historically.

My next sighting was of our first Turkey vulture of the season, and I was able to quickly snap a few photos of it as it flew over, despite a lack of warning.

Finally, a flock of about 100 Snow geese flew north almost directly overhead and a few minutes later I heard, but could not see, a second group.

And while I was out I took a few more photos of some yard visitors…

I’m hoping that the activity signals the arrival of some of our spring migrants which will hopefully make the significant amount of time I have been spending in the yard, more productive!