I looked out our kitchen window about mid-morning on March 7, 2017, and saw the elusive male Varied thrush taking advantage of some of the habitat improvement (shelled sunflower seeds) I had just sprinkled in the yard. (I have yet to have anyone explain to me what a thrush is doing eating sunflower seeds, but it’s winter and I’ve already seen how that apparently brings out different behavior in some birds.) I grabbed my camera and tried to sneak out a side door, but the ever-alert thrush apparently got wind of my plan and disappeared.

However I had a great crowd of birds taking advantage of the seed on the ground. After a few minutes I realized that I had two Slate-colored Dark-eyed juncos eating the seed… along with twenty or more juncos of the Oregon race.  (Only on one or two other occasions have I seen two Slate-colored juncos in the yard at the same time, although I have long suspected that we might occasionally have two!)  I was able to take photos of both of the birds, although not together at the same time. If you look carefully at the photos below you can see some subtle differences between the two birds.

My observation chair was almost under the single hummingbird feeder we’ve kept out all winter for the Anna’s hummingbirds (at least two males and one female) and I was distracted by buzzing overhead. I looked up to see whether it was two males or a male and a female fighting over the feeder and there, not three feet from my head, was our first Rufous hummingbird of the year (a female)! She was quite interested in the feeder and I managed several photos of her.

I was then distracted by a female Varied thrush which had emerged from the perimeter of the yard. I managed several photos of her before she disappeared into the firs and madrones.

Finally, a Bewick’s wren emerged from some foliage just in front of me and it, too, went for a sunflower seed. (I guess this is no stranger than the Varied thrush eating the sunflower seeds!)