On the morning of (10/3) morning after my walk in WA Park, I performed my usual drive-through of the neighborhood.  Across from the wetland, in one of our neighbor’s yards I spotted a Hermit thrush, a bird not easy to find and even more difficult to photograph.  I called the neighbor for permission to stalk in their yard while driving to my house to retrieve my camera.  When I returned minutes later I was somewhat surprised to find the bird still there.  I began taking photos from my car and the bird just kept coming closer.  Eventually another vehicle drove down the road between my prey and me and scared the bird back into the woods, but after a few minutes it returned and again headed directly towards me.  I took 51 photos.  I decided for various reasons that this must be a juvenile.

Later that day a Slate-colored Dark-eyed junco showed up in our yard, the eleventh year in a row that the species has visited our yard in the winter.

On 10/4 while in the yard I saw a Black-capped chickadee take a very large green caterpillar to a madrone limb and began eating it.

And again in our yard on the same day, we had a mature Hermit thrush…

That’s it for awhile, I promise!