Since I’ve returned from Texas I’ve been getting migrating warblers and other migrating species through the yard.  The traffic induces me to spend more time in the yard, although sometimes the intervals between migrants is lengthy so I occupy my time with some of the year-found residents.  These photos are the results obtained over two days of recent observations.

While we have Red-breasted nuthatches year-round, I find they don’t visit the water features all that often and they can sometimes be difficult to photograph due to their energetic movements.

A Chestnut-sided chickadee, a bird I have photographed many times…

A male House finch, this one a bright red (to facilitate finding a mate!)…

A Pine siskin, a species  that can be quite numerous but can also virtually disappear for long periods of time…

Another Pine siskin using an innovative method of obtaining a drink…

And now for a few of our migrants.  This is a female Yellow-rumped warbler of the Audubon race…

And this is the male Yellow-rumped warbler of the same race…

An Orange-crowned warbler, one of the plainest of our warbler species…

A male American goldfinch…

A male Rufous hummingbird…

Spoiler alert:  This next image is NOT a bird!!!  This bumblebee landed next to me while I was in the yard to photograph birds.  My two entomologist friends (“bugologists” in non-scientific vernacular) both failed me in an inquiry as to this insects’s scientific name.   I was surprised that my Nikon F4.0 200-400mm lens would focus close enough to obtain a photo of the bee, but this is the image I got.