Another great day in the yard for photographing birds!  I’m concerned about the lack of warblers and some of the rarer birds appearing in the yard.  It’s been months since seeing Cedar waxwings, Red crossbills or Western tanagers entering the watercourse.  But while waiting for some of the rarities I make do with regular visitors.

Here are two male hummingbirds…

The Anna’s, some of which are year-round residents…

And the Rufous, which is a spring/summer visitor.

I again had a male Black-headed grosbeak visit the watercourse in the afternoon and I was in the yard with my camera to record the event.

The female Black-headed grosbeak has proved much shyer and has been much more difficult to photograph without obstruction.

We had a male House finch appear somewhat closer than usual and I obtained many good photographs of it.  Take special note of the bird’s beak.

This is a Pine siskin, which could be confused with a female House finch as both are roughly the same size, of sometimes similar color and both have vertical stripes on the breast.  However, note the Pine siskin’s beak is very sharp, a distinguishing feature.  I think this particular Pine Siskin is a juvenile.

We’ve had many Red-winged blackbird visitors this spring, both male and female.  These are breeding pairs that apparently are nesting in the cattails down the hill by the wastewater treatment plant.  A quick flight up the hill to our feeders is much more efficient than having to leave the nests unprotected and forage for seeds or insects.  I’m fairly certain that we are beginning to see fledglings.  This first bird is an adult female and I suspect the second photo is a fledgling of, at least by me, undetermined sex.

Another SPOILER ALERT… the next two photos (taken in the yard 5/12/2018) are NOT of birds!