Another New Fall Arrival

On Saturday, September 15, 2018, I had just waken from a short nap. I had checked the yard for birds and there weren’t any, so I was channel surfing when I heard a soft window strike.  The sound was so soft I assumed that it was just a glancing blow so I wasn’t concerned, but the strike signaled that birds had returned to the yard so I decided to verify the birds’ presence.  I glanced out the window and immediately saw a Golden-crowned kinglet on one of the staging sticks next to the watercourse.  This was our first fall visitor of that species!

I immediately ran for my camera and sneaked to my observation chair in the yard but found it was not only wet but that very light rain was currently falling.  I made the decision to sit under the eave next to the house.  When I looked down to arrange my chair I spied a Golden-crowned kinglet on the paved walkway, evidently the victim of the window strike I had heard.  (This indicated that there had been two of them visiting the yard.)  I picked up the bird and held it in my hand for about 15-minutes to keep it warm.  While I did so a second kinglet visited the watercourse.

I’m always amazed at how small such birds actually are.  I spend considerable time enlarging photos so that birds can be viewed better and it just doesn’t seem possible that these birds are so light, delicate and small.

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It seemed uninjured so after awhile I placed it on a staging stick adjacent to the watercourse and kept a close eye on it to ensure that it didn’t fly into the water.  It stayed on the stick for about 10-15 minutes (during which time I took advantage of the situation and took some photos).  When a House sparrow flew to the watercourse the kinglet  seemed to show more interest, grew more animated and soon flew into a madrone tree, evidencing normal, active behavior.

I had another visit from a Golden-crowned kinglet before I gave up photography for the day.

Just before retiring I photographed his juvenile Spotted towhee around the watercourse.

I checked my records for both the Golden-crowned sparrow that first appeared in the yard on September 14 and the Golden-crowned kinglet that visited this day and they were the earliest seasonal visits I had for both birds.