I had another banner day for birding on Wednesday, September 11, 2019. Our cat saw to it I wasn’t going to get my daily nap so I decided to sit in the yard awhile and see what might come by. There had been lots of birds in the yard all day… perhaps the accipiter that had been visiting had finally moved on. I went outside with my equipment about 2pm and sat for well over an hour with not much to show for it. I spent the time photographing some of the yard’s regular inhabitants, with one exception. But somewhat before 4pm things started happening.
We had a juvenile American robin show up in the yard and make its way to the watercourse. It seems to me to be very late for robins to be fledging young, but this bird was unmistakably new to the world.
My first migratory visitor made a brief appearance around the watercourse as I was in the process of filling bird feeders, and as I emerged from the garage with seed for the feeders I startled the bird and it left. It was an Orange-crowned warbler. A substantial time later it, or one of its brethren returned, and I was able to get a lot of photos as it investigated, but never entered, the watercourse.
My next significant visitor was a Hutton’s vireo, what I consider a rare yard species but which has visited several times this summer. This species is very similar to the Ruby-crowned kinglet, but has a stouter bill with a downturned tip. The photo here is from a subsequent visit (later the same day) in which the photo of the bill (a key identification feature) is more clearly depicted.
Immediately after the vireo I was visited by a female Black-throated gray warbler. It entered some huckleberry bushes behind me and I was desperate to get photos. But it was behind me and obscured by the bushes and there was no way I could turn and get photos. But after disappearing for a few minutes it found its way around to the watercourse and took at least two baths with preening in between.
Next up was a male Golden-crowned kinglet. This species should be a regular visitor to the yard during the upcoming winter season. The photo below was from the bird’s second visit to the yard when I was able to obtain better photos.
The kinglet was immediately followed by a beautiful male Yellow warbler which investigated the watercourse, giving me ample opportunity for photographs.
I then had a second visit from a Hutton’s vireo (mentioned above), followed by a brief visit from an Orange-crowned warbler and finally a second visit from a male Golden-crowned kinglet.
Most of this action had taken place in well less than an hour, lending credence to my observation that migrants often travel in mixed-species “waves”, a phenomenon I first noticed when living in Texas.
As an added bonus I’m throwing in this photo of a male Anna’s hummingbird which I especially like.
