On December 23, 2020, I made another birding excursion south towards Fir Island. On the way I encountered this Red-tailed hawk for at least the second time on one of my recent birding excursions.

I generally find the Red-tailed hawks rather skittish… they generally will fly if you even slow the car near them, much less stop. However this particular hawk seemed quite comfortable with me parked on the road nearby. I took a few photos and then the hawk flew away from me and landed between rows of blueberry bushes, but still relatively near to me. I moved up a bit and it became evident that it had caught something in the grass. As I watched it lifted up what seemed to be like a small rodent…

and then swallowed it whole!

Later in my travels I found this Orange-crowned warbler gleaning insects from under blackberry bush leaves…

In my last post I displayed a photograph of what I believe to be a Purple finch, and on this day I searched the same area to see if I could find it again and get a better photo. I can’t be positive that this is the same bird or even that is a Purple finch˙, but I believe it to be one.

I found this Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco taking a bath beside the road…

In the winter of 2019-20 I found three female Anna’s hummingbirds on or in the vicinity of a holly tree that would probably provide good cover from wind and to some extent, rain. I photographed these hummingbirds several times over a several week period a year ago. This winter I found there were two females in exactly the same area. I believe that they are all probably part of the same family that has stayed in the are for over a year.

On Thursday, December 17, 2020, I set out for an excursion to Fir Island. I visited one of my favorite birding places on the way and found many House finches, some eating dried blackberry seeds. 

Nearby I was startled to find what had to be a male Purple finch, the first I had identified in many years. There is a wide variation in the colors of male House finches and I have friends who think they can distinguish male Purple finches from male House finches by color, but in my opinion color only is not a reliable differentiator between the two species. However, in this case, the red tint all the way down the bird’s back left no doubt in my mind I was looking at a Purple finch. I only managed a couple of photos before the bird flew, and unfortunately there were intervening twigs, an unavoidable impediment in birding photography, but I believe that my photo is diagnostic. 

On Sunday, December 20, I was at home watching the Seahawks game when I thought I saw a bird fly in front of our French doors on where west patio. The west patio only has a small bird bath that is rarely frequented by birds. I rose to investigate and found a male Yellow-rumped (Audubon’s) warbler fly-catching from a plum tree just off the patio.  I retrieved my camera and took several dozen photos of the bird between forays for some kind of flying insects I couldn’t see. The activity went on for 10-15 minutes giving me ample opportunity for many photos with the many perches the bird used.

As I watched, the warbler was joined by a male (you’ll have to take my word for it!) Ruby-crowned kinglet and several other species of birds. 

I was really curious as to what the birds were plucking out of the air, but whatever they were they were smaller than I could see.

A friend pointed out recently that I haven’t posted anything in about a month. So here are a few photos from recent outings. In general, I take photos in the yard in the spring and summer and range further in the fall and winter. We have more waterfowl and raptors in the fall and winter, and that is what will be featured in this post.

On December 5, 2020, I found a loon in the Cap Sante Marina Basin and so went home to retrieve my camera. By the time I returned to the marina the loon had vanished but there were a few Hooded mergansers swimming. I obtained the following photos of a male, initially with its hood down, but then raising it as part of its preening activity.

Here you can see that the merganser has raised it’s crest just prior to stretching.

Here the merganser is raising its wings as part of its stretching exercise…

And finally, flapping its wings…

On December 11, I drove my usual birding route to Fir Island. Just north of Fir Island I found this Great egret, a rare bird for this area. In the almost 20 years I’ve lived here I’ve only seen one other. It was just south of Samish Island.

I returned on December 14 to check on the egret, but it was not in the same area where I had previously seen it. However, once on Fir Island I found this young Bald eagle perched on top of a power pole.

I’m still trying to figure out how to get my notification system up and working again. If you sign up for notifications now you will NOT receive notifications until I figure out how to use the notification app.