On March 25, 2021, I noticed a Common loon in full breeding plumage cruising through the Cap Sante Marina. I hurried home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina but the loon had moved on. The next morning (March 26) I again passed by the marina and again saw a loon. I again rushed home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina. Same story… the loon had moved on! A search of the waterways revealed the loon a couple of hundred yards away, and moving even further away. I took a photo just for my records. The bird then flew out of sight, but I found it again out from the Seafarers’ Memorial.

I continued watching as the loon took a few minutes for preening, rolling over on its side to access the feathers on its belly.

It finally began moving closer while fishing. While some other waterfowl peer under water while on the surface, it’s a practice that loons seem to utilize consistently. Here’s a photo of the loon looking for prey under water.

The loon finally came within a distance that would allow a decent photograph and I took the opportunity to take several before it swam away again. This loon is in full breeding plumage which differs considerably from its more drab winter plumage.

Meanwhile, next to the fuel dock, a female Hooded merganser surfaced. The photographic conditions were great… the sun was shining on the merganser and there were some interesting reflections on the water. I usually like to get photos of birds in natural conditions but I felt these photos were very artistic.

And while I’m on the subject of waterfowl, here is a photo I took of a female Common goldeneye at the Cap Sante Marina on March 24, in a light rain…

We’ve already seen several spring migrant arrivals… Rufous hummingbirds, Turkey vultures and an American goldfinch but we are still waiting for our first warbler. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the yard, mainly attempting to obtain photos of Red crossbills and Rufous hummingbirds. After logging our earliest-ever arrival of Rufous hummingbirds in early March the male and female apparently moved on, and it wasn’t until March 19 (about two weeks later) that a male again appeared in the yard. But I digress…

The following photos were all taken on March 16, 2021. Our day started with a female Varied thrush visiting our stone birdbath. We usually have a few Varied thrushes around the yard all winter, but this winter they have, for whatever reason, been very rare despite record snows in the Cascades. The snow usually drives the thrushes down to lower elevations but we just haven’t benefitted from the snow in that regard. I felt fortunate to be able to obtain a couple of photos before the thrush left.

For the past couple of weeks or more we have had Red Crossbills, extremely rare visitors to the yard, make almost daily visits to our bird baths. My suspicion is that our visitors constitute a single family, but I have no way of confirming that. But crossbills seem to be extremely family-oriented, so despite the number of visitors varying (1-7) I believe they constitute a single family group. We’ve seen as many as two mature males at one time and two mature females at one time but they are usually accompanied by some birds that are apparently first-year birds whose sex is more difficult to determine.

We have another interesting phenomenon in the yard this spring. For the past couple of years we have hosted a male Downy woodpecker that is apparently blind in one eye. When I first noticed its handicap I figured that it wouldn’t be long for this world. It seems like it would be an easy target for one of the Cooper’s hawks that are occasionally in the neighborhood, but it has somehow survived. The bird seems to have no difficulty with flying or landing and it’s obviously been eating, so I consider it an unusual success story!

We currently have seven species of sparrows in the yard… Spotted towhees (2-4), Dark-eyed juncos (Oregon race (15-20) including a leucistic), House sparrows (8-12), Golden-crowned sparrows (8-12), Song sparrows (2), Fox sparrow (1), and White-crowned sparrow (1). Here are photos of some of the less common sparrows we have…

And just for good measure, I’ll include a Golden-crowned sparrow since they’ll be leaving before too long…

Beginning in late February Red-winged blackbirds (male and female) began showing up at feeders in the yard. This is an annual spring event. The blackbirds are coming from the wetland near the wastewater treatment plant and making a quick trip up the hill for food. My theory is that they visit our feeders because they can acquire feed quickly without leaving their nest or territory too long to hunt for food. This is one of the females that has been visiting the yard.

On March 2, 2021, (Texas Independence Day!), we had our first Rufous hummingbird (a male) arrival. It immediately began defending one of our feeders. This is the earliest sighting I have in my records… the hummingbirds seem to be arriving earlier the past few years. I might mention that the Rufous hummingbirds arrival seems to be timed with the first blooms on the Red currant, an easy way to anticipate their arrival.

This is a photo of one of the male Anna’s hummingbirds that spent the winter with us. Some of the Anna’s are with us year round, including during colder temperatures and even snow. Several years ago, when we realized that the Anna’s hummingbirds were going to overwinter with or without our help, we began putting out hummingbird feeders year round, shuttling the feeders in and out of the house on freezing days.

Another spring arrival was this male American goldfinch (not in breeding plumage) which arrived March 3, 2021. While we have goldfinches in Skagit County all winter long, we seldom have them show up in the yard before spring when they quickly become one of the most numerous birds in the yard.

This White-crowned sparrow also appeared in the yard on March 3. It’s another bird that can be found in the county all winter but is rare in our yard during the winter. We usually only have one, or at most two pairs in the yard during the breeding season. The sparrows usually attempt to raise a family in the vicinity but in past years their breeding efforts have sometimes been parasitized by Brown-headed cowbirds. After the bird left the yard I heard it vocalize!