In early June I had a cousin visit Anacortes for training relating to chartering a yacht.  He told me that fellow classmates had video (with audio) of a male Northern bobwhite calling from a fence along the Tommy Thompson Trail.  We were unable to transfer the video to my phone, and the cellphone image of the quail wasn’t definitive identification, but having lived in Texas for much of my life, the bird’s call was unmistakable!  My cousin and I spent some time identifying where the video had been recorded and after some detective work we were successful.  (The video had been taken due east of the Skateboard Park at 23rd Street.)  But this was several days after the recording and the quail was gone.  

On June 15 we had a plumber visit the house who knew I was into birding photography.  He mentioned that he had seen or heard a Northern bobwhite near their facility located in the industrial area near 30th Street and west of the Tommy Thompson Trail.  This indicated that the bird had ranged from about 23rd Street to 30th Street over the past couple of weeks (unless there are two of them!).  

On the morning of June 18 my wife met with a discussion group outside at the Seafarer’s Memorial (about 16th Street) and contacted me, telling me that she heard a bobwhite in the area.  I grabbed my camera and commenced the hunt.  At one point I heard the bobwhite and figured that I was within yards of it but it was apparently in a very thick hedge and I couldn’t locate the bird.  The vocalizations stopped and I began driving around attempting to locate the bird.  I came around a corner in a parking lot and the bird was right in the middle of the street!  Thus began a long period of photography but under less than ideal conditions (bright sunlight, deep shadows, intervening shrubbery, manmade background).  It was apparent the bird had little or no fear of people as a couple of people walked past it when it was confined by a wall.  

So here are a couple of photos I took of our wayward traveler.  The bird’s natural range is from Texas west to the Atlantic coast, with perhaps a limited area or two east of the Cascades.  How it got here in Anacortes is anyone’s guess!  

I had yet another fruitful day of bird observations and photography on June 14, 2021.  The day was heavily overcast with intermittent drizzle, reducing the amount of light for photography but at the same time giving everything a very even light with no shadows.  

I began my day photographing a female Rufous hummingbird and ended my day photographing a female Anna’s hummingbird, both feeding on salvia, a great hummingbird attractant!

The previous day (6/13) I observed our first juvenile California quail… they seemed a little large for our not having seen them previously but I had obtained only a brief distant view of them.  On this day, however, a covey was in full view… and it was not the same covey… these were much smaller!  I watched as the covey scurried about the yard.  At one point an adult female brought the covey to within about ten feet of me as I sat, very uncharacteristic of the caution usually exhibited at this stage of the juveniles’ development.  One of the chicks apparently separated from its siblings and wandered around the yard by itself for a while, apparently oblivious to the dangers it faced.  It finally took up with another pair of quail that had no chicks, so we had a pair of quail running around with only one chick!  I’ve noticed in the past that the parents apparently take care not to mix coveys, perhaps for just this reason.  

While I was busy photographing the juvenile quail a male Black-headed grosbeak flew into the yard and landed at a location in full view, not its usual practice.  I was able to take several photos of it before it flew to a feeder.  

I next noticed that our resident House wren was finally using a staging stick I had placed next to the bird house it was using.  For a long time the wren had ignored the stick and used the top of the bird house for a perch.  I moved to an advantageous position and took many photos of the wren moving around the staging stick.  Interestingly the pair of House wrens had moved into the bird house almost immediately after a family of Black-capped chickadees had moved out, and I had watched as one of the wrens spent the better part of a day disassembling the chickadee nest inside and throwing the pieces out the door!  It was fun watching the wren bringing sticks that were 6-8″ long and trying to maneuver them inside the one inch diameter door.  As it is there are two or three sticks left sticking out the door!  The wrens’ nest materials are much cruder than than those used by the chickadees, so I am anxious to see what the inside of the house looks like when the wrens leave.  

All in all it was a great day from a photography standpoint… so good that I’m even including this photo of a male House sparrow!  

For the past two to three years I’ve noticed that birds, especially Pine siskins, utilized the stem of a native plant growing very near our stone bird bath as a perch. I’ve often thought that photographing a bird perched on the stem would make a good photo. I have no idea what kind of plant it is, but like so many of our native plants the deer consider the plant food. I have been somewhat frustrated in that each spring the deer that roam the neighborhood have decimated the plant, stripping most of the leaves and mauling the stem. However this year the plant has somehow escaped their attention. This has given me the opportunity for a photograph or two.

Here are a couple of photographs I’ve managed to take, the first a Pine siskin and the second an American goldfinch. Mission accomplished!

Postscript: I originally composed this blog several weeks ago and in the interim… you guessed it… the plant has again been decimated. However the plant is resilient and somehow manages to survive and grow each year, so I anticipate having a brief period for more photos next year! (If anyone recognizes this plant and knows its name, I would appreciate knowing it.)

Friday, June 4, 2021, was a beautiful day for both birding and photography.  It was cool with a thin overcast that provided even light for photography.  I decided to spend time in the yard in hopes that I might get visits from some of our rarer visitors… waxwings, crossbills, grosbeaks, warblers or other migrants.  

During the afternoon the yard was filled with birds, but they were mostly House sparrows, Pine siskins and American goldfinches.  However my hopes were buoyed when I spotted some movement in the tree canopy and managed to identify a Cedar waxwing.  Unfortunately the bird never emerged so I only obtained one poor ‘record’ photo.  

Before long I identified a juvenile White-crowned sparrow around the yard, an indication of a successful breeding season for the pair we have had in the yard this spring.  This is a much-improved result from one or more past seasons when the sparrows raised a Brown-headed cowbird.  In the processes of photographing the sparrow extensively I realized that there was a second juvenile in the yard.  The parents were also around the yard but had no interactions with the two juveniles.  

Next a a female Wilson’s warbler entered the yard.  I think I have to give this bird the ‘Model of the Year’ award… it moved from staging object to staging object, presenting a variety of poses on each object!  I took well over 50 photos and saved many of them.  

Anna’s hummingbirds and Rufous hummingbirds were also active in the yard, with at least one male and female of each species utilizing both feeders and newly blooming salvia.  For the past couple of years hummingbird baths in the watercourse have been rare, but on this day one of the female Rufous hummingbirds opted for a bath.  

A female Brown-headed cowbird made a couple of unwelcome visits.  Fortunately we have seen no juveniles this year.  

The day was somewhat unusual for the limited number of species I photographed, but not in the number of photographs I took.  

And now for a little bird story… 

Several weeks ago a pair of Black-capped chickadees occupied a nest box we have.  They apparently successfully fledged young a few days ago and only a day or so after they disappeared a pair of House wrens decided to move into the box.  One of the wrens spent considerable effort deconstructing the chickadee nest, making repeated trips to the doorway to throw out nesting material.  The wrens are now ensconced in the nest box, with twigs sticking through the opening, and the male is apparently bringing food to the female who is in the nest box incubating eggs!  

I’ve had a nice spring, often taking between 200-400 photos in the yard in a single day! But the BIG bird news this spring is that I had two species visit the yard that I have never seen in my 20+ years of birding in Skagit County!

The first species was a Chipping sparrow that showed up in the yard on May 13. As is often the case, I managed to use the bird’s behavior to differentiate it from all the House sparrows, Pine siskins and American goldfinches which have been in the yard this spring. The bird didn’t co-mingle with all the other birds and took a different route around the watercourse. I looked closer and saw the rufous crown and was fairly certain of the species, but there are several other species of sparrows with rufous crowns and I waited until I processed the photos to make a positive identification.

This is a very common and gregarious species across North America during the summer months, and a very common bird in Texas during the winter… the professed bane of my Texas sister’s existence! My guess is that they are rare west of the Cascades but more common east of the Cascades where the habitat is more to their liking.

The second rare visitor was a male Lazuli bunting, a species that showed up in our yard on May 28. I was sitting in the yard trying to sort the avian traffic when I saw a blue head through the foliage on our Golden Chain tree. I took a couple of quick photos in case the bird didn’t fully reveal itself, but the bird worked its way towards our watercourse (and me) and I was able to identify it and take many photos.

Lazuli buntings are found rather extensively in the western US during summer months. My wife and I usually see the species when birding in AZ, a much drier climate than we have in Skagit County. Although distribution maps show the species extending into the lower parts of Canada, the birds are probably much more common east of the Cascades due to the drier habitat.