For the past six weeks and possibly longer we’ve been having visits from an accipiter, which a raptor bander in Seattle with superior identification skills to my own has identified as a Cooper’s hawk. On March 22 2022, the raptor made at least two visits to the yard while I was outside with my camera and I managed photos during both visits. In this photo the accipiter is perched over our brush pile and is peering down looking for prey.

Shortly thereafter we had a visit from a flock of Bushtits, probably our smallest yard bird other than hummingbirds. This bird is a female.

On March 24 I obtained my first photos of a hummingbird in flight… a female Rufous hummingbird feeding on a flowering Red currant. This photo was taken from about 25′ away with a 500mm lens.

Finally, photos of two birds which presented me with a learning curve when I moved to the Pacific Northwest 21 years ago. A Song sparrow (much darker than the ones we had in Texas)…

And a Fox sparrow, which will probably be leaving soon for breeding grounds east of the Cascades.

On March 20, 2022, we finally had a male Rufous hummingbird that it seemed might spend the spring with us.  Our first sighting of a male had been March 11, but that male had stayed in the yard only about a minute before moving on.  This new arrival spent the day defending one of our feeders and gave me many opportunities for quality photographs.  Here are a few of the photographs, unfortunately of a lower quality than they display on my 27″ iMac Retina screen: 

The following day (March 21) I spent a couple of late-morning hours waiting for the Rufous male to return, but it had apparently moved on.  Just before 1pm I decided to go back into the house.  I had been feeding peanut pieces to sparrows and chickadees and I left a few on a rock where I had been sitting.  I glanced back at the yard just before going inside and was surprised to see a Yellow-rumped warbler fly down to the rock with the peanut pieces and then quickly fly back across the yard!  I quickly reseated myself with my camera in the hopes of getting a photograph, and although the warbler perched briefly at several places around the yard, I was not able to get the opportunity for a photograph. This was our first warbler of the season/year… we’re hoping for many more!  

My wife hosted her women’s discussion group on Friday, March 18, 2022, so it was an opportunity (if not obligation) to hit the road. I elected to head south (towards Fir Island) instead of north towards the Samish Flats, and it turned out to be a very good decision.

I first chose to tour March Point and along the way encountered a bird that I had never photographed in my 20+ years here… a Brant! Every Brant I had ever observed had been part of a flotilla located several hundred yards offshore. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that while still “in the field” I had to send a friend a phone photo for an identification. I now have several really good photos of a Brant.

Next, it was off to Fir Island. I encountered thousands of Snow geese in a field along Best Road but they were not close to the road and there was no good place to pull over. There were more on Fir Island.

I encountered a flock of White-crowned sparrows at the Jensen F&W Access…

While photographing flying Snow geese I suddenly saw a Bald eagle approaching and just had time to direct the camera as it flew by. It was a lucky shot… this may be my best ever flying eagle photograph!

After lunch at a local tavern I returned to Maupin Road to find two very large groups of Snow geese in fields on either side of the road, and there was an almost continuous transfer from one field to the other. I positioned my vehicle so that could use my door window as a rest and spent considerable time photographing flying geese.

Technical note: I had been frustrated since getting my 500mm F5.6 lens that I was unable to get the same quality photos of flying birds that I had obtained with my 200-400mm F4.0 lens. As an experiment I moved my shutter speed from 1/1000 of a second to 1/1600 of a second. I’m not sure why it would have made a difference between the two lenses, but I found I was now getting better photos.

I was sitting in the yard just after noon on Monday, March 14, 2022, watching birds when an accipiter flew into the yard. I sneaked back into the house for my camera but when I reemerged the accipiter flew. An hour or so later it returned from the same direction from which it disappeared earlier. Unfortunately, when it returned it landed on a feeder pole instead of a natural perch. Here are some of the photos I managed to take on the accipiter’s second visit.

Several years ago, on another accipiter’s visit to the yard, I managed to make a contact who bands raptors in Seattle. I sent him these photos and here is his response:

Young adult Cooper’s Hawk, just finishing molt into adult plumage, so will be 2 years old later this Spring. Looks like he/she is courting another Cooper’s Hawk in the neighborhood…..the fluffed up white undertail coverts is seen in Spring courtship.

On March 11, 2022, we welcomed our first spring migrant, a female Rufous hummingbird. She remained around the yard all day, at one point sharing a very small, three-port hummingbird feeder with male and female Anna’s hummingbirds. She was still in the yard the following morning although much more scarce during the day. (Sorry about including the feeder in the photo, but you often have to take what you van get!)

On the following day (Mar 12, 2022) our first male Rufous hummingbird visited the yard, but he only made a very brief visit to the feeder, made a quick tour of the yard and then disappeared for the rest of the day.

Looking back over my spring arrival records, I see the earliest arrival for our yard was on March 2 (2021) and our latest arrival date was on March 27 (2008). And yes, they have been trending towards earlier arrivals.

The female returned on Mar 12 but spent much less time visiting the feeder. At one point I saw two Anna’s females sharing the feeder, a very unusual occurrence.

The hummingbirds are draining both of my small feeders in about a day, so it won’t be long before I graduate to a couple of larger feeders. I look forward to the time our salvia, pruned for the winter, recover and begin blooming and offer the opportunity for photos of the hummingbirds in flight.

I spent considerable time in the yard both days (Mar 11 & 12) photographing other species of birds. Our very shy male Varied thrush disappeared for two days but was back Mar 12 and I obtained some good photos. He was joined in the yard by one or more cousins, American robins. It amazes me how the robins can be so proficient at grubbing for worms! After short periods of very successful worming the Robin would take a leisurely bath in the 45-degree water!

We have a number of sparrow species in the yard. As I probably mentioned in a prior post, we are absolutely overrun with Dark-eyed Oregon juncos… and are still hosting our leucistic male for the second season in a row! I often wish for more species of birds in the yard but the juncos provide so many opportunities for beautiful photographs.

We also have several Spotted towhees and Golden-crowned sparrows, a couple of Song sparrows, at least one Fox sparrow (not pictured) and a complement (if I deign to call it that), of House sparrows (also not pictured). A few days ago we had a White-crowned sparrow in the yard for a day.