August 28, 2023, found Anacortes still suffering from smoke generated by Canadian forest fires,  limiting long distance visibility and casting a pall over scenery.  The smoke had failed to clear on Sunday as forecast, but the temperature was markedly cooler.  In late morning, with a luncheon appointment looming, I decided to spend a little time outside to see if we might have any migrants.  

With only minutes to go before my luncheon appointment, I thought I might have (twice) glimpsed the Cooper’s hawk that had visited the day before, but I couldn’t be sure.  Suddenly the Cooper’s hawk appeared from out of our tangle of trees and landed on a trellis over the garden.  I didn’t have a clear view of the bird but took a photo through a fence.  As I watched I realized that the hawk had a bird in its talons, the first successful capture I had ever witnessed in the yard!  

I was desperate for a better photo but the hawk moved into a fir tree which afforded me no view.  Suddenly I heard a noise and the hawk’s prey escaped (!) and flew directly towards me,  apparently landing at the base of a small pine bush with a tangle of exposed roots.  The accipiter followed it but, fearing it might be something other than one of the many House sparrows we usually have in the yard, I stood and made a noise to dissuade the accipiter.  The accipiter flew a short distance across the yard and landed above one of our water features, giving me a direct, unobstructed view from only about 30′ away!  I took many photos, most of which were largely the same, before the accipiter again made an effort to resume the hunt for its victim.  I again dissuaded it, this time with the water hose. I realize that the accipiter has to eat too, but I would rather it dine on some of the House sparrows that neighbors raise in their yards!  

These photos probably rival or exceed the best accipiter photos I have ever taken!  

These are a few of the photos I took on August 8, 2023…

A Red-winged blackbird (not a migrant, but a rarity in our yard),,.

An Orange-crowned warbler, usually a migrant, but we occasionally have one or two which winter over)…

A very bright male House finch, a year-round resident…

A Black-headed grosbeak, a definite migrant who I assumed had already left the area for the season…

Female Anna’s hummingbird(s), some of which will over-winter here…

Juvenile Swainson’s thrush, in the process of migrating but pausing for a bath…

Juvenile Spotted towhee which will probably be in the area for the winter…

A Wilson’s warbler migrating out for the winter, one of several visits this day. Unless otherwise noted, most of these below are juveniles or females.

A male Wilson’s warbler...

An adult male Wilson’s warbler…

Tired of Wilson’s warblers? Here is a Cedar waxwing, supposedly a year-round resident but a visitor to our yard only during the summer and fall.

On August 7, 2023, I was sitting at my computer processing the previous day’s photographs when I looked out my office window and saw a female Western tanager bathing in the watercourse.  I wrapped up my computer activities as soon as I could but by the time I got downstairs and retrieved my camera the bird had left the yard. 

The sighting, combined with those I had August 5 (see my previous blog post), motivated me to spend the remainder of the afternoon in the yard.  There were some long periods of inactivity with regard to more interesting birds but overall it was worth my time.  

The tanager returned to the yard but wouldn’t descend from the trees to give me a descent photographic opportunity.  

A male Wilson’s warbler entered the yard and seemed inclined to pursue movement by any other species.  I managed a few photos and became even more excited when a second Wilson’s warbler joined the first! At one point they were both in the watercourse at the same time!  There were several visits over about a 20-30 minute period which kept me busy.  

My next excitement was with what initially appeared to be a House sparrow (the yard was full of them!).  Something didn’t look right and when I trained my telephoto on it, it appeared to be a juvenile Swainson’s thrush!  It only made a single pass through the yard, on the ground.  Although I obtained a good many photos, I would have liked to have been much closer.  

Next up was what I initially assumed was another Wilson’s warbler but a closer examination of it revealed it to be a Yellow warbler, a rarity around here.  In processing my photos I also found that a warbler that I had earlier identified as a Wilson’s warbler was, in fact, a Yellow warbler. (NOTE: I’ve become uncertain whether this is a Yellow or female Wilson’s warbler. I based my original determination on the bird’s body configuration but the relatively large eye indicates it may be another Wilson’s warbler.)

A few minutes later the Yellow warbler disappeared. I thought it returned, but in processing my photos I realized that I had photographed an Orange-crowned warbler!  This made three warbler species (see note above) in a single day!  (Remember from my post regarding 8/5/2023 that I had not seen a warbler since May?)  

Later in the afternoon I had yet another visit from a Wilson’s warbler with not a lot of opportunity for photographs.  

During the day we had visits from several other interesting birds, but not all migrants. A Brown creeper apparently sneaked a bath without me seeing it until it was a leaving.  Earlier this spring one or more creepers visited several times each day but they have been relatively rare after breeding season began.  

A Bewick’s wren took a leaf bath in one of our bushes but gave me no opportunity for photographs.  

I saw our first juvenile Brown-headed cowbird, the apparent stepchild of a pair of White-crowned sparrows which have been heavily working the yard for food to feed it the past several days.  

And finally, we still have at least one female Rufous hummingbird that visits the yard.  (No photos.)

Stay tuned for several more days of migrants passing through the yard! I’m overwhelmed with photography. On this day I took 283 photos. On 8/8/2023 I took 381! It will probably be several weeks before I catch up, and I won’t catch up very fast unless I quit taking so many photos! But the birds just keep coming!

August 5, 2023 dawned heavily overcast and cool. It was the kind of weather change that can sometimes spark bird activity so I planned to spend some extra time in the yard watching for unusual birds. After breakfast I received a text from neighboring birders that they had just seen a pair of Wilson’s warblers in their yard, so that encouraged me even more. I spent a couple of hours in the yard during the late morning but saw nothing unusual.

I took a break (OK, a nap!) and when I gazed out our kitchen window a little after 5pm I saw one of our coveys of California quail and so got my camera and headed back outside.

It’s getting more and more difficult to quickly detect the difference between the adult female quail and this year’s juveniles. This is one of the juveniles.

After just a few minutes of photographing quail I saw some color entering the yard and quickly realized it was a Black-headed grosbeak, the first I had seen since photographing one June 18! This bird was pretty obviously a juvenile… it showed no concern about flying to within about ten feet of my wife and I and taking two rather leisurely baths. I took LOTS of photos!

Within a few minutes of the grosbeak leaving the yard a male Wilson’s warbler appeared. It landed on a staging object just above the watercourse but failed to descend to the water. I obtained a few quick photos before it left the yard. Somewhat later I saw at least one more visit to the yard from inside the house.

And finally, this photo of a male Northern flicker…

I again spent significant time in the yard on August 6 with clearing weather. We had lots of birds but I saw nothing unusual.

I’ve detailed in prior posts my frustration regarding lack of interesting migratory birds in the yard this summer. I spend a lot of time monitoring the yard, an activity that would probably bore most people, even some birders. With not a lot of unusual bird activity, I’m always alert for something to photograph.

When presented with the opportunity I look for other photographic opportunities to occupy my time and interest. This may include Pacific tree frogs, butterflies, insects and plants. But during the warmer months (they hibernate during winter) some of my favorite non-avian subjects are the native Townsend’s chipmunks that visit the yard. I’ve had as many as four in the yard at one time but usually there are no more than two, and I have no idea what the greater population may be in our immediate area. It’s clear that one or two are more or less habituated to human interaction (at the modest cost of a few peanut kernels!).

Here are a couple of photos of one (?) of my friends I photographed on August 1, 2023.