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!