I spent some time watering and weeding the yard early in the afternoon, then took a break and decided to sit and bird for awhile. The local bird population wasn’t cooperating, so I cleaned the skimmer filter in my watercourse and fixed a rockwork problem in the watercourse that I had had concerns about for several months… but still no birds!

A Bewick’s wren finally made its way around the outskirts of the yard but never gave me an opportunity for good photos.

With no birds to watch/photograph my thoughts turned to the changing weather… overcast (much better for birding photography) and cooler (much better for my body and psyche)!

Suddenly a group of Bushtits arrived and, totally out of character, a juvenile male paused long enough for me to obtain several good photos! More birds began arriving… House sparrows, Black-capped chickadees, House finches and a White-crowned sparrow.

There were at least two hummingbirds dueling in the yard, and I managed a large number of photographs of a first-year male Anna’s Hummingbird feeding on our salvias.

The Bushtit was enough to save my photographic day, but a juvenile Warbling vireo unexpectedly made an appearance, the third appearance for the species this fall!  

Two Dark-eyed Oregon juncos then returned to the yard. It’s hard to welcome them as they might outnumber the House sparrows this winter. 

And in between all these other sightings, a female Downy woodpecker landed beside me on the pedestal bird bath… much too close to photograph.  Somewhat later, a male Downy woodpecker accessed the stone bird bath.