Fall migration has slowed, but we still have a few interesting birds trickling through. 

On October 5, 2022, we had a Yellow-rumped warbler stop by for a bath in the watercourse. This was probably a female and/or a first year juvenile judging by its muted plumage. It was generous with its time, allowing me many opportunities for photos. 

On October 07, 2022, we had another Hermit thrush enter the yard. I thought I had gotten a really good photo, but when I was processing my photos and got to what I thought was my best photo I found it was heavily horizontally banded in colors, something I had never experienced with any camera. However the thrush made its rounds of the yard and I obtained several good photos, including this one.

On October 8, 2022, I finally obtained a photo of a Golden-crowned kinglet. I had been seeing a very few but was having a difficult time obtaining a photograph because they weren’t coming down to the watercourse. On this day one made a very brief visit and I obtained a photo.

I typed the following paragraph while viewing the Seahawks (RIP) game…

“What’s missing so far… Brown creepers (not migratory) which haven’t visited in many months and Ruby-crowned kinglets. Our next “first of season” visitor is likely to be a Varied thrush, but that’s probably not going to happen until the Cascades get snow which will drive them down from the mountains.  We desperately need precipitation… even native plants in the yard are suffering.“

Less than an hour later I was freshly outside with my camera when I detected movement of a larger bird in one of our fir trees. I didn’t have a clear view but managed to see enough to identify a male Varied thrush. I took a “record” photo… a photo I could use to confirm I’d seen the bird. If you’re wondering what a record photo might look like, I’m including it here…

I really disappointed when I miss the opportunity to obtain a photo of a first seasonal occurrence for the yard, but I wasn’t to be disappointed this day. The bird made its rounds of the yard and finally descended to the watercourse for a lengthy drink, in essence making my day!

A short time later a female or juvenile Varied thrush male a brief appearance but I was unable to obtain a photo of it.

In my last post (from the wee hours of this morning) I mentioned the leucistic Song sparrow I had seen on three occasions in Washington Park. I returned to the park just after 10am this (October 6) morning in my second attempt to obtain a quality photo of the bird. After about half an hour the bird made about a one-minute appearance before it was chased from my view by a second Song sparrow. I obtained four photos, only one of which was of any quality. I waited about another hour and a half before giving up on the birds’ return. So I now have about four hours into this one photo!

It wasn’t all lost time. A Pacific wren (separated as a distinct species from the Winter wren in 2010) made two appearances and I managed a couple of photos of it. These birds aren’t particularly easy to find, much less photograph, so I was grateful for the opportunity.

We’re somewhat slowly easing into our fall weather season with an extension of unseasonably warm weather. I worry about the lack of rain as it seems to be stressing even some of our native plants. Over the past few years we’ve lost a large number of madrona trees around the Cap Sante Overlook and the meager summer/fall rainfall must be adding to the trees’ stress. 

Somewhat lower down “The Cap” we have at least 6-8 Golden-crowned sparrows visiting the yard (first arrival was September 14). 

Somewhat uncharacteristically, we have at least one adult and three first-year juvenile  White-crowned sparrows. (In past years this species has been heavily parasitized by Brown-headed cowbirds.) 

Dark-eyed (Oregon) juncos are beginning to arrive and will be our most numerous winter race, House sparrows and a possible eruption of Pine siskins excepted.  I marvel at the perfection of this species’ feathers… I believe you can double-click on the image to view it in more detail.

On October 4 we had two “first of the season” birds visit the yard. The first, a very common bird for the region, and especially in Washington Park where I take morning walks, was a Song sparrow.  It’s the sixth sparrow species currently found in our yard (and one of the eight sparrow species we’ve hosted this year!  

And while I’m on the subject of Song sparrows, while on my morning walks I’ve discovered a leucistic Song sparrow in Washington Park. The bird has a very obvious white crown.  I’ve nailed down its morning location (three sightings) but in a two-hour afternoon wait (with my camera) on October 3, it failed to show. 

The other “first of season” species we had visit was a Golden-crowned kinglet, a species once fairly common in the yard but now mysteriously absent for the last year or more. I had spent a couple of hours in the yard and just come inside for the day when I looked out the window and spied the visitor in a Japanese maple tree just outside the window. I grabbed my camera and managed a couple of “record shots” before seeing the bird leave the yard. 

On a personal note, I’ve now had my annual flu vaccination and my fifth (!) Moderna COVID vaccination, which I hope will adequately protect me for the coming winter birding season.  

On September 16, 2022, shortly after 7:30pm, I was in the kitchen and glanced outside. In the rapidly fading light I saw a bird crossing the ground between some bushes and our watercourse. My sense of curiosity was piqued because it seemed too late (in terms of darkness) for any of our local birds to be active and approaching the watercourse. 

I was unable to see any distinguishing markings on the bird due to the darkness so I picked up my binoculars knowing they would give me better vision. There, at the bottom of the watercourse was a Hermit thrush!  

The Hermit thrush is a fall migrant to our area and will spend the winter in the greater area. Interestingly, we have a bird very similar in appearance (the Swainson’s thrush) which is on an opposite schedule… it arrhves in the spring, spends the summers here and departs by the fall. 

As I excitedly watched the thrush it was soon joined by yet another!  I believe this is the first time I have ever seen two at the same time, perhaps a reference to its name. In a moment the two thrushes were joined by yet another!  We now had three thrushes in or around our watercourse, and there wasn’t nearly enough light for photos!  

Since I had seen the thrushes so late in the day I thought there was a chance they might spend the night in the immediate area and return to the yard or watercourse in the morning. I wasn’t able to go outside and monitor the watercourse the next morning, but periodic checking revealed no thrushes. 

That afternoon (September 17), shortly after 3:30pm, I had a brief period to monitor the yard before meeting friends for an early dinner. I glanced out the kitchen window and saw a single American goldfinch in the watercourse and a few chickadees around the yard. I took my camera outside and noted the goldfinch had flown, but there, sitting on one of my staging sticks at the head of the watercourse was a Hermit thrush!  

I quickly positioned my chair but when I looked back at the watercourse the thrush had gone. I sat quietly and a moment or two later the thrush reappeared and I was able to get several good photos, some of which are displayed below. 

In processing the photos I realized the bird I photographed was a juvenile born this season and was probably on its first migration. I have no way of knowing if it was part of what was probably a family group I had observed the previous evening. 

Aptly named for its retiring ways, the Hermit Thrush is a bird of dense forest understory and thicket that is often heard before it’s seen.

Fall Migration 

Sunday, September 4, 2022, dawned cloudy, providing me an opportunity for some bird photography in the yard.  We had had a long run of sunny days and although I spent considerable time in the yard over the past several weeks my photos weren’t all that good due to colors being somewhat washed out in the sunlight and images exhibiting the high contrast between sun and shadows.  For birding photography, sunlight usually causes problems! I could go on, but this isn’t a birding photography lesson.  

Sometime just before what I would consider midmorning I looked out the window and spied an Orange-crowned warbler in the yard.  By the time I could get outside with my camera the bird was gone, but this was the second omen of the day (the cloudy weather having been the first).  By midmorning I was outside with my camera ready for a little birding action!  

Things were at first a little slow… but another Orange-crowned warbler visit gave me hope!  I birded until about mid-afternoon and over the course of 4-5 hours I had at least 8-10 Orange-crowned warbler visits from at least two different birds.  (One of the birds was crippled so I knew I had at least two.)  Soon thereafter we had a visit from a Black-headed grosbeak, either a female or a juvenile.  There were two more visits from grosbeaks during that time, including one that descended to the watercourse and gave me the opportunity for many good photographs.  During my birding time I had the following visitors… 

a Yellow warbler, 

a female Rufous hummingbird (time to get migration underway!), 

three visits from a very shy female Western tanager (no photos), 

a visit from an Empidonax flycatcher, possibly a Pacific Slope flycatcher, 

and visits from some of this year’s juveniles (House sparrows, a Spotted towhee, American goldfinches, a White-crowned sparrow, a Dark-eyed junco and American robins).  (Gone from the landscape were several of the juvenile Brown-headed cowbirds that were raised by some of these same species this year.)   

Total photos for the day: 468/(259), which entails hours of processing, editing and organizing using Adobe Lightroom.  

So here are some of my photos for the day… 

This little friend (a native Townsend’s chipmunk) provides my entertainment during long periods of bird inactivity in the yard. Earlier this spring we had as many as four in the yard, but now I’m down to one, or uncommonly two. They hibernate during the winter so it probably won’t be around too much longer.

This was one of my earlier visitors during the day. It’s a Black-headed grosbeak which I judge to be either a female or a juvenile.

Warblers are notoriously difficult to identify, and fall warblers, when dealing with non-breeding plumage, end-of-season plumage, females and juveniles are the most difficult to identify. I’m going out on a proverbial limb (pun intended) to identify this as a Yellow warbler. (As always, in the name of accuracy, I welcome feedback regarding identifications.)

And another photo of the same bird…

I believe this to be a juvenile Orange-crowned warbler, by far the most numerous warbler of the day. (Note the tumor on the bird’s left leg.)

Another Orange-crowned warbler, this one probably an adult. In the spring/summer my standards for this species’ identification is more or less uniform coloring with a slightly darker green back and pale yellow breast. It has a broken eye ring with a dark line running through it, but the overall impression (as you can see) is that of an undistinguished, pale yellow-green bird.

Another Orange-crowned warbler image…

Finally.. an image of a bird on which we should all be able to agree… a juvenile American robin! lt seems rather late for juveniles, but they have been dribbling in over the past month or so.