I was able to spend a little time in the yard on September 30, 2024. For quite a while the yard was virtually empty, but late in the afternoon a diverse group of small birds began entering the yard. This collection of birds consists of some of our smallest visitors.

One of my first small visitors was a male Anna’s hummingbird accessing one of many salvias planted in the yard just to attract hummingbirds. (The salvias are a great yard plant… they don’t freeze, the deer don’t bother them snd they bloom from spring to fall.)

This male Golden-crowned kinglet appeared in the yard and spent considerable time posing very near to me, giving me an excellent opportunity for a lot of photos.

The surprise of the afternoon was a Ruby-crowned kinglet, a relatively rare visitor to the yard. I was lucky that I was able to obtain the following photo because the bird quickly moved higher in the canopy and intermingled with a flock of Bushtits where I lost it. .

Speaking of Bushtits, I had two visits from one or more flocks. The one pictured below is a male.

Finally, this Brown creeper showed up for a bath after touring the yard. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a difficult bird to photograph because it is almost constantly moving and is so camouflaged that my camera seems to have trouble focusing on the bird.

On September 20, 2024, I was sitting in my office and glanced out the window to see a Yellow-rumped warbler flying around the watercourse. I went for my camera but by the time I got to the yard the warbler had departed.

I decided to sit outside for a while but for some time things were very slow. I did get a couple of more glimpses of a Yellow-rumped warbler, but no opportunities for good photos. Eventually a male (take my word for it!) Golden-crowned kinglet entered the watercourse and I was able to obtain some good photos.

After another considerable wait a Brown creeper made an appearance at its favorite yard feature, a stone birdbath on the outskirts of the yard where I can’t get what I consider quality photographs due to the distance. However, overcrowding at the stone birdbath motivated the creeper to move towards the watercourse (and me). I managed this photo of the creeper on a staging stick immediately adjacent to the watercourse before it decided to leave without bathing.

I was suddenly startled to see a juvenile Cedar waxwing perched on a branch in the madrone tree over the stone bird bath. As I watched it was joined by a second juvenile and eventually by two adults. The waxwings spent considerable time bathing and left the yard only to return a short time later.

Two Anna’s hummingbirds were contesting the yard as territory, one mature adult and the other an apparent juvenile. This photo is of the adult.

 I had a rather spectacular yard burning afternoon on September 17, 2024. I had no sooner seated myself in the yard with my camera when I saw a Fox sparrow, my first of the fall season. 

Just a few minutes later a  Golden-crowned sparrow appeared, also my first of the fall season.  I had a total of at least three in the yard during the afternoon, two adults and one juvenile.

Shortly thereafter an Orange-crowned warbler entered the yard, followed a short time later by three more!  This was the start of multiple sightings of the species for the rest of the afternoon. There were so many Orange-crowned warbler visits with so many opportunities for photos that I retained 44 photos of the species. 

A Yellow warbler also visited the yard, but I was unable to acquire any good photos. 

Finally, a Townsend’s warbler worked its way through the top of the Golden Chain tree, but it never descended low enough for me to get a good photo. 

Sparrow season is now on!  I had the following six species of sparrows in the yard this day: 

By day’s end (shortly before 5pm) I had taken 329 bird photos in the yard, of which I saved 126.

I continue to get a few interesting birds in the yard this early fall. On September 11, 2024, I had a sudden influx of 4-5 adult and one juvenile White-crowned sparrows which were attracted to some sunflower seeds I had dispersed on the ground. They fed for about a minute or two and then all left. I have never known White-crowned sparrows to be gregarious.

I spent a little time outside before the rain on September 13, 2024, and was visited by what I think was a female or juvenile Yellow warbler! The bird was a uniform, pale yellow, too uniform in coloring to be an Orange-crowned warbler. I saw it making its way through the bushes but before I could get a photo it flew to a Japanese maple immediately adjacent to me, too close for a photo.

A short time later I had a visit from a juvenile or female Yellow-rumped warbler and obtained several photos as it accessed the watercourse for a short bath.

While I was in the yard this male Anna’s hummingbird made a brief stop. Here you can see the effect your viewing angle has on the apparent color of the gorget.

A single juvenile White-crowned sparrow continued to visit the yard and I obtained a lot of photos.

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.