We finally logged our first warbler of the year in the yard on April 16, 2023.  I had driven around the neighborhood photographing birds but returned home mid afternoon.  About 3:20pm I noticed a bird in the upper portion of our Golden Chain tree but it was backlit and I didn’t have a good view of it.  Its activity was ‘warbler-like” and as it moved into better view I saw its yellow/green color and was able to quickly identify it as an Orange-crowned warbler!  This was our first highly anticipated warbler visitor of the year!  I was able to quickly obtain a few mediocre photos.  The bird was interested in water features and flew down to our new bird bath.  Unfortunately there were many Golden-crowned sparrows in that immediate area and through their activity discouraged the warbler from loitering where I could get better photos.  

We have a pair of crows that are building a nest within sight of my photography perch in the yard.  I watch them harvesting sticks from surrounding trees and flying to a fir limb with particularly dense foliage.  The crows built a partial nest in the same place last year but unfortunately it fell to the side of the road before it was completed.  

I counted eight Golden-crowned sparrows in the yard today, but there were others in the surrounding bushes.  This is probably our most prolific year for that species.   These photos are of Golden-crowned sparrows among the Oregon grape bushes at the Cap Sante Overlook.  

In this next photo the sparrow is actually eating one of the blossoms of the Oregon grape!

As of yesterday we still had at least one White-throated sparrow visiting the yard.  

The following photos were all taken on April 10, 2023.

The first photos here are of the White-throated sparrow that’s been an intermittent visitor to our yard over the past couple of months. Although widely distributed across the US, in the past it’s been a very rare visitor to our yard. Its rarity is enhanced by its feeding habits… when it’s in the yard it’s very active and quickly moves between open areas and bushes, making it difficult to photograph. Yesterday was a bonus day…. I’m not sure how many photos I got of the bird but I retained 23!

This next photo is of the sparrow waiting for “manna from heaven”. We have an inverted suet feeder in the yard that is accessed by many species of birds. Northern flickers are fairly frequent visitors and they are somewhat messy eaters, stabbing at the suet which results in small pieces falling to the ground under the feeder. Many of our birds have learned to exploit the flickers’ messy feeding habit and hang out under the feeder for bits of suet that fall. In this photo the White-crowned sparrow is watching the flicker feed in the hopes of garnering some suet!

Several weeks ago we purchased another bird bath (as if we need another one!) which I plan to use as something of a migrant trap. I’ve located the water feature where many of the migrants seem to enter the yard and where I should be able to obtain excellent photos. Now I just need some migrants! The current locals have just begun to visit the water feature, but we have yet to observe a single warbler in the yard this year.

The following photos were all taken at the new water feature…

A White-crowned sparrow…

You might guess from the following photographs that we have an abundance of Golden-crowned sparrows this year and you would be right! In past years we have only had about 6-8 in the yard at one time, but this year it’s been easy for me to lose track of my count at more then 15.

This male California quail was peeking out over the new water feature…

Getting away from the new water feature, this California quail was crossing the yard. We’re down to about five quail from a winter high of about 18 (in one large covey). Hopefully the rest have paired up and are busy trying to bring new ones into the world.

I photographed this male Anna’s hummingbird while on the phone with our tax preparer finalizing our taxes! Multitasking at its finest! We’ve had a few Rufous hummingbird visitors but none have remained in the yard or tried to commandeer a feeder.

And finally, when the birding gets slow we usually have this visitor to fill in my photographic efforts… a Townsend’s chipmunk.

While still waiting for our first migrant warbler to arrive in the yard this season, I had an interesting birding day yesterday. Upon returning from a very early trip to Seattle on April 5, 2023, I drove through the Cap Sante Marina and noticed a Common loon. I hurried home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina. Conditions weren’t ideal for photographing the loon… the tide was out which means any waterfowl are located farther from shore. I was somewhat surprised that the loon was still there… it hasn’t seemed to be spending a lot of time in the marina lately.

I watched the loon for a few minutes and saw that it was slowly moving eastward towards the nearest dock, so I went out on the dock in anticipation of the loon swimming under the dock. I had lost sight of the loon once I was on the dock but suddenly the loon surfaced very close to me… with a small crab in it’s beak! I wasn’t all that prepared for the occurrence so didn’t have my camera set for those circumstances, but realizing that time was of the essence I took a few photos. The loon quickly consumed the crab… I could hear the shell crunching in the loon’s beak!

I soon lost the loon and couldn’t find it again despite making a couple of driving trips around the marina. Stalking the loon on foot is extremely frustrating. It can swim 50′ under a dock which can necessitate me having to walk a couple of hundred yards!

Later the same day I staked out our yard in the hopes of getting my first good photos of the season of Rufous hummingbirds. I wasn’t disappointed. A male began hanging around the yard, for the most part ignoring both sexes of Anna’s hummingbirds using the feeder. Eventually a second male Rufous hummingbird entered the yard, ignoring the feeder but making a few passes at the first male Rufous.

I saw our first Turkey vulture of the season on March 31, 2023. I’ve seen two almost every day since.

On the morning of March 22, 2023, I drove to the Samish Flats early to obtain photos of one or more Short-eared owls.  I had scouted the area the previous week and this morning set up a chair for a good vantage point of a seemingly favorite owl perch.  As I was readying my equipment I glanced back along the way I had just come and there, sitting on a fence post I had just passed, and only about 20′ away, was a Short-eared owl, looking this way and that but almost totally ignoring me!  I began taking photos in uncharted territory… it was very dark, I had a relatively new camera and I had never taken photos at the higher ISOs that would be required too compensate for the lack of light.   

At this point I want to give a shout AT (not OUT!!) to the next two photographers who arrived on the scene.  The first parked across the road but kept creeping closer and closer until inducing the owl to fly another 30-40 feet from me and providing a background of electrical equipment!  The second photographer turned a large panel van around in the area, throwing gravel from under one of the rear tires and ultimately parking directly on the other side of my line of sight of the owl, giving me a bright white background (with rear lights left on!) instead of the natural muted gray.  This necessitated me having to change my position to maintain a favorable background.  Whatever happened to the concept of courtesy among photographers? 

When I left the area I encountered a male Ring-necked pheasant beside the road and took several photos.  I was rather surprised when the pheasant suddenly gave out with a mating display, part of which I managed to capture but with a too-slow shutter speed.  Sadly most, if not all of the population is not the result of natural breeding in the wild but of captive breeding and release for hunters.  

On the morning of March 20, while running an errand into town, I made it a point to drive by the Cap Sante Marina to see what might be in the yacht basin. I spied a Common loon drifting around and so hurried home for my camera. The loon was still there when I returned and I obtained some good photos.

This loon appears to still be transitioning to breeding plumage, but it appears there’s not a lot more to be done. In the past many of the loons in the marina have been rather shy but this one actually moved closer to me as it headed east along the passageway adjacent to the marina office.

I photographwedi this Song sparrow going through some of the debris along the shoreline.

A pair of Mallards were working along the shoreline…

And finally, as a kind of added bonus, a Killdeer was browsing along the shoreline…

All of these photos were taken with my new Nikon D850 camera mounted with my old Nikor 500mm f5.6 lens. I’m finding that I can shoot at much higher ISOs in lower light with the new camera and it seems to be much better at focusing on distant subjects.