While I’ve embarked on several excursions to the local area to photograph waterfowl this fall/winter, I’ve had very little luck finding subjects for my photography. On the afternoon of January 16 I decided to give it another try without having much hope of any success. My plan was to tour March Point but I only made it as far as the Cap Sante Marina. There I encountered a small flotilla (maybe about eight) of female Buffleheads diving for food.

Over the next hour or so they were joined by several other species. This is one of about three male goldeneyes that eventually joined the flotilla… I think this is a Common goldeneye but its winter plumage makes it difficult for me to make a positive identification.

While I was engaged in photographing members of the flotilla a pair of Red-breasted mergansers sneaked up on me from behind and I at first missed the opportunity for really good photos, but they eventually returned.

Eventually two or three female Hooded mergansers joined the group…

I took 285 photos which included all sorts of combinations of the birds…

Here are a female Red-breasted merganser, two female Hooded mergansers and three female Buffleheads…

Here are a male Common goldeneye and a female Red-breasted merganser...

And here are a male Common goldeneye, female Red-breasted merganser and a female Bufflehead…

But wait… there was more! As I was leaving the dock a male Belted kingfisher landed on a boat in front of me, capping a great afternoon of photography!

A few photos to get the New Year off right! These photos were all taken on January 7, 2022.

With a friend I first canvassed the neighborhood and found a few Varied thrushes, one of the females of which is pictured here.

We next encountered this Bald eagle perched on a power pole on March Point. Always better to find them perched on tree limbs, but along the roads the good perches on trees are rarer.

This Great Blue Heron was beside a road over on the Skagit Flats.

It was a fairly uneventful excursion, but when I returned to the house I noticed that there were quite a few birds in the yard, so I set up outside for awhile. Here’s a female Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco.

This is the leucistic male Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco that’s spending its second winter with us.

Other visitors to the yard include this Fox sparrow…

a Song sparrow…

and this Golden-crowned sparrow.

I believe this was my first White Christmas at any location where I was living at the time. I always look forward to snow both for the change of scenery but also for the opportunities it gives for nature photography. The birds can be easier to locate and are usually more reluctant to fly.

It’s been a somewhat boring fall here at the house… just the usual visitors dominated by a very large number of Dark-eyed Oregon juncos.

As I have previously mentioned, our leucistic Dark-eyed Oregon junco is back with us this winter and it appears that it’s now firmly in its element!

The inverted suet feeder in our yard was a big drawing card for all but the last species pictured below. I usually refrain from photographing birds on feeders, but this female Northern flicker was an opportunity too good to let pass.

This Red-breasted nuthatch was anxious to displace a Downy woodpecker on the suet feeder and gave me the opportunity to get better photos than might have otherwise been possible.

This male Downy woodpecker was waiting for an opportunity to access the suet.

Bushtits sweep through the yard several times a day, stopping briefly to mob the suet. I managed to catch this pair (male and female) waiting for an opportunity to access the suet feeder. So how do I know this is a pair and which is the male and which is the female?

These were all nice photos, but not the big news of the day (12/27). I noticed some unusual activity on the trunk of our largest fir tree, and upon investigating I discovered a Red-bellied sapsucker. I grabbed my camera and positioned myself where I could get photos. Before long I discovered that there were actually TWO sapsuckers!

I had seen Red-breasted sapsuckers on our property only once previously, many years ago. They had been on this same tree (our largest fir) and had been fighting, at one point on the ground. The sapsuckers I was observing this day also exhibited some aggression, apparently attempting to defend what they considered personal feeding sources (sap holes). (The next day (12/28) I discovered a THIRD sapsucker on the tree!)

I spent some time birding in the yard on December 12, 2121. The light was fairly good for photography. All my photos are underexposed but Adobe Lightroom works wonders with lightening.

I have no narrative… for the most part it was just photographing regular visitors although I did obtain some good photos. I did have a Bewick’s wren access our suet feeder… something I hadn’t observed since last spring when a wren seemed addicted to the suet.

On December 8, 2021, I opted for a little morning birding excursion outside the yard. I drove to the Cap Sante Marina where I found a Common loon preening. Having observed this species on prior occasions I readied my camera for what I knew would come at the end of its preening activity. I wasn’t disappointed. As it began to extend its wings I held down my shutter button, taking more than six frames per second and capturing the bird rising from the water and fully extending its wings. In a few seconds I recorded 20+ images… these are a few of the most interesting… 

After ‘stretching’ the bird began hunting. I tried to follow it as it submerged in the hopes it might resurface with a fish, but it appeared in the far side of a dock. It had to swim only 100 feet to its new location, but I would have to walk a couple of hundred yards to its new location with no assurance it would still be there when I arrived, so my pursuit ended. 

The avian traffic in the yard has been extremely boring lately. We have California quail, chickadees, House finches and several species of sparrows (overwhelmingly Dark-eyed Oregon juncos) and a few other common species but not a lot else. I pass my time in the yard repeatedly photographing some of our regular visitors. 

On December 10, a Ruby-crowned kinglet spent considerable time in the salvia around the watercourse but, frustratingly, I was unable to obtain photos of the bird.  I did photograph this male Anna’s hummingbird… 

and this male Downy woodpecker. 

And finally, news from San Francisco that my sister, who lives in a crowded neighborhood with no significant bird habitat nearby, had a pair of Yellow-rumped warblers come to a small saucer with hulled sunflower seeds earlier this week!