As you saw in my last post, I have discovered a male Anna’s hummingbird on the same exact perch as where I had photographed it/one last year. On February 16, 2024, I returned to the hummingbird’s location in the neighborhood and managed to get a few feet closer. I also found that I could enlarge my images slightly without losing too much quality. So here are some of the 70+ photos I kept of the more than 250 photos I took of the hummingbird in a little more than an hour…

This is a photo of the hummer without its gorget illuminated.

Here is a photo of the hummer vocalizing. The sound was far beyond my hearing range but I could tell by the birds actions that it was vocalizing.

This is a photo of the hummer stretching. It would spread its wings and splay its tail for a few seconds.

Here is a photo of the bird displaying its illuminated gorget.

And another of the bird vocalizing.

We have had an Anna’s hummingbird at the house which, for several months, I thought was a female. However it is apparently a first-year male and is now in the process of transitioning into its adult male plumage.

And while I was photographing the hummingbird I managed to attract a curious Spotted towhee.

February 15, 2024, provided a good day for photography. I ended with 278 photos (82 after processing!) but of only eight species which greatly lessened the time I needed for processing. My photographic activities began shortly after noon when on my way back home from my second ‘coffee’ meeting of the morning. I drove by the Cap Sante Marina as is my usual habit. The tide was out which meant that waterfowl would be farther away from my access area but I noted a pair of Common goldeneyes very near the shore, and it appeared that the female might be sleeping. I hurried home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina. There I found that the goldeneyes had drifted further away but I was now in the hunt. I spent over an hour attempting to better my position for photos, but the waterfowl were not unaware of my presence.

While at the marina I also obtained photos of a Common loon, which made only a very brief appearance, a Killdeer and a crow.

Here is a photo of the male and female goldeneyes…

This is a photo of the male…

And another photo of the male with a small fish it managed to catch…

On the way back home I drove through the neighborhood and discovered that there were Varied thrushes in and around the wetland. I saw one male and three females but was unable to get as close as I would have liked.

My best discovery of the day was a male Anna’s hummingbird that was on the same exact perch as last year! I spent significant time watching and photographing it. Again, I wasn’t as close to it as I would have liked to have been but the bird exhibited several episodes of stretching which I managed to photograph.

And here the hummingbird is displaying its gorget in all its glory!

Now that fI know where the bird is hanging out I’m hopeful that I might be able to return and get a little closer!

This was the sunrise that greeted us early on the morning of January 29, 2024. The view is to the southeast from the Cap Sante Neighborhood, across Fidalgo Bay, the refineries on March Point and the Cascade Range. It was taken about two blocks from our house and was a great way to begin our day!

I’ve gotten some relief from the usual visitors lately. On January 30 I had two visits from one or more Ruby-crowned kinglets. They are a rarity in the yard this fall/winter. I was quite happy with this visit because I was able to obtain some photos.

Here’s one our more common winter yard birds, a Golden-crowned sparrow…

And with the possible exception of the two combined chickadee species (Black-capped and Chestnut-sided), our most numerous yard species at this time of year, a (male) Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco…

And here for comparison is the leucistic male Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco that has now frequented the yard for two winters. Note the white ‘collar’ on the leucistic bird.

Finally, the BIG news. On this day (January 31) I had a visit from what I believe to be an unaccompanied female Purple finch. The species is supposed to be in our area but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve made a positive identification. (And oddly enough, I can remember all or most of the locations!) Part of the problem is that the birds very closely resemble their more common and numerous ‘cousins’, the House finches. It seems a bit strange to me that the females of the two species seem easier to differentiate than the males. So assuming that this is indeed a female Purple finch, this is an extremely rare species for our yard!

On January 18, 2024 we had snow from about dawn to dusk. The temperature at our house vacillated between 32-33 degrees all day, but all the precipitation was snow. We ended the day with an accumulation of about 2-3″. I spent about an hour outside and ended with 167 photos, many of which were virtual duplicates. There were NO unusual birds… these were birds that are in the yard almost constantly.

Most of the birds in the yard were sparrows of one species or another, with the overwhelming number of birds being juncos. On to the photos…

Male and female Spotted towhees…

Male and female Dark-eyed (Oregon) juncos…

A Fox sparrow…

A Song sparrow…

A Golden-crowned sparrow…

A suet feeder featuring at least a dozen Bushtits and one Chestnut-sided chickadee…

An American robin, which gave me hope we might have a visit from a Varied thrush, but it didn’t happen,,,

And a surprise visitor that needs no introduction, especially in this neighborhood!

I spent another hour or two with my camera outside in subfreezing weather on the morning of January 16. The highlight of my time outside was a visit by a male Anna’s hummingbird that took a bath in the watercourse that still had substantial amounts of ice in it! There’s not much more to this story other than the photographs.