Mid-March has arrived and spring is just around the corner! To recap, l had my first Rufous hummingbird (a male) on March 2. He was a “one and done”… I haven’t seen one since. The first female Rufous hummingbird arrived March 10, just over a week later. I now have at least two in the yard doing what else… fighting over a feeder! And yesterday I saw two Turkey vultures (no photos) heading for the top of Cap Sante… our first arrivals of the season. Other than the Rufous hummingbirds, there’s nothing new in the yard.

I spent a couple of hours in the yard yesterday (March 14) and took 201 photos, retaining 80. For the past several months I seem to have had only a single Red-breasted nuthatch in the yard, but as of late there are now at least two. This one eschewed its favorite water feature in the yard and visited the watercourse, giving me better opportunities for photographs.

Here are a couple of photos of a female Anna’s hummingbird and a female Rufous hummingbird in natural environments.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have two White-crowned sparrows that periodically visit the yard. This one is apparently a first-year bird that lacks the black and white crown of an adult.

This Bewick’s wren usually makes at least one trip through the yard each afternoon but is difficult to photograph due to its level of activity and the distance from me of its usual route. On this day I managed one decent photo.

And finally, this Crossbill towhee, a new species that has been with me for over a year! I was initially concerned about this bird’s survival, but it seems to be doing well with what must be a very serious handicap! It has no trouble dealing with shelled peanuts!

And sadly, my observations and photography allow me to detect certain handicaps that might not be observed through normal birding activities. I have a female Spotted towhee with a curled foot and what appears to be a one-legged male Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco.

On a more positive and final note, the leucistic Song sparrow in Washington Park has made it through at least its third winter!

Harking back to what I just said about sexing kinglets in my last blog, here is a photo of a female Golden-crowned kinglet in my watercourse on March 8…

You’ll note that even with a decent view of the back of the bird’s head there’s no hint of a red/orange crown.

Here is a photo of a male Golden-crowned kinglet from about the same angle, and you can clearly see the red streak in the middle of the gold crown.

THIESE ARE IMAGES OF THE SAME BIRD… A MALE! I think this illustrates why I’m hesitant to label any kinglet as a female!

I began my birding on March 10, 2025, attempting to get an opportunity to photograph a loon that has been frequenting the in the Cap Sante Marina as of late. The problem is, the loon can swim 50 feet, under and to the far side of a dock, requiring me to walk a couple of hundred yards for another possible opportunity for photographs. And by the time I make the walk, the loon can have moved yet again. Having gotten wiser in my old age, I gave up… and headed for March’s Point!

I almost immediately discovered this Bald eagle in the top of a tree, affording a good photographic opportunity.

I next encountered a small group of Northern pintails along the east/south end of March Point Road. They were somewhat closer to shore than they often are which afforded me the opportunity for some photographs.

Just as I was leaving the March Point area I discovered this Belted kingfisher which allowed an uncharacteristically close approach. Two drawbacks… one, the bird was severely backlit and two, since I couldn’t see the bird’s breast, I couldn’t tell if it was male or female.

Upon arriving back at the house I found a regular feeder visitor for the past couple of months… an Orange-crowned warbler. As I believe I have mentioned previously, it enjoys feeding from suet, peanut and sunflower feeders! I’m sure it’s also dining on insects, so this is probably the warbler with the most diversified diet in the county!

Stumbling on towards the end of this blog… I’ve been waiting for many weeks now to photograph a kinglet on top of a certain Oregon grape plant located under my suet feeder. The kinglets won’t visit the suet feeder directly but sometimes visit the area under the feeder to glean pieces of suet dislodged by other birds. This was my day! This Golden-crowned kinglet (of undetermined sex!) paused long enough for me to obtain a photograph! I don’t consider it a great photo but it’s not bad!

Finally, I was just about to turn in for the afternoon when I glanced up at one of my hummingbird feeders for this sight… my first female Rufous hummingbird of the season!

I don’t normally like to take/post photos of birds on feeders, but this was the only photo of the bird I was able to obtain… what I refer to as a “record” shot. There will be many more opportunities for photos of these females later this spring and summer.

I began my birding day with a trip around March’s Point to see what might be out. I first found this juvenile gull working on fish leftovers.

I later found this adult in the same area working to down a piece of fish.

I also encountered this lone Black Oystercatcher feeding among the rocks on the beach. In this photo you can see the bird has what I believe to be a limpet, reputedly one of the bird’s main food sources. While oystercatchers are not uncommon in the greater area, I have found them on March Point only rarely.

After my tour of March Point it was back to the yard, and in mid-afternoon I was surprised to look up and see my first Rufous hummingbird of the season (a male) at one of my feeders! I knew the arrival of the first Rufous was immanent but I thought it would be another week or so. The bird made several trips to and from the yard, repeatedly disappearing in one direction and reappearing from another, keeping me on my toes! I was frustrated in not being able to obtain a photo but the bird finally hovered near the feeder and allowed me to obtain several good photos.

At the end of my day I had a Ruby-crowned kinglet visit the watercourse. If I can’t see that the kinglet (of either species) is a male, I’ve given up labeling them as females due to the males’ success at hiding their identifying sexual feature. (Those of you who are birders will understand!)

I had a great hour and a half of yard birding late on the afternoon of February 26, 2025. I took 250 photos and kept almost half. I had no unusual birds but a lot of visits (and photographic opportunities) from the usual visitors. It’s a bit discouraging not being able to post photos of unusual visitors, but my photography is totally dependent on who arrives in the yard and what opportunities I am given for photos. However, I am encouraged by the quality of some of the photos I am obtaining. Birding friends and I are alarmed by some of the birds we aren’t seeing but I’m looking forward to the spring migration and hopeful it will be a good one… better than what I experienced last year.

Here are some of the birds I photographed on February 26, 2025…

A female Downy woodpecker, a fairly regular visitor attracted to my suet feeder…

A Pine siskin, one of a handful that are currently visiting the yard from time to time. The siskins seem to be equally attracted to sunflower seed and water features.

A Black-capped chickadee, one of two chickadee species that are in the yard almost all day long and are attracted by suet, peanuts and sunflower seeds.

A Chestnut-backed chickadee, our other resident chickadee species.

A Golden-crowned kinglet, one of two kinglet species who visit the yard fairly rarely.

A Ruby-crowned kinglet, the other kinglet species visitor.

A White-crowned sparrow, the only new visitor among these photos. While some of these sparrows are present year-round, I get them in the yard only in the spring and summer.

This was a second White-crowned sparrow that appeared the same day. This is probably a first year bird born last summer which hasn’t yet morphed into adult plumage.

On the afternoon of February 1, 2025, I decided to spend a little time in the yard watching and photographing birds. I relocated to my usual chair at the southeast corner of the house with my camera,, a supply of “habitat enhancer” and my new electric heating pad to combat the ~40-degree temperature.  I had no sooner set up than a very slight amount of precipitation began to fall. The moisture was moving in from the south and despite a generous roof overhang I, and my equipment, were getting unacceptably moist. I moved my chair around the corner to the east side of the house and that location provided protection from moisture. This new and generally unused location placed  me a little closer to my suet feeder and an associated staging branch that I had added to the madrone tree from which the feeder is hung. 

I have one or more flocks (which I often refer to as ‘bands’ or ‘tribes’) of Bushtits that visit the yard on a daily basis. I have no way of distinguishing how many bands there are, but the bands seem to be composed of 10-20 very gregarious members. This fall and winter I have suspected that there might be two bands of visitors since some groups seem to differ slightly in terms of numbers. 

The behavior of the birds is always the same. Mob the inverted suet feeder (as many as a dozen birds) with those that won’t fit going to a shelled peanut feeder. After a few seconds of feeding all the flock panics and disburses into nearby cover. Then shortly after, they reemerge and flock to the feeder. This behavior is repeated multiple times. Within about five minutes of their arrival the entire flock is usually gone!  

But back to the conditions at hand. As I previously stated, this new position placed me closer to the suet feeder and nearby branches. It also provided a slightly better angle for photographing the birds as some backlighting was eliminated. I therefore had more opportunities for better photographs. So here are a few of the better photographs I took of Bushtits that day… 

As long as I’m discussing Bushtits, I’m going to mention one oddity. In my 29+ years of birding, I’ve only observed Bushtits drinking or bathing in a water feature two or three times, and even as gregarious as these birds are, it’s always been a single bird that has detached itself from the feeding frenzy. It’s a mystery to me how they get their water!  

And a bonus photo from the same day… the Orange-crowned warbler that has been frequenting our feeders (suet, peanut and sunflower! for at least a couple of months!

And this just in… on February 4, when I opened the blinds after a nightly snowfall, a Varied thrush flushed up into the trees!