On Monday, July 22, 2024, I returned from my early morning walk in WA Park (@55 degrees!) and after a few chores I had breakfast. While cleaning my dishes afterward I glanced out the window and saw a juvenile Black-headed grosbeak on top of the rock that covers the skimmer immediately adjacent to the watercourse. The grosbeaks have been rather scarce in the yard this year, so this was a very exciting sighting… especially since it was the first juvenile I had ever seen. 

I raced for my camera and carefully sneaked outside, finding that the young grosbeak was now in the water getting a drink. I managed to seat myself on a bench and I set up so a minimum amount of movement would be necessary for photographs. The light clouds made it a perfect morning for photography!  

My fear was that the grosbeak would fly straight out of the yard as the adults do after feeding. After a couple of minutes the grosbeak emerged from the watercourse and took advantage of several staging sticks I have positioned adjacent to the watercourse, vocalizing the entire time. I got 39 photos, almost all very good. It hurt to cull them!

I wasn’t sure how the bird got into the yard… I had my doubts it could fly the way it was climbing around the staging sticks. To my utter surprise, it suddenly left the top of a staging stick and flew at least 100 yards, past a neighbor’s house across the street!  It was a very purposeful flight, and I think it might have been joined on its flight by a second bird (probably a parent). 

It’s been quite a while since I last posted to my blog… as friends know, for good reason.  

On Sunday, July 21, 2024, I was well into chores (laundry, guest schedule, repairing bird baths from raccoon depredations, sweeping the upper deck, etc.) when  realized that it was overcast and ideal for bird photography.  I shifted gears and spent several hours outside photographing birds.  There were a lot of them!  The largest populations were House sparrows, both species of chickadees, American goldfinches and House finches… but there were some nice additions.  

• Warbler, Yellow-rumped (two appearances, probably a juvenile) 
• Grosbeak, Black-headed (m & f) 
• Creeper, Brown 
• Bushtit 
• Kinglet, Golden-crowned (m) 
• Quail, California (m, f & 2j) 
• Hummingbird, Anna’s (f) 
• Hummingbird, Rufous (f) 
• Siskin, Pine 
• Flicker, Northern (m, f & j) 
• Woodpecker, Downy (m & f) 
• Nuthatch, Red-breasted 
• Chickadee, Black-capped (a & j) 
• Chickadee, Chestnut-backed 
• Sparrow, White-crowned (j) 
• Junco, Dark-eyed Oregon (m & j) 
• Robin, American (a & j)
• Towhee, Spotted (m, f, & j) 
• Finch, House (m, f, & j) 
• Sparrow, House (m, f, & j) 

I’m still trying to work through all the photos and have a long way to go, but here are a few, all juveniles except for possibly the last one…

Juvenile White-crowned sparrow…

Juvenile Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco…

Juvenile female California quail…

Juvenile American robin…

Juvenile female Bushtit…

Female Anna’s hummingbird…

I’ve been somewhat remiss lately in posting to this blog. Part of the reason is that the main spring migration influx seems to be over so, although i still continue to take photographs, i’m not seeing that many really interesting birds. However I had a somewhat interesting day on June 7, 2024, and that is what I’m sharing with you today.

My interest at this time of year turns to the young birds fledged during this masting season. Our first batch of California quail chicks appeared in the yard on June 6. At this point I can’t ascertain how many chicks there are but I would estimate at least a dozen. Yesterday (June 7) two raccoons ambushed the covey and both predators and prey were racing through the bushes that we refer to as our yard I tried to chase off the raccoons but it was apparent that my actions were also dispersing the quail. Whether or not either of the raccoons caught a quail, I couldn’t tell.

The chicks are extremely small, not much bigger than my thumb but considerably more nimble!

This is a young Spotted towhee that has been elusive concerning photographs. It’s apparently one of two. This year’s breeding efforts were apparently successful… the last few years have often resulted in a single Brown-headed cowbird offspring.

A pair of Chestnut-backed chickadees successfully produced young, one of which is seen here attempting to attract food from a parent.

There are many questions I have about the avian world, and my next illustrations touch on a question that remains a mystery to me. In the almost 25 years we’ve lived in Washington State I can never remember seeing a Bushtit taking a bath in one of our water features. The birds usually visit the yard several times a day,,, a pair in the breeding season and flocks of 15-20 during the rest of the year. But I never remember having seen one bathing! This day a pair appeared in our yard, apparently with only a single chick, and both parents took extensive baths, giving me many opportunities for photos. Can you identify which is the male and which is the female of the pair? (I’ve covered this in prior posts.)

I believe I’ve mentioned in prior posts that I’ve been disappointed in the 2024 spring migration.  I kept detailed records for the month of May in 2023 and there was a steady stream of migrants.  This year there have been many days with only a single warbler showing up, and some days without any.  This year the warblers seemed to make good showings on only a few days, and I realized that certain species seemed to arrive about the same time as opposed to the mixed species I observed last year.  However, there have been several days with a good many warblers and May 27th was one of them.  

The day began overcast and remained that way for the entire day, giving me a perfect day for photography.  I set up in the yard at about 10:15am and remained there, except for a one hour mid-afternoon nap, until about 4:30pm.  During that time I took 490 photographs (not a record for me!) and after processing retained 221.  

There was a fairly steady stream of Wilson’s warblers of both sexes.  At one point I had two males in the yard and at another point there were two females in the yard, but except for those two instances it was usually a single warbler at a time.  I was unable to photograph many of the warblers because they didn’t come near enough, were too active or were obscured by sticks and leaves.  

Late in the afternoon I had a pair of Yellow-rumped (Audubon’s) warblers enter the yard… the female bathed in one of our water features while the male watched.  

And the only other warbler that I saw or photographed was what I think was a female Yellow warbler, the only Yellow warbler I’ve seen this year.  

I left the yard about 4:20pm, but immediately returned when I looked out a window and saw another female Wilson’s warbler.  It was good I did… this female was very cooperative and in about 10 minutes time I had taken 56 photos of her on a variety of staging objects.  I retained 31 of those photos and (subjectively) rated 16 of them at a ‘5’, my highest quality rating!  

In addition to photos of the warblers, I also managed photos of both Rufous and Anna’s hummingbirds feeding on our salvia,

Bushtits,

a juvenile male Golden-crowned kinglet bathing

and a Black-capped chickadee carrying a beakful of moss for nesting material!  I’m not sure how the chickadee could see to navigate!  

When you landscape for wildlife you often attract a lot of creatures other than birds. When the birding gets slow I often content myself by photographing what else happens to be in the yard. On May 25, 2024, I had a variety of subjects to fill in my time while waitIng for spring migrants.

This curious raccoon sauntered into the yard and gave me a stare…

I had a visit from what I believe to be a Western Swallowtail but am somewhat troubled with identification by its lack of yellow color…

We have as many as three Eastern Gray squirrels in the yard at one time. I provide discouragement but they are highly motivated by any bird food they can procure!

We have at least ten American goldfinches visiting the yard at times. This one pictured is a juvenile male.

We have at least two pair of California quail that visit the yard on a regular basis. Last winter we had as many as 19 coming to the yard but they have now dispersed for breeding season. We’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of chicks!

And finally, a frequent t companion when the birding gets slow… one of at least three Townsend’s chipmunks...