I had a nice day in the yard today, but first a little status report. As in the prior couple of springs/summers, all but one pair of Dark-eyed juncos have left the yard. We now have a pair of White-crowned sparrows frequenting the yard. Both species have been parasitized by Brown-headed cowbirds in prior years. Since I have yet to see a cowbird this year, I’m hopeful that the junco and sparrow families will be far enough along to thwart the cowbirds.

We continue to have the male Yellow-rumped (Audubon’s) warbler visit the yard on a daily basis. I now probably have over 100 photos of the bird!

And today I sighted the first verifiable warbler of a different species,,, an Orange-crowned warbler! Unfortunately, even though the warbler landed only a few feet from me it didn’t approach the watercourse or any of our staging objects and I was unable to obtain any photos.

Among the photos I did obtain this day…

A male Red-winged blackbird which is apparently helping to raise a family at the sewage treatment pond below us and makes trips to the yard to quickly stock up on food.

A male American Goldfinch, one of at least four recent arrivals.

A Pine siskin, one of many still lingering in the yard.

A female Spotted towhee. There is not much difference between the male and female towhees we have this spring, but I believe this to be the female

One of two male Downy woodpeckers we have visiting the yard this spring. The other one, which appears in a prior post, is blind in its right eye.

And finally, the star of this post, a Bewick’s wren enjoying what should be a very filling meal. I wouldn’t think you would need too many of these each day to feel satiated.