For the past six weeks and possibly longer we’ve been having visits from an accipiter, which a raptor bander in Seattle with superior identification skills to my own has identified as a Cooper’s hawk. On March 22 2022, the raptor made at least two visits to the yard while I was outside with my camera and I managed photos during both visits. In this photo the accipiter is perched over our brush pile and is peering down looking for prey.

Shortly thereafter we had a visit from a flock of Bushtits, probably our smallest yard bird other than hummingbirds. This bird is a female.

On March 24 I obtained my first photos of a hummingbird in flight… a female Rufous hummingbird feeding on a flowering Red currant. This photo was taken from about 25′ away with a 500mm lens.

Finally, photos of two birds which presented me with a learning curve when I moved to the Pacific Northwest 21 years ago. A Song sparrow (much darker than the ones we had in Texas)…

And a Fox sparrow, which will probably be leaving soon for breeding grounds east of the Cascades.