November 24, 2022

On November 24, 2022, I spent a relatively short time in the yard observing and photographing birds.  Despite an accipiter clearing the yard of birds when I first exited the house, I had a productive photographic period after waiting for about half an hour for the birds to return.  The period was noteworthy from my point of view in that I obtained an unusual number of higher quality photographs for my efforts.  

My first visitor of note was a Ruby-crowned kinglet, much rarer in at least our yard than its cousin the Golden-crowned kinglet.  

Not to be outdone, we also had several Golden-crowned kinglets show up in the yard and access the watercourse.  Both species of birds are very active and can be difficult to photograph, so I felt fortunate to be able to get good photos of both species in one afternoon!  

While I’m on the subject of smaller birds, this Chestnut-sided chickadee was good enough to visit the watercourse and provide several opportunities for quality photographs.  

We also had at least three American Goldfinches visit the yard.  Although quite common spring and summer visitors to the yard, they are rare visitors to our yard in the winter.  The birds are migratory and most fly south for the winter but there are some that overwinter in the greater area.  

This male House finch was another visitor to the watercourse.  

We had several American robins enter the yard but their cousins, the Varied thrushes that we have been seeing for several days, were strangely absent.  The two species often seem to hang together and usually the arrival of a few robins heralds the arrival of some Varied thrushes.  

And just before it became too dark to photograph, this male Anna’s hummingbird perched in a location where I was a able to obtain several photographs.