On the morning of 9/17/2023 I glanced out the window while performing kitchen chores and saw a bird I didn’t recognize hanging from the bottom of our inverted suet feeder. I was looking east and the bird was backlit but it appeared to have a substantial amount of white plumage. I reached for my binoculars to get a better view and realized it was a White-breasted nuthatch, a bird I had never seen in Skagit County in my 22 years of living here!  (The bird can be found in eastern Washington, east of the Cascades.) I grabbed my camera and managed to obtain only a few photos before the bird flew high into a tree to the east of us. I spent a good portion of the morning hoping the bird would return so I could get better photos of it, but it was not to be. 

Not too much later I saw a sparrow in the yard that seemed different than the 12-15 House sparrows flying around the yard. I turned my attention to it and realized it was a White-throated sparrow, a real rarity in the yard until the one we had intermittently last winter. It never approached close enough for me to get a good photo but made several appearances during the morning. 

Not too much later I photographed a Golden-crowned sparrow at a nearby water feature, our first fall arrival of the species. That evening, while processing photos, I realized there had been at least two in the yard. (Note the differences in the photos,)  

That afternoon, in a brief session in the yard I observed visits from a a Golden-crowned kinglet, which I photographed, and a Ruby-crowned kinglet which I was unable to photograph because it was driven from the watercourse by a squirrel.

I was also able to obtain photos of a (female) Bushtit. Bushtits are fairly common, prolific visitors during the non-breeding season but difficult to photograph due to their size and activity level. 

All things considered, it had been a very exciting and productive fall birding day. I had seen and photographed SEVEN sparrow species: 

• Spotted towhee
• Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco
• House sparrow
• Song sparrow (first fall arrival 8/13/2023)
• White-crowned sparrow
• White-throated sparrow (first fall arrival)
• Golden-crowned sparrow (first fall arrival)

With detailed photography I am able to examine birds far more carefully than mere field observations. Sadly, over the years I have observed MANY birds with disabilities including blindness in one eye (Downy woodpecker), break deformations (Spotted towhee and others) and the most common disability, limited or non-use of one leg (many species). Some of these birds remain in the yard for extended periods of time and some are one time observations/photographs.

We currently have a Spotted towhee with a beak deformation, a beak that is crossed much like a crossbill’s. This bird was apparently born in the immediate area and seems to be doing fine. It It seems motivated to enthusiastically spirit halves of peanut kernels into the bushes for a meal, so I assume that it is able to break the peanut into smaller pieces. I have many photos of the bird as its plumage has matured and have come to the conclusion that it has successfully learned to live with its handicap.

On 9/12/2023 I was saddened to see an adorable young Red-breasted nuthatch that apparently had the use of only one leg. This would seem to be a terrible handicap for a nuthatch which spends most of its life descending the trunks of trees! The nuthatch was able to successfully cling to an inverted suet feeder and a vertical peanut feeder, so I hope that it will be able to live with its disability.

On the same day I observed a female House sparrow with one of its legs projecting towards the rear of its body. It’s been around all summer (this photo is from 8/6/2023) so it is apparently coping with its disability.

On a brighter note here are a few of the photographs I took on September 13, 2023:

An (apparently female) Ruby-crowned kinglet that is apparently the same one that has visited the yard each of the previous three days. I use the term “apparently female’ because the males of the species are so adept at hiding the red in their crowns. However, I was able to photograph this bird extensively and could detect no hint of red.

This male Downy woodpecker is a regular user of the newest water feature in our yard.

And finally, one of two juvenile White-crowned sparrows that were apparently raised in the immediate area. Both of its presumed parents are still in the yard but the juveniles are fully independent. Although White-crowned sparrows overwinter in the area, we almost never see them in the yard except in breeding season. In the past they have been parasitized by Brown-headed cowbirds, so it its heartening to see that this year the sparrows have successfully fledged their own young.