After suffering several days of sun and a general absence of birds in the yard during the sunnier, warmer weather, June 25, 2026, dawned cooler and overcast. I felt I had missed out on a significant period of photography and looked forward to some time in the yard monitoring the birds. The spring migration appears virtually over and I’m left with many of the year-round bird population, but the yard is alive with juveniles of several different species.

Among the juveniles are Golden-crowned kinglets…

Dark-eyed (Oregon) juncos…

and White-crowned sparrows.

I obtained good photos of Black-capped chickadees…

and Chestnut-backed chickadees. Chickadees are currently the most numerous species in the yard.

A female Yellow-rumped warbler comes to the watercourse almost daily… I assume it’s the same bird.

I’m still trying to sort out my woodpecker species. Hairy woodpeckers have been much rarer than the Downy woodpeckers over the past years, but I did have a pair of Hairy woodpeckers this past spring. Now I’m tasked with sorting the two species when juveniles might be involved. I ‘m guessing that this is a juvenile Hairy woodpecker, but I’m not sure.

Here’s what I’m fairly certain is a Downy woodpecker for comparison, photographed outside of Twisp, WA, recently. (note the bill size.

I hadn’t planned to bird June 20, 2026, in part due to the bright sunshine we had. At some point midday I looked out the kitchen window and saw a Brown creeper taking a bath in the watercourse. This is a fairly unusual phenomenon because the Brown creepers usually prefer to use a birdbath that is considerably further out in the yard. Sighting of the creeper motivated me to get my camera and spend some time in the yard.

While I was out the/a creeper returned to the watercourse and I was able to get some good close-up shots. I’m fairly certain that this creeper was a juvenile.

During the afternoon I was also able to obtain nice photos of one or more Rufous hummingbirds.

a female Yellow-rumped warbler,

a juvenile Spotted towhee,

a juvenile Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco

and a pair of Bushtits, always difficult to photograph due to their activity level and usual reluctance to be attracted to water.  This Bushtit is a female.

Later, while in my office processing the 243 (!) photos I had taken that afternoon, I saw a juvenile accipiter enter the yard and perch by the watercourse, but I didn’t have my camera and wasn’t able to get what could have been an exceptional picture had I been in the yard.  

There’s no creature safe from †he camera! This Lorquin’s Admiral landed within photographic range and so became camera fodder!