The frustrations of birding photography!  

August 1, 2026, began overcast with a very brief period of morning drizzle. Shortly after noon, in part due to the weather, I decided to see if the weather might help me get through some of the summer birding doldrums. 

I had been outside for about half an hour with nothing to show for it and was on the verge of calling it quits when I got a very brief glimpse of a bird on the ground heading towards me. It saw me about the same time I saw it and it immediately flew up into the fir trees at a steep angle. 

My impression was that it could have been a thrush but that’s such a rare bird in my yard and my observation was so quick I lacked any confidence in my tentative identification. I’ve had four species of thrushes in the yard:  American robin, Varied thrush, Hermit thrush and Swainson’s thrush.  The last two are very similar in appearance and I don’t even see them in the yard every year.  Judging by the bird’s direction of travel and trajectory I figured I had seen the last of it but nevertheless decided to remain in the yard for a while longer. 

I occupied myself with taking a few photos of an Anna’s hummingbird feeding on salvia.  

About five minutes after my original sighting of the potential thrush, in an entirely different part of the yard, I was startled to see what was clearly a thrush emerge from the bushes at my stone bird bath. It was very wary and left before I could bring my camera to bear. Over the next hour and a half I managed maybe 7-8 different sightings, some of which were very brief and many of which I was unable to photograph. 

Most of my observations occurred at the stone bird bath, and on one occasion there were two thrushes bathing at the same time!  After examining my photos and doing a little research I decided that I was observing Swainson’s thrushes, and at least one of them was a juvenile. 

I decided to take a break mid-afternoon after experiencing a brief, light rain shower.  Upon returning to the yard late in the afternoon I obtained some photos of chickadees.

My chickadee photography was interrupted by the sudden arrival of an accipiter (probably a Cooper’s hawk).  It flew into the yard and landed on one of my staging sticks only about 20’ away. More frustration!  It was effectively hidden by a volunteer madrone sapling that had sprouted from near the head of the watercourse!  After a couple of minutes it flew to another of my prominent staging sticks… also obscured from my view by foliage!  

Knowing that the accipiter’s trip through the yard would put the kabash on birding for awhile, I called it quits for the day.