At some point on returning from my Thursday morning, coffee meetings just after noon on October 1, 2026, I remembered I had seen a notation on my phone calendar the previous day about the beginning of migration for Yellow-rumped warblers. As I pulled into the driveway, I noted two Yellow-rumped warblers flying around the water course. Fifteen to twenty minutes later I looked out the kitchen window and again saw two Yellow-rumped warblers in the yard. This inspired me to get my camera and position myself in the yard for some photography of species I don’t get to photograph very often.

I wasn’t disappointed! I sat in the yard for almost exactly 2 hours and during that time I had many visits from both Yellow-rumped warblers and Red crossbills. The warblers were almost continuously present. 

By the end of my two hour observation. I had taken 289 photographs, most of which were of  Yellow-rumped warblers and Red crossbills. Many of the photos were very good and I considered it a very productive afternoon.

Here are some of the images I obtained. 

In addition I had both a Bewick’s wren and a Pacific wren, the latter of which is rather rare in my yard.