Wednesday, May 14… one day since my last blog post and more time spent in the yard photographing birds.

First up are a couple of photos of a female Rufous hummingbird just prior to catching a drink on the fly, so to speak.

Next, a visitor that was common last year but which has only recently begun to make appearances this year… a female Wilson’s warbler.  For the record, I also had a male Wilson’s warbler but the photo I obtained of it was only marginal.  And mysteriously, I had at least two, possibly three visits from warblers which passed through the yard without stopping at the water feature.

Possibly to make up for the lack of warbler visits I had a female Brown-headed cowbird visit the water feature.  While I’ve had them in the yard in the past this is the first time I can remember that one came to the water feature. This one even vocalized for me a couple of times!

And finally, a kettle of about eight Turkey vultures passed overhead, giving me a lot of time to take photographs.

I’m overwhelmed with photo projects so I’m just going to throw together a few photos, all of which were taken in my yard on Tuesday, May 13.

We have a good many hummingbirds in the yard, with both male and female Anna’s and Rufous hummingbirds.  I presume the male Anna’s is the one that overwintered with us, but the following photo is of the male Rufous hummingbird.

This crow brought food into the water feature, dipped it in the water and then shifted it to its craw, where food can be stored…. probably for taking to young.  I’ve noticed that the crows dip food in water during the spring, probably as a way of softening some of it and also getting moisture to the young.  If you look carefully you can see that the crow’s craw (throat area under the beak) is bulging with the food.

While I was in the yard I received visits from two warblers, both of which can occasionally be seen here in the winter.  First a rather pale male Yellow-rumped warbler of the Audubon’s race.  (You’ll have to take my word for it since the identifying markings as to race and sex are not visible in this photograph!)

And next, the nondescript Orange-crowned warbler, one of which has been a daily visitor for the past wee or so.

While I was photographing the warbler a Spotted towhee ventured into the water feature (a fairly rare occurrence!) and spent a long time bathing.  I obtained a large number of photographs and retained sixteen… I just can’t bring myself to discard any of the ones I have retained.  Click on this bird’s plumage and look at the incredible detail!

And finally, I photographed this female Red-winged blackbird on one of her many trips to our hulled sunflower feeder.  The blackbirds have nests in a small pond about two blocks from our house (as the proverbial crow flies) and during the breeding season only they make many hurried trips directly from their nesting area to our feeders.  My theory is that by visiting our feeders it allows them to forgo the food foraging that would normally be necessary and they are thereby able to spend more time guarding their nests.

My last blog told about photographing the shorebirds I had found at the marina.  I later the same day went up to the Cap Sante Overlook to try to photograph the reflection off of a male Anna’s hummingbird‘s gorget (as shown on a prior blog).  I wasn’t successful on this day, but I did obtain a few photos of the hummingbird.

On the way back down from the overlook I paused at a jumble of bushes beside the road and decided to do a little “pishing” to see what might pop up.  I had no sooner began begun than I saw a bird fly from the upper story of a fir tree behind the bushes.  I continued pishing and soon a male Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s race) appeared from the bushes and I obtained several good photos of the bird.

On April 21 I discovered a small group of shorebirds at the Cap Sante Marina.  I was somewhat surprised because I hadn’t seen that many shorebirds this past winter, and they had been conspicuously absent at the marina.

I retrieved my camera and approached the flock, but hadn’t noticed a Killdeer which spooked and flew, vocalizing and frightening the other shorebirds which also flew.  They made a couple of circuits then settled down again, and I was able to approach them quite closely.  I had also brought my 1.7x tele-extender which I rarely use.  But not all the photos I took used the extender.

So here are some of the photos of the Dunlin that I took:

The birds often appear to be sleeping, but there always seems to be at least one eye open which misses nothing!

And my final photo of a Dunlin, in this posture is here for a reason…

After I took a lot of photos, I realized that one of the shorebirds appeared to be slightly different from the others.  It didn’t mix well with the others and had more of the reddish-brown on its cheeks and crown.  So I concentrated on taking some good photos of it in the hopes it might not be a Dunlin.

Paydirt!  I sent a couple of the photos to a birding friend who is much more talented at identification than I am and was told that the bird was a Western sandpiper, a bird that I have never knowingly photographed.  And since I had focused on the bird I now have a nice group of really good photos of one!

I had an absolutely stellar day for birding photography on Sunday.  I photographed several birds which can not only difficult to find, but very difficult to photograph, including this Ruby-crowned kinglet and Bewick’s wren on a little country lane just outside of Stanwood.  And I obtained very good multiple photographs of all of these birds.

I also encountered a large grouping of Yellow-rumped warblers, all of which seemed to be males. This example is of one of the Myrtle’s race.

On Fir Island, at the F&W HQ tract, I encountered another smaller (but more concentrated group of Yellow-rumped warblers… of both races. First up, another male of the Myrtle’s race, followed by a male of the Audubon race and finally a photo showing both races in the same photo, although only the Myrtle’s is in sharp focus.