I have lots of news and new photos to post. We just returned from a trip to New Mexico (Bosque del Apache NWR and Santa Fe, Randall Davey Audubon Center) where I took almost 900 photos, almost all of which were of birds. Those should eventually be posted to this blog, but it might take awhile.

In the meantime, we hadn’t been back but a couple of days before we had a rather dramatic development here at the house. For the past six weeks or so I, and some of our neighbors, had been discovering one or more Barred owls in the neighborhood. For the most part this owl would be found in what the neighborhood refers to as the ‘wetland’, which is located roughly two blocks (“as the owl flies”) from our house. (I believe I have at least two prior posts involving this owl.)

On Saturday (11/9/2019) morning my sister, who has been house-sitting for us while we were in New Mexico, was outside in the process of reentering the house when a Barred owl flew to the watercourse in our front yard, located about ten feet from the house. It took my sister several minutes to gain our attention and while she was subtly trying the owl got a drink of water. By the time I responded with my camera the owl was sitting on one of our staging sticks directly beside the pond. I took a couple of quick shots through the window (normally a no-no for me) to insure that I got some sort of photo. The owl flew out of my view to the side of the house. I sneaked out the door to try to find it but didn’t see it at first. I finally looked up in the yew tree above my head and there was the owl… less than ten feet away! My sister and wife joined me and we were able to watch the owl for about ten minutes before we had to leave for a breakfast commitment. When we returned an hour or so later the owl was gone and we couldn’t locate it.

Excuse the quality, but this is a photo of the owl in the yew tree I took with my iPhone 11 Pro!

The good news is that I obtained some photos to document the event, the first known owl visit to our property! The bad news is that I had messed with my camera at the end of our trip and altered a key setting on it, resulting in rather severe underexposures that I couldn’t fix in Lightroom. However, I think the images, although underexposed, are rather interesting and have some value… and that’s why you’re seeing them here!

On Wednesday, October 23, I began my birding excursion by cruising through the Cap Sante neighborhood. As I got to the wetland area I gazed up at a magnificent maple tree with turning leaves and was startled to see a Barred owl, fully in the open, staring back at me! I had my camera with me and wasted no time in beginning to take photos. Over the next hour or so I was able to notify several of my neighbors of the sight and they were able to view the owl. This may be the same owl I photographed a couple weeks ago, but this time I was much closer with no intervening branches.

I set out for Fir Island and on the way I encountered this female Anna’s hummingbird, at almost the same location where I photographed three Anna’s hummingbirds in the winter over the last couple of years. This small brushy area seems to be a haven for the birds.

I have been surprised at how many blackberries around the greater area still seem viable in late October this year.

Just before arriving on Fir Island I found a field full of several thousand Snow geese, giving me the opportunity for a little “skeet” practice! It amazes me the level of detail that can be obtained on flying birds!

Saturday, October 19, 2019, began as an overcast day with a threat of rain. By mid-day I was trying to make a decision as to whether or not to go birding or stay home and watch sports. I finally opted for the birding. It rained to some extent all afternoon long and I had driven most of the route I planned to take with nothing to show for it… not a single photo! Finally, at the HQ tract on Fir Island (Wiley Slough) I found this American Robin eating blackberries, which uncharacteristically still have some ripe, viable blackberries on the vines this year. If you look closely you can see the blackberry juice stain on the bird’s beak.

While at Wiley Slough I ran into a birding friend and had a nice chat. Shortly after our visit a more constant rain began to develop in the Fir Island area and I decided to head home. It was a beautiful day and driving across Fir Island I could see the different areas of showers developing and taking place.

I stopped by an area I had previously visited on Pleasant Ridge and managed to ‘pish’ a Ruby-crowned kinglet out of heavy vegetation which featured some beautiful maple leaves in fall colors. The kinglet was extremely active and difficult to photograph but I finally managed one decent photo. I could justifiably label this bird a female but have realized that the males are so adept at hiding their crown (especially from this angle) that I hesitate to make a sex determination.

I’m not very adept at identifying trees of the Pacific Northwest and hope this is a maple leaf!

The last leg of my excursion was a trip around March Point where I photographed this Red-tailed hawk in an interesting pose.

As I continued my trip I encountered this Great Blue Heron which was more ‘photographable’ than many I had seen this day.

Continuing around the point I found a pair of Bald eagles sitting on top of adjacent power poles.

Not long after I returned home the sun broke through and bathed the town in a bright yellow light we could see from our house. Too late for my birding excursion but a nice tribute to another Pacific Northwest fall day!

On Monday, October 14, 2019, I had a combination of driving in the neighborhood and yard photography. I began the day monitoring the madrone berries to photograph what was eating them. This European starling, and a few of its friends, were in one of the madrone trees.

In the past couple of days I had gotten brief views of male Varied thrushes in the madrone trees, but photos proved difficult to come by. Persistence paid off… I finally obtained a photo of a (male) Varied thrush eating madrone berries.

For the past couple of weeks or so we have had at least one female Varied thrush visiting the water features in the yard. The bird proved extremely cautious and despite my best efforts, I had not been able to get a photo. Upon arriving back at the house today I finally obtained a photo of a female Varied thrush… at first entering the yard…

and after a few minutes entering our watercourse.

About the same time a couple of Yellow-rumped warblers (Audubon’s race) accessed the watercourse.

Back on the road again I obtained this photo of a male House sparrow…

and this male Spotted towhee.

I saw the Barred owl, featured in my last post, on October 11, 2019. But it wasn’t the first, or what I considered the most interesting bird I saw that day. As I believe I mentioned, my prime consideration for the location I was monitoring was to try to photograph American robins eating madrone berries, and I succeeded to some extent. However the robins would come and go and even when they were present they weren’t always where they could be photographed.

I spent considerable ‘down time’ watching (and photographing) several species of sparrows come and go from the bushes beside me. This included Golden-crowned sparrows,

House sparrows,

Song sparrows,

a Fox sparrow,

Dark-eyed juncos, Spotted towhees, White-crowned sparrows

(seven sparrow species)… and one other very significant sparrow species.

I was only casually watching the White-crowned sparrows… all appeared to be juveniles (I seldom see the tan morph in this area) when I saw a sparrow that looked different. A closer examination revealed it was a White-throated sparrow (an eighth sparrow species, all in a rather small area, although not all at the same time!). I’ve only seen a White-throated sparrow 5-6 times in my life, and I haven’t any idea how I would find one if I tried! So here is the White-throated sparrow… seen over a three-day period and at a cost of some 6-8 hours thus far.

And I don’t want to leave out one other visitor to the same location… a Bewick’s wren that responded to ‘pishing’.