On Sep 5, 2017, I was monitoring bird activity in the yard when I spied a warbler flitting among the trees in a grove of madrones at the edge of the yard. The bird was unusually active and I couldn’t get a good look at it. I saw that it had a gray head and considered a MacGillivray’s warbler but the yellow colors on the bird didn’t look right. I next considered a Yellow-rumped warbler due to the patches of yellow on the bird, but the yellow wasn’t in the right locations. I realized that I was seeing a new warbler for the yard and one with which I was not familiar.

I was desperate for a photo of the bird for identification, but its depth in the madrones and it’s flitting activity were in danger of precluding this. Suddenly the bird flew towards me and landed in the open less than ten feet away on a staging stick that I had erected only a few days previously. I was able to take over 30 very good photos of the bird. After it left the yard I rushed to process the photos so that I could identify the bird. I knew it was a warbler and after a little investigation identified it as a female American redstart, a bird I had seen and photographed in Texas (and probably AZ) but that I had never expected to show up in our yard in Anacortes. Needless to say, this was a very, very unexpected visitor to our yard.

The next day (Sep 6) I pulled into our driveway and immediately spotted an accipiter (probably a Cooper’s hawk that’s been roaming the neighborhood) preening on a log in the yard. I had no chance to get into the house and retrieve my camera before the bird flew.

A short time later I looked out our kitchen window and saw the/another female American redstart bathing in the watercourse! How could this be?! I ran for my camera but as is so often the case, by the time I got into the yard the bird was gone. However I wasn’t about to give up in case the bird returned so I camped in the yard for awhile. The redstart didn’t return but I observed/and photographed another rare visitor… a female Black-throated Gray warbler! My photos of this bird weren’t that good due to its shyness around other species of birds using the watercourse.

On Sep 9 just after noon I looked out the kitchen window and spied a female Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s) bathing in the watercourse. I knew I had caught it during the middle of its bath and that it probably wouldn’t be there long, so I watched to see where it flew after bathing. Just after it flew, movement at a stone birdbath caught my attention and I used my binoculars to observe an Orange-crowned warbler bathing. With this inspiration, I went out and sat just out of the rain under the eaves of the house… but there was no further activity while I was there.

We seem to be edging into fall despite one last weekend pf heat.  I’ve had a few warblers visiting the yard but not in any kind of numbers.  Most have been either female/juvenile Yellow warblers or male Wilson’s warblers, and I have no way to determine if it’s the same warbler visiting or a succession of different warblers.  I have also had visits by one or more female/juvenile Western tanager(s), somewhat difficult to separate from all the American goldfinches frequenting the feeders in the yard.

Yesterday (9/1) I had nice back-to-back photos of chickadees in the watercourse.  Since the difference in these species results in questions regarding their identification, I’ll (yet again) post photos identifying them.  This first photo is of a Black-capped chickadee, a bird that prefers deciduous habitat.

The following photo is of a Chestnut-backed chickadee, a bird that prefers the coniferous environment.  I take morning walks in Washington Park and ALL of the chickadees I encounter on the loop road, a road immersed in the firs and cedars, are of the Chestnut-backed species.

Also yesterday, over a significant period of time, I had at least four visits from one or more male Wilson’s warblers.  I suspect that it was more than one bird duet behaviors I observed.  This first photo is of a pre-bath male, that is what you might expect toes in a normal setting.

These next two photos are of a male in the middle of a bath, perhaps a little more difficult to identify.

PERSONAL NOTE:

Lastly, a note about my blog.  I’m muddling through three separate issues with my right hand and arm.  While a fairly competent touch-typist since the eighth grade (Thank you, Ms. Bagley, for both of our efforts I couldn’t appreciate at the time!), the issues make it extremely, frustratingly difficult for me to type.  Hopefully this will be corrected with three (!) surgeries I will undergo on the same day in early October.  No one knows how much of my typing ability I’ll be able to recover, or how long it might take me to recover, but it’s certain that my period of recovery will slow my blog postings.  My camera, lens and monopod weigh 13 pounds, so its likely that my photography might also be affected.  This is NOT a cry for sympathy but for understanding!

On Saturday, August 19, I was just settling into a chair in our living room about 12:10pm (after a morning nap) when motion on our back patio caught my attention. I looked out our west patio doors and saw a Stellar’s jay on our gas barbecue grill. It was quickly joined by a second jay and then quickly both flew off to the south. To my knowledge this is the first time in at least a couple of years this species has visited the neighborhood.  In a scenario that has become all too familiar lately, I ran for my camera and then for my birding chair in the yard. They were, of course, gone, but I was determined to give them a good opportunity to return.

At about 12:35pm I was rewarded when they flew over me and landed in one of my neighbor’s trees to the north. I photographed one at a distance and saw it and at least one other fly towards another neighbor’s house about two blocks north of us. I called that neighbor and he was able to see two of them in his yard before they flew off to the west!

Stellar’s jays, despite seemingly very good habitat in the neighborhood, are extremely rare visitors, appearing only every coupe of years for a few days at a time.

Warblers and other interesting species continue to visit the yard. It seems that many of the birds are juveniles. I missed getting photos of a Brown creeper and an Orange-crowned warbler but managed to photograph either a juvenile and/or a female Wilson’s warbler.

Here’s a Chestnut-backed chickadee that I also photographed…

On Sunday, August 20 I had two visits from one or more juvenile Western tanagers.  I’m fairly certain that this bird is a juvenile, and the very slight amount of color on its forehead might designate it as a male.

This female Bushtit, judging by its behavior, is probably a juvenile.

I’ve managed to get some good photos of Red-breasted nuthatches lately, a not very common occurrence.  It’s not that we don’t have nuthatches, it’s that they are always on the move and don’t present themselves that often.

And the Black-headed grosbeaks just keep coming.  (No photo…. I’ve published enough!)

The last species for the day appeared just as we were ready to leave to have a little fast food picnic.  I decided to look out the kitchen window one last time and there, hopping around the watercourse, was a female or juvenile MacGillivray’s warbler!  I invoked the routine that has now become so familiar… I ran for my camera, sneaked into my viewing chair in the yard and waited a few minutes but the bird was gone!

The only downstairs window in our house that overlooks our watercourse is located in the kitchen.  On many occasions lately I’ve looked out the window and seen a warbler in or around our watercourse.  I usually waste no time in going for my camera and trying to sneak out of the house to a viewing point.  However I’m almost always frustrated by the warbler’s lack of appreciation for my stealth mode and it almost always flees the yard before I can obtain any photos.  This has happened too many times lately.  So… you will see no warblers in this post.

Yesterday afternoon I spent about three hours in the yard and obtained some nice photos, although none were of unusual visitors.

I’ll begin by exhibiting three different birds of similar appearance about which I’m occasionally asked.  First, the Black-capped chickadee, a bird that prefers areas featuring deciduous bushes and trees.

Next, its “cousin”, the Chestnut-backed chickadee that prefers areas dominated by conifers…

Both of the chickadees are of similar size and shape.  The male common House sparrow is significantly larger but has colors that somewhat resemble the Chestnut-backed chickadee.

The next two birds are White-crowned sparrows, the first a bird exhibiting adult plumage and the second a juvenile.

We had an unexpected late-season juvenile American robin, accompanied by both parents, appear in the yard yesterday.  The question of where this bird’s siblings might be was answered by the appearance of an accipiter in the yard a couple of days ago, and indeed it took an unidentified bird from the yard.  I was able to obtain some bad photos of it eating its prey and while doing so observed (and photographed!) a Peregrine falcon landing in the top of one of the fir trees in the adjacent parkland.

We still have Black-headed grosbeaks visiting the feeder and females/juveniles visiting the watercourse.  I am unable to distinguish the females from the juveniles but this bird is clearly an adult male.

After an absence of several days our leucistic, juvenile American goldfinch returned to the yard.  Since it is the only goldfinch I can distinguish from the other 15 or so goldfinches in the yard at any one time it gives me some idea of the comings and goings of this species.

And finally, a juvenile Northern flicker making a rare visit to the watercourse.  While the watercourse is the most universal attractor to birds, not all birds use it with the same frequency.  Se have flickers visit the yard regularly, but they rarely visit the watercourse.