On Saturday, June 10, 2012 I finally had the kind of yard-birding day I had been expecting for a month.  It seems like, with few exceptions, we haven’t had the variety of spring visitors that we usually see in the yard.  I’ve spent significant time in the yard with (and without) my camera and our visitors have been somewhat disappointing. 

Our birding day began on our way back from breakfast on Saturday morning when my wife and I saw at least five and possibly six Bald eagles in the immediate neighborhood.  They weren’t visible from the yard so they didn’t go down as yard birds, but they were only about a block away.  The eagles, which all appeared to be mature, were being harassed by crows… a common state of affairs.   

For the past couple of weeks we’ve had Dark-eyed junco (Oregon race) in the yard and it has seemed amazingly adapted to my presence.  Yesterday, and possibly the day before, we had a pair of juncos in the yard.  While juncos are probably our most numerous winter yard bird, this is the first spring/summer that I have seen them in the yard this late.  The rest of the crowd departed several weeks ago, presumably for higher elevations where the apparently tend to nest. It’s not unusual to find juncos in Washington Park during the summer (several years ago I even located an active nest there located under a sword fern) and it’s even easier to find them on Mount Erie at this time of year.  It’s good to have these two holdovers and we look forward to welcoming another crowd this fall.  

I had a male Brown-headed cowbird come to our main water feature several times during the afternoon.  I’m sure it was the same bird because of its direction of approach and how it used the facility.  Fortunately the cowbirds are relatively rare here… I had only seen one other pair this season and they didn’t stay in the yard any time at all.  In this case I was able to get many photos of the bird, but I’m not especially happy with the light reflection I get off of its smooth outer feathers.  However these are by far my best photos of what I consider a rather secretive bird.  

Along the way I got photos of both the female Anna’s hummingbird and a female Rufous hummingbird taking baths in the watercourse.  

Moving right along, I had a male Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon race) enter the yard on at least three occasions.  Again, by its approach and the way it treated the water feature I’m quite sure it was the same bird each time even though it’s visits stretched over an hour or so.  I took many photographs of the bird and while they are probably not my best, there’s just some feeling of accomplishment to being able to photograph such a bird in our own yard.  I’m hoping that because of the number and spacing of its visits that it might become a regular summer visitor.   

And finally, saving the best for last, I logged a new yard bird… a House wren.  Our neighbors who have a much better habitat than we and who live not much further than about a block away (as the proverbial crow flies) have had one nest in the same box for several years in a row.  We don’t really have a good habitat for wrens in or around our yard and only see one (Bewick’s or Pacific) only very rarely.  This House wren was around all afternoon and was constantly singing from the tops of trees or scolding one of our cats.  Late in the afternoon I saw it briefly enter one of our bird houses.  And when I called it quits for the day it was singing from the yew tree near the south patio… but I realized that there was apparently another singing further south from around our fence.  So I’m hoping that we have a pair and that they will select one of our bird houses in which to raise a family.  

We still have our family of California quail apparently living in the brush pile located in our front yard.  It’s the most popular bird feature in the yard.  The parents took the young quail on their most ambitious journey I’ve yet witnessed, which threatened to take them out of our yard.  But in the end they turned around and retreated to the brush pile.  We’ve never gotten a completely accurate count of the young but know there are at least twelve and possibly thirteen. 

And as I write this I saw a Brown creeper access one of our water features.  I haven’t seen a creeper in a couple of months and it’s very unusual to view one at a water feature.  Had I been at my usual post I would have had some photos of what is a very elusive bird from a photographic standpoint.  

Here's a bonus photo... a male Spotted towhee settling in for a dust bath at the edge of the yard.