On Friday I drove through the Samish Flats area and saw two Red-tailed hawks on power poles.  But the really welcome find was what I presume was a Peregrine falcon on another power pole… the same one for which it has shown a preference for the past several years.  This particular afternoon it was cooling off by holding its wings out from its body to provide more shade and air circulation. 

Closer to home, on Friday morning my wife photographed what was apparently a Cooper’s hawk sitting on a log in our yard.  This visitor is highly overdue… we’ve had a yard full of House sparrows and European starlings for months.  They apparently finally attracted the hawk’s attention. 

We’ve had a visitor and other factors have mostly kept me from the yard for the past week and I was lamenting that I didn’t have much material for a post as Saturday afternoon rolled around.  I took my camera out in the yard for about an hour and a half.  The sky was fairly heavily overcast which would mean lower shutter speeds but no shadows.  I had few hopes that I was going to get any interesting sightings or material for a post.  Was I wrong! 

After quite a period of very little action a juvenile American robin arrived at the water feature.  As is their habit, this robin spent a good deal of time between movements which gave me ample opportunity for some good photos (at a relatively slow shutter speed).  

 After the robin left I saw a single bird fly into the tops of one of the fir trees, always a hopeful sign since most of the ‘trash’ birds tend to move around in groups.  I lost track of it briefly but then I spied a reddish-colored bird, reminiscent of the robin, in the shadows of our Golden Chain tree, now just a mass of a few leaves and many seed pods.  I thought it was probably another robin, but I looked through my telephoto lens and discovered a rare visitor… a male Red crossbill, only our third crossbill sighting this season!  

Unfortunately once it left the Golden Chain tree the crossbill made a rather rapid approach to our watercourse, not pausing on any of my staging props in the area.  And when it did settle for a drink, I could just barely see its head sticking out from behind a rock.  So much for the photography.  Then another bird landed right beside it and I at first thought that it was a Pine siskin (which are all around the yard) but it seemed too close to the male crossbill.  When I examined the situation through my lens I could see that it was a female Red crossbill!  Unfortunately when they left they flew directly out of the yard, again not pausing on any of my staging props. 

I next saw activity on the side of one of our large fir trees and thought it was probably a Brown creeper.  Again a look through my lens clarified things… it was a Bewick’s wren.  (By now you’re probably wondering why I don’t get and wear a good pair of glasses!)  We only have a few sightings of these a year.  I obtained a photo, but it was in poor light and taken from a greater distance than I would prefer for such a small, well-camouflaged bird. 

By now I was thinking that things couldn’t get much better, but Mother Nature wasn’t through.  I noticed a good deal of activity around our brush pile (located in the front yard!) and again a closer examination through my lens revealed a family unit of Bush tits.  (As I write this Sunday morning I can see from my office that they’re back!)  We live in prime Bush tit habitat but seldom see them in the yard.  This group was relatively small (5-6 individuals) so I expect that it was a single family group that had yet to combine with others.  It’s not uncommon in the winter to find groups composed of 15-20 individuals… if you want a challenge try counting them sometime!  

While I was out the following individuals also visited the yard:

·         Both male and female Hairy woodpeckers, female pictured here (suet feeder and water) 

 

 ·         Both male and female Downy woodpeckers, male pictured below (suet feeder and water) 

 

·         Dark-eyed junco, Oregon race

·         Red-breasted nuthatches

·         Spotted towhees

·         Chestnut-backed and Black-capped chickadees

·         Belted kingfisher (flying overhead, which I count as a yard bird)

·         Pine siskins

·         House sparrows

·         European starlings

·         House finches

·         Rock pigeons

I may have omitted a species or two.  Earlier in the day my wife saw a White-crowned sparrow in the yard.  Late in the afternoon, after I had given up the photography, I flushed a Northern flicker from the watercourse. 

I should mention that one of our Pine siskins has a fairly large yellow patch on its flanks, separate and distinct from the slender yellow lines along the wings.  And I have a friend who lives in the Old Town area who has reported a single visit by an albino Pine siskin.