Late September Yard Birds

Interesting yard birds have been getting more and more difficult to see and photograph lately, but the yard is not totally devoid of interest.  Perhaps the most interesting visitor this week was a Hermit's thrush that visited the watercourse just before 7pm one evening this last week.  It was probably too dark to obtain a photo but that didn't keep me from trying, but before I could get into position the thrush flew... after taking a lengthy bath.

Then a day or so later I was surprised to see (and obtain a single photo) of another rare visitor to the yard, one I at first mistook for one of the many sparrows that was in the yard at the time.  While the bird took a lengthy bath, I was not in position to get photos of it in the watercourse.  This is a Yellow-rumped warbler and I won't even hazard a guess as to the race (Audubon's or Myrtle's) or sex of the visitor.  I've got well over a hundred photos of this species taken within several hundred yards of our location during fall migration in past years, but for whatever reason it's a rare visitor to our yard. 

 

And today I obtained a photo I've been wanting for quite some time.  Our Rufous hummingbirds are long gone, but for the past couple of winters we've had a pair of Anna's hummingbirds that have survived cold temperatures and even a week's worth of snow.  This appears to be a female Anna's hummingbird hovering over our watercourse... but it is not!  

 

When the hummingbird turns to where the light reflects off of its gorget it is revealed as a male Anna's hummingbird... in flight and taken with a shutter speed of 1/1250 of a second.