On Friday, 10/8/2012 my wife hosted her women’s discussion group in the morning which offered me the opportunity to go birding for the day.  I made my first stop at the development on the NW part of the island where I’ve obtained some sparrow and American goldfinch photos recently and managed to obtain even more.  

Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago while photographing at this location I had the opportunity to 'disassemble' some thistle heads, the seeds of which are one of the goldfinches' favorite foods.  I was surprised by how small the seed was in the heads... much smaller than the niger that many people purchase in the bird store.  And knowing that the birds have to pull out the fluff in the head to get at the seeds, it reminds me of the old celery analogy.  It seems like the calories/nutrition you obtain isn't worth the effort to eat it!  

After spending considerable time at the development I meandered my way over to Fir Island where I eventually encountered a couple of small groves of trees that were hosting at least a dozen Yellow-rumped warblers, apparently of both races.  I say apparently because at this time of year you’re dealing not only with the two races which are quite similar, but also with differences in the sexes, the fact that the birds’ breeding plumage is in transition and the fact that some of the birds are going to be juveniles.  It can make for some challenging identifications.  

I'll call this first warbler an Audubon's race (there is actually more yellow on the throat than it appears in this photo... 

And this is probably a Myrtle's race... or not!  

I spent about half an hour photographing the warblers and then left the area to have some lunch.  When I returned to the same area about an hour later there was not a bird to be found in either grove of trees.  Apparently I had been fortunate in encountering a small group of migrants. 

This encounter brought to mind another of my birding perplexities.  For about three years there was a small grove of trees with underbrush in the middle of a marina parking lot near me.  For two to three falls in a row this area hosted a significant number of Yellow-rumped warblers over about three weeks of the fall migration.  However the Yellow-rumped warbler is a rare visitor to my yard, but I’m only located a few hundred yards (‘as the warbler flies’) from the marina parking lot and would seem to have better habitat. 

On the other hand, on Sunday, October 7, 2012 I estimate that I had at least 20 Pine siskins in the yard.  And periodically they would all fly down to the watercourse for drinking and bathing.  They were much more brazen than usual, and at least a couple of times I sprayed them with a hose using a diffuser nozzle and they seemed to love it.  It’s been a dry couple of months and I guess they welcomed the ‘rain’.  

Since I didn't photograph in the yard on 10/7, I've 'borrowed' this photo of a Pine siskin from a 10/1 session...