Ask, and It Shall Be Given to You!

You read about it right here yesterday and today you've got a sighting and photo to go with it! 

Earlier today one of my neighbors wrote me an email and alerted me that they had had a window kill of a White-throated sparrow.  She also had seen a junco with strange white markings and she wanted me to be alert for the sparrow species and this individual junco. 

I had just read her email and was responding when I looked out my office window (so glad that it's a home/retired office window instead of a working office window!) and I saw Golden-crowned kinglets in the yard.  I quickly closed my communication and went for my camera.  By the time I got to the yard the kinglets were gone and there was a surprising lack of bird population.  However, since I had written about juncos only the previous day but hadn't furnished any photos I decided I would sit awhile and see if something might show up. 

I spread a little 'habitat enhancer' on the ground and a few Oregon juncos showed up and I managed just three photos.  While I was concentrating on getting a photo of one of the juncos on the ground there was a little activity and I suddenly realized that we had a new arrival on the scene... my friend the Slate-colored junco that has been here the last four (now five) winters!  In reality you realize that I have no idea whether or not this is the same bird, but I've never seen more than one of the Slate-colored juncos at one time.  And in line with my previous observations, these two cousins weren't happy to see each other. 

So without further words I give you two Oregon juncos and one Slate-colored junco!  Welcome, friend! 

More from the Yard

Two, three, five… twenty-five.  Beginning several weeks ago the Oregon juncos began returning to our yard after their spring/summer breeding absence.  We’re now overrun with juncos.  This year, for the first time, we had a pair that stayed quite late in the spring and I thought they might breed in the area, but eventually they too left. 

While normally ground feeders, several of the juncos have learned and are quite willing to access my hanging feeders which discriminate against non-clinging birds, so I see occasional trips to the suet, peanut and sunflower feeders.  I enjoy having the juncos but because of their numbers they often interfere with me being able to spot other species in the yard. 

For the past four winters I’ve had a single Slate-colored junco as an occasional visitor to the yard.  What seems strange to me is even though this bird is closely related to the Oregon junco, I am always able to distinguish it in a crowd by its behavior.  It doesn’t mingle with the other juncos but flies in, quickly eats a few seeds and then makes a quick exit.  I have yet to see a Slate-colored junco in the yard this winter and if I haven’t seen and photographed it soon I’ll try to retrieve an old photograph and post it on this blog. 

We have several madrone trees in the yard but only one provides good photographic opportunities.  This year the north half of the tree has an abundant crop of berries and several of the birds are benefiting, including some birds that don’t eat berries.  I’ve seen Townsend warblers, chickadees and Golden-crowned kinglets searching the berry clusters for insects.  The tree also attracts berry-eaters, but instead of the robins and Varied thrushes I’ve observed in the past the House finches seem to be fixated on the berries this year.  I have an excellent observation/photographic location on the deck outside my office, but going out on the deck has thus far alarmed the House finches and they fly over the house to a tree in the back which doesn’t offer me good photographic opportunities.  I’m now getting worried that the berries will be degraded or eaten before I get the chance to obtain photographs.  If I manage any good photos you’ll see at least one of them in this blog.

I’ve also been examining our robins closely.  At some point this winter we’ll start having occasional visits from Varied thrushes and I want to be sure and know when they return.  And a thought until my next post… there’s no bird that enjoys a bath quite as much as an American robin!  

Out of Yard Excursion

I've been somewhat remiss about posting to the blog for the past couple of weeks or so, mainly due to the lack of interesting yard birds and the weather that hasn't exactly encouraged photography. 

On Monday I made a little excursion to Washington Park to try to photograph some birds in a bush displaying beautiful fall colors.  When I arrived I found the birds in the bush, but it was a traveling band of Golden-crowned kinglets and they were on the move out of the area.  I thought about trying to follow them but I the reason I had come was for the backdrop (which they had left) and the weather was deteriorating and making photography much less appealing due to the lack of light.  I stayed around for awhile photographing instead a chipmunk, single female Harlequin duck and Marbled murrelets off of Green Point.  It was somewhat disappointing. 

On the way home I decided to swing by the Skyline Marina area and discovered at least two Killdeer in one of the parking lots.  I took a good many photos, two of which I've included here. 

One of the Killdeer decided to take a bath in one of the pools of water in the parking lot.  I realized that I had seen and photographed a lot of Killdeer around puddles but I had never seen one taking a bath.  Unfortunately this one decided to take a bath immediately adjacent to a discarded plastic bottle which I didn't want in the photo.  It eventually moved over a little and I was able to get some photos, but I think the best were to be had in its original position and posture.  As I watched the Killdeer bathe I was struck by how active the back part of the bird could be while keeping the head and neck area almost perfectly still.  I took these photos at about 1/200th of a second and the back and wings of the Killdeer are blurred but the head is in focus.