It's darkest before the dawn, as the saying goes. That has certainly been the case here, with nearly-constant rain and headache-inducing gray skies for the past month. But despite all of the meteorological evidence pointing to the contrary, spring has still managed to break through.
One of the telltale signs of Old Man Winter's demise is the molt of the male American Goldfinch into its bright yellow and black breeding plumage (above). The individual photographed above was a sight for sore eyes on a dreadful mid-March morning. And to make things all the merrier, American Goldfinches have begun flocking in numbers of 15-20 over the past couple of weeks. The bright yellow flocks are a nice way to drive away the gray overcast skies. And speaking of plumage change, I was almost shocked to see an Audubon's subspecies Yellow-rumped Warbler in full breeding plumage hawking insects in the backyard a couple of weeks ago. I can't recall the last time that I saw one advanced this far into its molt before April. This individual is the third Yellow-rumped Warbler to hang out in our yard this winter.
This breeding plumage "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler has become a regular.
One of the more interesting plumage changes observed recently was that of a second-year White-crowned Sparrow. This individual has been hanging around on-and-off since January. The molt from juvenile to adult plumage is shown in the sequence below. Note the coloring of the crown...
March 12
March 19
March 23
Now, I didn't band this individual, so I can't tell you that it's the same individual beyond the shadow of a doubt. But given the relative lack of White-crowned Sparrows in my neighborhood, the odds of two different molting second-years frequenting my yard is pretty small. The above photos are most likely the same bird.
Of course, mid-March also kicks off the beginning of spring migration. A week and a half ago, a beautiful orange male Rufous Hummingbird was spotted in our butterfly bushes. This individual also visited one of our nectar feeders later that day. However, I have not seen a Rufous Hummer since, indicating that this individual may have been one of the earlier migrants to reach the area. Hopefully I will have multiple Rufous photos to show you next month. My wife may have spotted an Orange-crowned Warbler this afternoon, but couldn't confirm the ID.
One of the more prominent features of early migration season is local movement. That is, individual birds preparing to move to their breeding grounds (which may be several hundred miles away, or just a couple of miles away). Over the past week and a half, we've been visited by several species that were either infrequent visitors or completely absent in our yard this winter. The Lesser Goldfinch shown above was the first since November. Other recent infrequent visitors have included a Townsend's Warbler, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and a Golden-crowned Sparrow. This past weekend, a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees stopped in for a bite, presumably on their way to their coniferous breeding grounds in the foothills. And just this morning, a small flock of Cedar Waxwings briefly perched in the neighbor's apple tree. These latter two species had not been observed in the yard since October.
A recent arrival, this Golden-crowned Sparrow forages for bits of sunflower seed.
This transient Chestnut-backed Chickadee stops in for some peanuts.
A Ruby-crowned Kinglet briefly poses for a photograph.
The "regular" visitors have also been out in full force. Dark-eyed Juncos are still hanging around in double-digit numbers. Bushtit flocks have diminished to single-digit numbers, but they're still hitting up the suet feeders frequently. Red-winged Blackbirds have increased in frequency since early February, to the point where I'm typically seeing 2-3 per weekend. Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers have also been visiting more frequently over the past month or so. Pine Siskins have also been regular in small numbers, mixed in with the goldfinch flocks. One of the three male Purple Finches that I've hosted this winter (the only completely healthy one) has also morphed into something of a regular over the past few weeks. I'm seeing him at least once a day now. This has definitely been a banner winter for Purple Finches. I've never hosted them this frequently before.
One of two "Slate-colored" Dark-eyed Juncos that wintered in our neighborhood
This second-year male Red-winged Blackbird has become a daily visitor.
Despite being sometimes pushed around by the more dominant Yellow-rumped Warblers, this "Myrtle" subspecies individual still frequently visits the suet feeders.
Our regular male Purple Finch hangs out in the neighbor's apple tree before feeding on sunflower.
A Pine Siskin feeds on a rare sunny afternoon.
Of course, movement works both ways. When some species visit, others go on their way. The two Song Sparrows that visited regularly and frequently this season are apparently gone now. I have not seen either for over two weeks. There has also been a slight drop-off in Varied Thrush numbers. They're still here frequently throughout the day, but I'm seeing more like 2-3 at a time now, instead of 4-5. That said, I can't complain, as this was easily the best Varied Thrush winter I've ever experienced.
At the risk of going too far off topic, this post is being brought to you by my new 13" MacBook Air (above). With my 2007 15" MacBook Pro experiencing several issues and providing a weak of 1.5 hours of battery life, I decided to spend my bonus money on a new laptop. Rather than pay $2,000 for one of the new MacBook Pros with a solid-state drive and a matte screen, I decided to scale down to a more reasonably-priced 13" model. I miss the extra real estate a bit when I edit photos, but the 13" screen is easily enough for everything else (especially since the Air's screen has the same 1440 x 900 resolution as the Pro). I was originally going to go with the new 13" Pro, but I'm not a fan of the highly-reflective glass screens and the inferior 1280 x 800 resolution. There are a host of other reasons why I went with the Air over the 13" Pro, but I don't want to get bogged down in that. What I will say is that the trade-off in raw power is more than compensated for by the far superior user experience of the Air. Despite it having no optical drive, no FireWire, and only two USB ports, my only real complaint is the lack of a backlit keyboard.
In terms of relevance to this blog, I've found the Air to be more than adequate in handling my primary photo editing apps, Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS4. I am sure that the Pro's multi-core i5 and i7 processors load and manipulate large RAW files a lot faster than the Air's relatively dinky Core 2 Duo. And that may make a difference if you're a professional photographer and edit hundreds or thousands of files at once. But if you're a hobbyist/enthusiast, this likely won't be a problem for you. I dump my Canon 7D's 25 MB RAW files directly onto an external RAID system and edit them directly from that location via a USB connection. Sure, editing them directly from my laptop's hard drive would be faster, but the trade-off in speed isn't enough to overcome the inconvenience of having to move files to another drive after I edit them. (Incidentally, I noticed only a slight drop-off in throughput when editing RAW files via FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connections on my old MacBook Pro.) This setup also allows me to get by with a smaller laptop hard drive, which is handy if you're paying top dollar for a solid-state drive. What you lose in processing power from the Air is also (partially) made up for in drive read/write speed. The Air's proprietary solid-state drives are blazing fast. Not surprisingly, the less processor-needy apps that I use at work (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Acrobat) all run extremely well on this computer. Oh, and did I mention that it only weighs 2.9 lbs? That comes in handy if you use it both at work and at home. So if you're looking for an affordable Mac (an oxymoron, I know) and aren't into gaming or hardcore HD video editing, definitely take a look at the Air. Despite its size, it's a legit primary computer. One piece of advice: definitely pay the extra $100 to upgrade to 4 GB of RAM. You can never have too much RAM.
OK, enough rambling for now. I'll see you next month, hopefully with more migrant photos.
The past month has been interesting. For a while, the warm-ish temperatures, ample sun, and lack of rain suggested a possible early Spring. But, of course, the rain, clouds, cold, and misery returned and I suppose that we'll have to wait another month. But at least there have been some interesting avifauna in the yard.
The big story of the winter so far has been Varied Thrushes (above). In six winters out here, I've never seen irruptive numbers like this. At least five individuals visit daily and they're almost constantly here. I'm trying to soak this in and enjoy it because we probably won't have a showing like this again any time soon.
Other migrants have also made it over to our yard. A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow visited regularly from early January through early February. I haven't seen it in a couple of weeks, but such is the nature of migratory sparrows. Even more interesting was the appearance of an Orange-crowned Warbler two weeks ago. They winter in coastal Southern California and Mexico, as well as the far Southern inland United States, and typically do not make their way up here until the third or fourth week of March. This individual most likely overwintered here. It was here briefly on a Saturday morning, and was never seen again.
This juvenile White-crowned Sparrow hung around for a full month.
This rare Orange-crowned Warbler was seen briefly one morning, and that was it.
Other, less rare yard visitors have also been present. After a long absence, Pine Siskins made a comeback this weekend. Red-winged Blackbirds, regulars in the Spring/Summer, have also been calling from the neighbor's apple tree regularly and occasionally visiting the feeders. More interestingly, a Spotted Towhee visited us last Sunday. Spotted Towhees are regulars in this part of the country and rather abundant. However, they're not big fans of our semi-urban and cat-infested neighborhood. So it was nice to see one again. Their spunk, personality, and silly calls are welcomed on a dreary winter day.
A Spotted Towhee noisily scratches around for spilled cracked corn and millet.
This individual was most likely molting (note the ragged-looking tail feathers).
A Pine Siskin feeds on a dreary Saturday morning.
We've also hosted some handicapped individuals recently. A male Purple Finch hung out here for the latter two weeks of January. It looked perfectly healthy, but the right side of its lower mandible appears to be either deformed or damaged. That said, it didn't appear to have any difficulty chowing down on sunflower seed. Our other handicapped feathered friend is a one-legged Western Scrub-Jay. Fortunately, this individual has found a way to get by on one leg and has little trouble using our feeders. It may not reproduce, but it's able to live an otherwise normal life.
This handsome male Purple Finch looks perfectly healthy...
...but closer inspection reveals a damaged or deformed lower mandible. Thankfully, this guy is still able to eat normally.
This Western Scrub-Jay is missing its left leg. Yet, it also is able to function and live a semi-normal life.
Many typical yard visitors have also had strong showings over the past month. Our local woodpeckers are a prime example. Back in November and December, Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers were more occasional than regular. They've made a strong comeback since last month, and I'm seeing both very regularly now - sometimes several times a day. Yesterday, I recorded five visits from at least one male Downy and four total visits from at least two Flickers. Robins have also been flocking in large numbers in the area over the past two weeks. Bushtits and Dark-eyed Juncos are still in relatively large numbers, suggesting that winter isn't going away quite yet. In addition to our normal "Oregon" subspecies Juncos, there are at least two "Slate-colored" Juncos in the yard as well.
This female Northern Flicker is a Red x Yellow-shafted "Intergrade" subspecies. These individuals often move from colder Central Oregon in winter for the our more temperate climate. It has mostly "Red-shafted" blood, as displayed by the lack of a prominent red mark on the nape and the lack of yellow feathers under the wings and tail. But note that the tail feathers are more orange than salmon. If you click on the photo and look very closely at the nape, there is also a faint hint of a dull red mark.
A raggedy-looking Downy Woodpecker hits up the suet feeder.
A female "Slate-colored" Dark-eyed Junco perches atop a Rhododendron bud.
The omnipresent Yellow-rumped Warbler sits atop one of our Pieris bushes, guarding "its" suet feeder.
A female Anna's Hummingbird enjoys sugar-water solution. This individual appears to be a juvenile, as it lacks a more prominent gorget mark. While skies continue to be headache-inducing gray, there are some signs of Spring around the corner...
The male American Goldfinch in the center is molting into its breeding plumage. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, and some individuals are even more yellow at this point.
One of our local Song Sparrows sings its beautiful song from atop the fence. They've been doing this for about three weeks now.
OK, I've been waiting a while to take some video with my camera, but haven't had time until this weekend. (Thanks to my wife for keeping our daughter occupied on Saturday while I shot and edited.) The framing isn't ideal, as I use prime (fixed focal length) telephoto lenses, which have inherently superior optics to zoom lenses. So while I can always crop and frame with photos, I'm stuck at either 300 or 420 mm for video. (Perhaps I'll buy a lower-tier 70-300 mm zoom lens for videography at some point down the line.) Anyway, I managed to shoot three short movies this weekend. Enjoy...
Downy Woodpecker at the suet feeder, with brief cameos from a Black-capped Chickadee and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Varied Thrush feeding on sunflower chips. The low-pitched grinding sound that you hear in the background is my lens' image stabilization mechanism, which I forgot to shut off.
Yellow-rumped Warbler at the suet feeder. You can also hear our 11-month-old banging around in the background.
Well, that's it for now. I'll return next month, hopefully with the report of our first Rufous Hummingbird. I'll try to include more video as well.
Wow, it's been a full month since I've last posted! I typically blame work for such long absences, often justifiably. However, illness is to blame this time. I've been fighting a series of colds for the past two months, plus a short bout with the flu at the end of December. Last Thursday, I came down with a particularly nasty sinus cold and I lost most of my hearing in my right ear that evening. A trip to the doctor on Saturday revealed that I have an ear infection and probably a sinus infection as well. So I've begun my slow road to recovery via antibiotics. Since I took a nap this afternoon and don't have work tomorrow, I thought that this evening would be a nice place to pick up. But enough about me...
The past month has been quite lively, with an average of over 18 species per weekend in the yard. Much of this is due to the regional fallout of irruptive species this winter (Evening Grosbeak, Varied Thrush, Pine Siskin, etc.). Some recent species of note include a female Townsend's Warbler (above) who, despite the best efforts of our local "bully" Yellow-rumped Warbler, has been visiting the feeders semi-regularly since mid-December. Townsend's Warblers are one of my favorites, and their bright yellow plumage is a sight for sore eyes on the typical gray, overcast winter day here.
Surprisingly, Evening Grosbeaks (above) have visited on two of the past four weekends. Last weekend, a record five were recorded. As was mentioned previously, there was a poor conifer seed crop in the Central Cascades this year, and the influx of this very uncommon urban backyard visitor is almost certainly a result of this. A look at the past decade of FeederWatch results from the past decade shows that Oregon and Washington residents are seeing 2-3 times the normal number of Evening Grosbeaks this winter. Another pleasant surprise has come in the form of Purple Finches. I typically see movements of them in March/April (and sometimes October), but not often outside of those months. Over the current fall/winter season, I've hosted them every month since September and one mature male visited in consecutive weekends at the beginning of this month. I imagine that the same search for seed is responsible for this. And, speaking of irruptive finches, I would be remiss to exclude the Pine Siskins who were present in unusually-high numbers this fall. Their numbers have fallen off significantly over the past month, and I'm seeing approximately 5 at a time per weekend.
This mature Purple Finch hits up the sunflower feeder.
A Pine Siskin picks spilled nyjer seed off of the leaves of a bush.
The winter irruption of Varied Thrushes into the lowlands is a welcome sight, especially since this event is infrequent and unpredictable. Some years, you'll see them outside your window every morning. In others, you may not see them at all. This has easily been the best irruptive year since 2006/2007, where unusually heavy snowfall in November forced them out of the Cascades and Coast Range. The reason for their appearance this year is somewhat more complex, as they began showing up in Central Oregon in record numbers back in October. Whatever the reason, I've felt very grateful to see 3-4 in my yard every morning since late November. We have also been visited more frequently by Red-breasted Nuthatches recently. And I am also happy to report the first true "winter sparrows" of the year. A Golden-crowned Sparrow was briefly observed at the beginning of the month, but did not return. However, a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow showed the following weekend and has been a regular over the past two weeks. Whew... I was beginning to worry that the winter sparrows had abandoned us this year!
This male Varied Thrush forages through the lawn on a January afternoon.
The closely-related American Robins have also been appearing in the trees recently, but haven't come down to feed for some reason.
A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow forages through spilled sunflower seed. Large flocks of Bushtits (25-45) have been the norm over the past month.
Common species have been making news recently as well. Bushtits (above) have been flocking to the suet feeders in unusually larger numbers this month. Part of this may be due to the freezing temperatures that we experienced earlier this month, and the lack of insects that accompanies such weather. Northern Flickers have been visiting more frequently than usual, and I was surprised to see three up in the neighbor's apple tree last weekend. Lack of natural food sources is likely the reason here as well. And a common summer visitor - the Red-winged Blackbird - has made something of a resurgence recently. Three were at the feeders yesterday, and I hope to see more of them in the coming months.
This (juvenile?) male Red-winged Blackbird braves the seemingly-omnipresent rain for a quick meal.
This "Myrtle" subspecies Yellow-rumped Warbler has become a regular, despite the best efforts of the...
... local bully "Audubon's" subspecies (note the yellow throat) Yellow-rumped Warbler.
This male Dark-eyed Junco perches atop one of the rhododendron bushes. House Finches have been present in relatively high numbers recently. Thankfully, the number of diseased individuals has been minimal so far (knock on wood).
Well, it's getting late here. I hope to be back within the next few weeks, completely healthy and with more to report. Until then, here is a summary of my FeederWatch data so far this season...
It's been a while since my last post, which of course means that I was incredibly busy at work. I'm on break now and, though slightly handicapped with my laptop in the shop, finally have some time to share the recent goings-on.
One of the telltale signs of winter is the Varied Thrush. These Robin-like birds flee the mountains when snowfall covers the ground. They may be absent from the lowlands in the winter if the snowfall is insufficient, but we were fortunate to receive a significant amount of precipitation last month. Since the last week of November, we've been hosting 2-3 males in the backyard. They enjoy sunflower chips.
The past few weeks have been particularly good for finches as well. Thanksgiving morning brought us two Evening Grosbeaks (above) and a pair of Purple Finches. Purple Finches are uncommon winter visitors, and are much more likely seen in October, March, and April. Evening Grosbeaks are even less common, but both species have nonetheless visited multiple times in the past few weeks. This is already shaping up to be a very unique winter.
This male Evening Grosbeak has been visiting much more often than expected...
... as has this male Purple Finch.
A female Purple Finch inconspicuously forages through spilled sunflower seed.
While finches and thrushes have been the big news recently, winter warblers have also been frequenting the yard in increasing numbers. Yellow-rumped Warblers have been hawking insects from the trees for several weeks now, but only recently have they begun frequenting the yard for suet. We're currently hosting at least two regulars: one "Audubon's" subspecies and one "Myrtle." The Audubon's is a real territorial jerk and chases other warblers and kinglets out of the yard (he's not so successful with the starlings). The other winter warbler is the Townsend's. Some years are better for others when it comes to Townsend's (last year wasn't so great), so I was very happy to see a female at the suet feeders twice last weekend. I even managed to snap a poor photo of her.
Our not-so-friendly resident "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler prepares to snack on some suet.
This less obnoxious and much prettier Townsend's Warbler enjoys suet in the squirrel/starling-proof feeder.
And I would be remiss at this point if I didn't discuss our Warbler of the Year: the American Redstart. This vagrant female has been visiting the yard semi-regularly since the first week of November, and continued to do so through the beginning of this month. But I have not seen her since the beginning of the month. So who knows if she's moved on, or if I just haven't been looking at the right times.
At least one Ruby-crowned Kinglet has been appearing semi-regularly recently. He/she appears to be more interested in hawking insects than the suet feeders at this point. This past Saturday, one was foraging for insects that were hiding from the rain under our awnings. Interestingly, a bird that's often misidentified as an RC Kinglet - the Hutton's Vireo - made a surprise appearance two days ago. Hutton's Vireos are year-round residents, but are far from regular yard visitors. So that was a nice surprise.
While speaking of finches earlier, I forgot to mention that we're still seeing a ton of Pine Siskins (above). They're showing up in flocks of 20-40, and are going through nyjer like it's going out of style. Their numbers seem to have diminished somewhat this week, so that may be changing soon. Still, I have never seen a showing of Siskins like this before. The closely-related American Goldfinches have been quietly flocking in number of approximately a dozen or so. Lesser Goldfinches have been few and far between.
Starlings are pests, but very good-looking pests.
Northern Flickers have made a comeback, and have even driven some of the Starlings away.
Woodpeckers, absent for most of October, have made their usual winter comeback. Downies are regulars again, with at least one male and one female frequenting the yard. At least one male Northern Flicker (above) has also become a semi-regular. It's nice to see both back in the fold. Somewhat surprisingly, Red-breasted Nuthatches have been absent since October. I have also not seen any "proper" winter sparrows recently (aside from the 10-20 Juncos that forage here).
Well, that's it for now. Have a Merry Christmas and I'll be back sometime in January.
