Birds - Birdspotting

Spotted some pretty cool birds last week. Bald Eagle, Wood Ducks & Spotted Towhee at Vancouver Lake Regional Park. Cedar Waxwing, Golden Crown Sparrow & Hairy Woodpecker in our backyard. The biggest surprise though was a Puffin & Rooster in our backyard covered with snow 😯 😂

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)

Puffin (metal sculpture)

Rooster (metal sculpture)

Birds - Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Spotted this Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) on our backyard bird feeder. Bewick's are pretty active & normally I only catch glimpses of them foraging for bugs in the bushes. But this guy was pretty bold & got close enough for me to photograph with my phone. Last pic is him dive bombing me 😂

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Birds - Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

It's truly amazing how Anna's hummingbirds are able to survive the cold winters here in the PNW. This guy stayed busy guarding our two feeders from at least two other Anna's. I'm thinking we may need to put up a few more feeders 🤔

Birds - Audubon Warbler

A delightful flock of Audubon Warbler (Setophaga coronata ssp auduboni) swarmed through our yard today. This is kind of an unusual bird for our backyard, and is especially unusual in a flock. Audubon Warbler are supposedly a year-round resident here in the Pacific Northwest but, as far as I've seen, they are most common here during Spring and Fall migration.

Audubon Warblers are the western version of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Warblers in general are a variable group of small perching birds that are small, vocal and insectivorous. Due to the difficulty in identifying Warblers, they are many times referred to as LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs).

Birds - Golden Crown Kinglets

Spotted these Golden-Crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) at my favorite birding place, Vancouver Lake Regional Park, Washington.  According to Wikipedia, they are one of the smallest passerines found throughout much of North America. Photographed with a Sony RX10IV on October 28, 2019.

Bird Feeder Report

There's been lots of activity at the feeder this week. We've been seeing alot of northern flicker feeding on the suet in our custom cage bird feeder. We've also been seeing alot of bush tits who come through in huge flocks of about 30 at a time and totally swarm the suet. Dark eyed junco have been quite common hopping around on the ground and on the feeders.

Townsend Warbler with flock of Bushtit

We've also had the pleasure of seeing Townsend's warbler on the feeder pecking at the suet and picking up seed on the tray below the feeder. Anna's hummingbird have been very common all winter at the hummingbird feeder.

Anna's Hummingbird feeding from hummingbird feeder

Luckily it's been a warm winter compared to most. So the Anna's aren't having too hard of a time this winter.