a Varied Thrush sort of day….

It was a Varied Thrush sort of day….

dark, cold and very, very wet!

here is a closer look of one of the Varied Thrush…..  despite, or maybe because of the wet weather….it was a very ‘birdy’ day!

Saw the first Great Blue Heron (on the log) that I’ve seen for a while, and there were the usual Mallard and almost a dozen Common Merganser (2 in above photo).  That large mixed flock of Golden Crowned Kinglets and Chestnutback Chickadees were busy in the bushes and trees along the trail…Black Cap Chickadees were equally busy in another area.

The area beside the log bay was absolutely ‘hopping’ with Red-Wing Blackbirds,

the most Dark Eyed Junco’s I’ve seen so far (30 +) – only managed to capture one in the above picture….it’s called ‘find the bird’!  There were also the usual Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhee…

this picture of more Red-wing Blackbirds, this time bathing…should show just how hard it was raining!

on the way back, finding myself surrounded by Gold Crown Kinglets, I just had to try for a picture, despite knowing it was hopeless in the dull light and rain….and then to top things off…I spotted a Wilson’s Snipe at the bay by the viewing platform…

tried the ‘point the camera in the general direction and hope for the best’ technique…and it worked…it’s there…. to the left…in the green stuff.