Blackbirds, Bushtits and Bluebirds???

Another nice day…

The clear blue skies of the morning had given way to a high haze by the time we headed out for our walk.

at the log bay there was the usual activity for this time of the year…

a Black Cap Chickadee…

That decided to be even more co-operative….before joining it’s mate (impossible to tell by just looking at them whether a male or a female)…over in the area of the fallen weeping willow I mentioned yesterday.

a pair of Song Sparrows in the same spot…

and up in one of the Poplar trees…House Finch.  The pair of Canada Geese were out swimming and there were 8 Green Wing Teal along the far shore, the only ducks of the day!  Brewer’s Blackbirds were hanging about and there were 16 or so Tree Swallows…

Red-Wing Blackbirds as well….this one had been scuttling around on the forest floor before climbing up to challenge another male calling from a near by area, no females sighted today, they must all be busy nest building

Speaking of nests…the Bushtits were back working on theirs today.  There is one in the entrance and one in the lower right….

By the viewing platform I spotted the first Yellow Rump Warbler of the season….and since the photo I took didn’t turn out….

here is a file photo one…the guy I saw today was just like this one…a male ‘Audubon’ (yellow chin as opposed to a ‘Myrtle’ that has a white chin) Yellow Rump Warbler.

and now for the puzzler of the day…while I was at the viewing platform I noticed 5 birds up in the top of one of the ‘eagle’ trees….in silhouette against the light, I couldn’t really make them out, even with my good binoculars…

and I know a while back I said not to look for Mountain Bluebirds up in the tops of trees…but I have a feeling that is exactly what they were.  The 5 are in this picture…

This picture only shows 3 but you can make out the peach color on the breast of the lower bird…like a female Mountain Bluebird has…and I think the top bird is a male but of course you are looking at the gray under parts…not at the brilliant blue ‘top’.  They certainly acted like Mountain Bluebirds…flying out ‘bug catching’…they eventually flew off across the estuary…

For interest’s sake this is a file photo of a male Mountain Bluebird…

and this a female although taken from such an angle that you can’t see the coloration on the breast…

This is a male that hung around the log bay for a couple of weeks a couple of years ago.

Sun, Snow, Showers and spring….

One crazy mixed up day but at least we are seeing some sunshine!

Looking up the valley towards Harrison…sunshine

Looking across to Mt. Woodside ….snow

and a few minutes later….showers…

Now for the spring part….

This pair of Canada Geese…another pair flew past while we were walking…

but look carefully into these Hardhack bushes and what do you see?

a Bushtit nest…and there is one of the Bushtits

Hard to see but here is the female with a mouthful of nesting material (moss) Females have light colored eyes while the males have a dark eye.

a last look….I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the progress here but am not going to share the exact location as the birds do not need any human interference.

The bushtit nest building wasn’t the only sign of seasonal progression today…

Back around the end of February I mentioned that March usually brought an influx of Northern Flickers and that we often saw Yellow Shafted and hybrids between the Red and Yellow Shafted at that time…well I guess the cooler than normal weather has held the Flicker migration up…they have been around during the month of March but today is when the numbers really soared….saw 12 or 14  today, they seemed to be everywhere,  Yellow Shafted and hybrids amongst them…

I should mention that Northern Flickers feeding on the ground is normal….they are very good at getting grubs, worms and ants.

Here is one of the ‘hybrids’ as it had the red moustache of the Red Shafted but also has this red ‘V’ on the nape like the Yellow Shafted.

this one showed golden coloration as it flew into this poplar tree…if they stay around for a few days and the weather is favorable I’ll try to get some better pictures but they are quite spooky and don’t allow for a very close approach.