Rain... Snow... Sunshine...

The weather around here has been crazy lately. We get several inches of snow, the temperature rises and it melts, we get rain, then it snows again. I thought that I would put out my hummingbird feeder to lure some of the year-round population of Anna's hummingbirds to my window. It didn't take too long before one came zipping by to get some nectar:



If anyone is interested in hummingbirds, I recommend this PBS show you can watch online:
"Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air"
They are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet, and this video really highlights some of the things that make them so extraordinary.

In other news, a flock of 20+ robins is moving through the area, and they have sought refuge by the creek behind my house. I took the opportunity to grab some quick portraits of them:




checking me out





and a lonely little sparrow on a snowy morning:


One of my favorite things about photographing birds is that I can take a common and otherwise un-exciting bird that I have lived around my whole life and capture its beauty, thus making me appreciate how lovely even the most seemingly mundane things in life are.

Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

Hooray for the Great Backyard Bird Count and the signs of spring popping up everywhere! I went to Catherine Creek today with a dual purpose- to kick off wildflower season 2011 and to hopefully find some unique woodpecker species for my bird count checklist. I didn't see any woodpeckers, but I did get nice shots of some Golden Crowned Sparrows:







A little further down the trail the coolest thing happened. I heard rustling in a bramble of blackberry and snowberry, and when I looked I saw a flash of what appeared to be a Fox Sparrow. I remembered that I had my phone with me and on it are the recordings of all the western bird songs. So I whipped that sucker out and started playing the Fox Sparrow song. Immediately a very curious Fox Sparrow started making agitated call notes, and eventually responded to my song by mimicking it. I got a few quick pics of him popping his head up through the thicket to check me out...




A very concerned Fox Sparrow singing to my iphone

On the wildflower front, the Grass Widows were in full form:









I love it when wildflowers start to emerge from the decaying remains of last years blooms:


Columbia Desert Parsley, Lomatium columbianum


Pungent Desert Parsley, Lomatium grayi

Lesser goldfinch




Waxing crescent

While the rest of the country gets pounded with snow, we have clear blue skies in the Pacific Northwest- go figure. It is mighty cold, though. I still knew I should get some vitamin D while I could, so I went out to Catherine Creek to do a hike that I discovered there a year ago. I brought along the SX30, and I am glad I did. I came across some chickadees, and Mountain Chickadees at that, and they were being as cooperative as they could be for such busy little birds.









I know some of these are a little out of focus, but it's hard to achieve perfection when the bird is constantly flitting around looking for bugs. I also saw a new bird for my list, a brown creeper, and I snapped some un-post-worthy pics of him. They are even busier than chickadees (if such a thing is possible).

On a totally unrelated tangent, here are some pics I shot of the moon:




I labeled the second one with some of the bigger features visible- it is very satisfying to take a picture of the moon, then reference a moon atlas to pick out its features. Very cool.