coffeeandcanopies's Journal

The squirrel took over our feeders for a lot of the day, but catching a photo of an American Goldfinch and a House finch together was great! I also observed an Anna's Hummingbird feeding from sapsucker holes. Hopefully I can catch a photo of this behavior soon.

We took a quick jaunt to Smith and Bybee Wetlands after work. This short little trail is certainly becoming one of our favorite for a weeknight walk. A girl asked us if we had seen any wooly caterpillars. My heart was broken that we could not find any for her. I love seeing parents getting their kids engaged in nature.

Ok so maybe we did not run to Mount St Helens, but we did take an leisurely cruise through the range to a couple of the interpretive trails. While the day was a small day for overall wildlife and plant identifications, it was a beautiful day for views.

The explorations made me realize several things:

1) Driving into the mountains still overwhelms the senses
2) A bigfoot tour seems like a must
3) There is a lot of things terribly wrong with my camera
4) Randomly talking to hunters with scopes is just the best thing for social distance socializing on a hike

Today was a busy day at work so I took an hour after to unwind in the backyard. As the bushtits flew between the feeders and various yards like the piranhas of the sky and the Anna's Hummingbird continued expressing its general discontent with the existence of all other living beings, I casually snapped photos of anything that moved without paying particular attention.

As I downloaded the day's photo log, I realized the sparrow I shrugged off was a little golden surprise. A Golden-crowned sparrow had sneaked it's way into the usual crowd. That will teach me to pay attention a bit better!

Although nothing rare stopped by, it was nice to take a break from work to peak out the various windows at all the birds and squirrels busily moving around. To paint a mental picture for you, imagine my face pressed against the glass as I just watched longingly, pretending I was out hiking.

I could not believe the variety of species that visited within 15 mins. I decided to start keeping my camera next to the door and potentially annoy hardcore birders by photographing and documenting visitors. Helps keep the forehead smudge from the window too! :)

In addition to those photographed, we observed several California Scrub-Jays, our "resident" Anna's Hummingbird, dorky crows, bushtits, Eurasian collared-doves and of course all the squirrels. It is nice to have the feeders back up.

Hopefully next week I can keep up this small daily track of the feeders and surrounding areas without creeping out my neighbors with the camera too much.