Purple Finch

A Purple finch appeared at our feeder on 23 February 2021. A bird in this plumage may either sex, since males take two years to molt into their burgundy plumage. Somewhat oddly, this bird was eating suet—Purple finches usually eat seeds. This individual appeared to be sick, showing signs of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, a bacterial eye infection found in House Finches and other birds. The disease is not invariably fatal and affects other species to varying degrees. If you look closely, you can see this bird’s head and rump feathers are stained yellowish, typical of the western race that occurs from British Columbia to Baja California. (The eastern race breeds across Canada and into the northern and northeastern United States.)

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglets are common residents in Washington. Mountain populations disperse to lower elevations during the winter, when they are probably joined by migrants from the Canadian interior. These kinglets are found across much of North America and winter across almost all of the United States. I banded this individual on 26 February 2021. At first glance, this bird’s yellow crown seemed to indicate this bird to be a female. Actually the bird is a male, with its scarlet crown feathers almost completely hidden by the yellow ones. Determining kinglet gender should be done with care.

American Robin

Being such a common bird, robins’ beauty tend to be overlooked by many birders. I photographed this bird on 23 February 2021 in Olympia’s West Bay Park. The grass was spangled by rain droplets from a recent storm and robins were prowling for worms. Robins are here all winter, but they have become more noticeable the the last couple of weeks. Note the lack of obvious white spots on this bird’s outer tail feathers, making it one of the western races of robins—which I guess is no great surprise, considering how far west we are.

Red-breasted Merganser

I was delighted to photograph this Red-breasted Merganser on 23 February 2021 in Budd Bay off Olympia. This encounter was my first for the year, which is odd, since I’ve been on the lookout for one and saw dozens in January and February last year. Drake Red-breasted Mergansers have such flamboyant head feathers. Craik et al. (2020) wrote, “Its spectacular asymmetrical nuchal crest appears incongruous with symmetry elsewhere in nature.” Well, I’m not sure about that, but his merganser was definitely having a proverbial bad hair day when it turned to have its back to the wind.

Canada Jay

These photos, taken on 20 February 2021, are not the most wonderful images. I share them because this record is only our second for this jay since our moving to Olympia. Erika and I found two or three birds near Kennedy Creek in nearby Mason County. The second photo shows a jay throwing itself off its perch, later opening its wings to land on a nearby branch. 

Canada Jays are birds of northern North America and the Rocky Mountains. They survive by caching reserve food supplies under tree bark and, using their sticky saliva, beneath lichens. Stranger yet, Canada Jays breed in the late winter, even by early February. They are known to incubate eggs when outdoor temperatures are as low as -30˚ C. They do not attempt second broods when the weather is warmer. Strickland and Ouellet (2020) suggest that Canada Jay populations are declining in the southern edge of their range due to global warming causing the jays’ food storage to spoil.

Varied Thrush

Another Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)—one of our favorite birds—this one from our backyard on 19 February 2021. I assumed that they are closely related to American Robins, but most ornithologists place Varied Thrushes in a genus of their own, Ixoreus. Other researchers merge Ixoreus with Ridgwayia, the Aztec Thrush of Mexico, into the genus Zoothera, which mostly occurs in Asia (George 2020).

Canvasback

On 19 February 2021, Erika and I finally got back outside—no snow, only a threat of rain—and walked along the western shore of Capitol Lake in Olympia. We were surprised by the paucity of ducks, but we did see one interesting one. Even in poor light, this duck is obviously a female Canvasback—note the long, sloping, “ski-jump” shaped forehead and bill. Canvasback numbers fluctuate with weather (lower numbers in dry years) and hunting pressure. In 2001, numbers were 18% below those of 2000, but 3% above their 1955-2001 average. Canvasback numbers have recovered since very low numbers in the 1970s and 1980s (Mowbray 2020).

Oregon Junco

Before the snow storm, I planned to post this image of an Oregon Junco and to discuss the “nightmarish,” “turbulent” history of the species (Nolan et al. 2020), Oregon Juncos are one of 15 races, of what were recently considered to be five species. Now all are named Dark-eyed Juncos. Eight of the western races were referred to as Oregon Juncos. Eastern birds were named Slate-colored Juncos. The bird in the photo, banded on 3 February 2021 in Olympia, probably, is either J. h. oreganus, J. h. shufeldti. or J. h. montanus. The snow storm, on 12 February 2021, brought plenty of juncos to our feeders. Several were unexpected visitors at the suet, an odd food sources for these seed-loving birds.

Fox Sparrow

Erika and I spied a Fox Sparrow under the feeders during our 13 February 2021 snow storm. Note how dark this individual is, typical of the Pacific Northwest races of this species. You can’t see it from this image, but this Fox Sparrow carried a band on its left leg, presumably a bird I ringed last fall.

Anna’s Hummingbird

On the morning of 14 February 2021, I trudged out to the hummingbird feeder in our backyard. I brushed off the snow off the holes on the feeder top and brought the feeder indoors to rise the ice out the the feeding holes. As I carried the feeder back to the pole from which it hangs, an Anna’s Hummingbird flew up, perched on the feeder, and took a long sip of the sugar-water inside the feeder. I stood still, wishing I had my camera and a third hand to take a photo. This male visited later in the morning.