Hi Tweets,

In the last 36 hours, I've had a number of unusual yard birds in my West Seattle yard. Not unheard-of ones in our area, just pretty rare for my yard (click on each for photo):

Black-headed Grosbeak juvenile (I think - looks like a lightish gape)<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28403140031>

^ Same bird as kitty TV<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28403097111>

Black-headed Grosbeak female taking a bath<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28376368462>
...and dripping afterwards<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28481567315>

Black-headed Grosbeak male<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28481568255>

Black-headed Grosbeak male showing who's boss at the suet feeder.<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28481569215>
All these grosbeaks were only about 3' away through my study window, so hard to get all characters in focus at the same time! The two grosbeaks have been back and forth on my feeders and birdbath, and calling in the woods, for days now.

Western Tanager male. <www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/27865795503> Either this individual or another male Western Tanager had a left eye that had been damaged or diseased<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/27865795503>.

Swainson's (?) Thrush<www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/28403066141>

I wasn't able to get good photos of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher (though I hear them regularly) or several visits from one or more Rufous Hummingbirds in the last couple of days.

I wonder whether last night's storm system brought them in?

Anyway, it's been fun trying not to miss any good photo ops while repeatedly removing my camera cards to download each visit's pictures. Lots of the usual suspects, of course: House Finch families, flickers, towhees, chickadees, jays....

Good birding to all,
Trileigh

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Trileigh Tucker
Pelly Valley, West Seattle
Natural history website: Naturalpresencearts.com<Naturalpresence.wordpress.com>
Photography: Flickr.com/photos/trileigh