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While I did not set up all my equipment Thursday (7-16-2020) on the back deck , I did manage some grab shots with the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom of a red-breasted nuthatch at the suet feeder hanging on the back shed.
I ran out of suet, therefore the suet feeders remained empty for quite some time until the bird food store re-opened. After my son filled the feeders, they become a magnet for various birds.
Nuthatches and a flock of bushits flocked to the feeder Tuesday (7-21-2020) morning. One nuthatch held out against the swarm of bushtits.
The bushtits created interesting shadows on my shed.
My neighbor's cat did not seem to bother the birds.
Wednesday (7-22-2020) started out overcast, which made for good lighting but high ISO settings. I no sooner got out on the back deck when my son pointed out a pileated woodpecker on the nearest tree. It spent some time at the suet feeder, then flew to one of my Doug firs. .
From there it flew to my neighbors where it hunted for insects in the back yard.
The hIghlight of the day was a rufous hummingbird in my neighbor's flower bed. Up until now I had never seen a rufous anywhere in Edmonds other than at Pt. Edwards around the condos.
Not good shots, but they show the distinctive tail of the rufous.
The woodpecker parade was not over as a pair of northern flickers made an appearance.
The pale red chevron on the back of the male's neck is barely visible, but it shows that it is a red-shafted/yellow-shafted intergrade bird. I have photographed many of them in Edmonds.
The bushtits continue to come to the suet feeders. I initially thought it was a flock, but I now think it might be the fledglings of the two adults I photographed earlier. if you study the photos closely, you can see an adult feeding one of the other birds.
Thursday morning (7-23-2020) shots with 1DxII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom.
The flickers were quite active in the backyard this morning. They are quite skittish and I could only get a grab shot of a male at the ground suet feeder. I need to pull some of the grass in front of the feeder.
A brown creeper was climbing up one of the Doug firs.
Wow - great variety, Bill. Exciting pileated sequence! Nice to see the Rufous hummers too. I also think they are juvies. At least one looks like a male.
<p>One of the feistiest hummingbird in North America. The brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders, going after (if not always defeating) even the large hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their...
Hummer action continued Thursday afternoon as two chased each other around our backyards. I thought both were rufous, but the one on the left looks like a rufous while the one on the right looks like an Anna's in the only photo I got of the two of them together. I call it a Sasquatch shot, which is one step lower in quality than an ID shot.
The Anna's perched on parts of the plants while feeding on the blossoms. I have never seen a hummer do this. It certainly saves a lot of energy, akin to shutting off your car's engine while filling up at the gas pump.
I tried to take a sequence of birds coming and going from the suet feeder. To do so, I shot handheld at 1/1000 @ f/16 with the 1DxII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom in order to both freeze the action and increase the depth of field.
The best sequence I got was of a red-breasted nuthatch warding off a chestnut-backed chickadee that was trying to land on the feeder. The chickadee is approaching the feeder in the lower right corner.
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