Birds I'm Watching: Orange-crowned Warbler

Looking from my living room window into the garden, I was momentarily puzzled by a bird I saw this afternoon bathing in the fountain that sits just outside. It took me a moment to understand that I was looking at an Orange-crowned Warbler. 

These birds (despite their name) almost never show the orange crown. In 25 years of birding in Sonoma County only once before have I seen any orange at all on the head of an Orange-crowned Warbler, so this was quite a surprise. Perhaps the crown showed so clearly because the bird had been in the bubbling water coming up from the fountain and its feathers were wet. I grabbed my camera and managed to get a couple of shots through the window before the bird flew off. Nearby, an Anna's Hummingbird was enjoying nectar from Echium flowers.

Birds I'm Watching: Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa

I went out to Annadel State Park for a hike this morning to look for spring migrants. I saw quite a lot of birds. including Band-tailed pigeon (16), turkey vulture, cliff swallow (20 or so), Bewick's wren, Anna's hummingbird, crow, mallard, red-shouldered hawk, Pacific-slope flycatcher (3), ruby-crowned kinglet, raven, oak titmouse, pileated wooddpecker (heard), acorn woodpecker, warbling vireo, wild turkey (including males in full display), quail, many Wilson's warblers (at least 9), black-headed grosbeak (7), Orange-crowned warbler (8), yellow warbler (1), robins nesting and feeding hatchlings, spotted towhee, bushtit, chestnut-backed chickadee, dark-eyed junko, and lesser goldfinch--27 species in total.

The black-headed grosbeaks (above), and the warblers have just returned from warmer parts south. Pictured below is Wilson's warbler--not a very good shot: these guys move around a lot.