Hi There

Because of all the beautiful birds that turn up on Blip, I’ve become much more interested in the ones in my yard, hoping to find oh, say, a wayward Cardinal who flew just a little farther west than he intended to or one of those dear little butter butts that Life’s Little Moments has in her Bistro. I often lament the fact that I don’t seem to have anything but small brown birds that can’t compare to the incredibly beautiful and colorful ones on Blip, particularly those in the eastern U.S. (never mind the ones in Australia and New Zealand – they’re a whole other subject). I do frequently see Northern Flickers, Steller Jays, and of course my beloved crows. While they’re not in my yard, I don’t have to expend much effort to find Red-winged Blackbirds, Great Blue Herons or another favorite the Cormorant. And then there are the gulls which I dearly love. So, I can’t complain and now I really enjoy trying to identify the different birds that do show up.

I was happy enough when I spotted this little guy. He’s page 329 in my Birds of the Puget Sound Region – a Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) and while this isn’t the best picture, I was just glad he held almost still long enough for me to snap the shutter.