Sit Spot & Ridge Exploration

Sitting in one spot to observe birds is an activity – or rather, an inactivity – we find rewarding. Not only does it immerse us in our natural surroundings, but it tunes us in to the ebbs and flows of bird life. A few weeks ago, we sat quietly in our neighborhood woods to watch and listen to the birds.
 
Once we settled in, it took about 15 minutes for the birds to return to their baselines. Chestnut-backed Chickadees bopped here and there, an Acorn Woodpecker laughed nearby, two Wilson’s Warblers sang from different directions, a Red-shouldered Hawk called from above, and a Spotted Towhee “MEEEW??“-ed from inside a bush.
 
This Hermit Thrush sang hauntingly in the distance.

While this Purple Finch sang from a treetop.

Suddenly, a Pileated Woodpecker glided through the conifers and landed directly in front of us, no more than 10 feet away! Stunned, we remained motionless so as to not startle him. A minute later, he moved to the douglas-firs behind us.

He stayed a while, treating us to views of all his angles while he worked his way around the tree. Check out the red cheek stripe, indicating the bird is male.

Later, after he moved on, we heard him drumming in the distance.

After sit-spotting for a couple hours, we explored the neighborhood’s ridge-top.

A dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk we occasionally see in our area made an appearance and soared with a Turkey Vulture directly above us.

Meanwhile, a gang of Violet-green Swallows zipped acrobatically overhead.

Though we didn’t photograph many birds during this outing, we captured some colorful wildflowers! We’re newbies to wildflower identification, so please let us know if any are misidentified.