Northern Flicker

I found this Flicker nest site literally right next to my parking spot in an area I like to explore quite regularly. Since it's quite close to home I was able to check on progress fairly often. I think the young ones may have fledged and left the nest in recent days.

These are all photos of the female, the male having the distinguishing black moustache. I will have shots of him and one or two of the young ones as well at a later date.

American Robin - Nest

A pair of Robins decided to build their nest about ten feet from one of my windows this Spring. I thought they might give up since it was hard for me not to disturb them given it was near my front entrance. I did my best to avoid bothering the sitting female as much as possible while still following what was going on. In the end it turned out to be a failed attempt as something ultimately raided the next and removed all but one partly incubated egg which I later found on the ground. My guess is the culprit was likely a Blue Jay since there have been several in the area.

Spotted Sandpiper - May 25

Blue-headed Vireo - May 26

Hermit Thrushes - May 24

I don't know whether these were late arrivals  from this year or just resident birds but it seems there was an abundance of Hermit Thrushes in this particular area on this day. My vote would be for the former since this has been a colder than normal Spring and migrants seem to be later as a rule. On a subsequent visit to the location there were no thrushes to be found.

Spotted Sandpipers - May 21

Red-necked Phalaropes

I received a text message one Sunday that there were dozens of Phalaropes off the beach at West Head. (Thanks Bill)   I had planned, like most Sundays to spend a few hours photographing birds and this sounded like a great opportunity. I ended up spending a couple hours taking shots and would gladly had stayed longer except I managed to get myself totally wet and it wasn't the most pleasant weather - cold and windy. There had been a storm in the preceding days that had managed to blow hundreds of these birds onshore.   I only witnessed a small portion of the total - Bill estimated about 1000 just off of West Head. Normally these birds would be well out to sea and on their way to their breeding grounds in the Arctic.
      Most of the sightings I've had in the past have been of juveniles and birds in Winter plumage  so it was a treat to see many in mostly full breeding plumage.  Given that they generally don't have much  contact with humans they don't seem to have much fear and are quite approachable which is always a bonus with photography. May 10.