Newest Stitch and Newest Birds

Here's what I've managed to stitch so far on "Wise as an Owl".

Can you tell I spent most of the weekend gardening and not stitching?

Once in a while, when the cats ask to go outside, I see something I would not have otherwise.

In this case it was two Bird Events!

The Steller's Jays on the bottom of the photo were mobbing the Sharp-shined Hawk on the upper left of the photo. At the same time the Pileated Woodpecker on the right was pounding away and ignoring everyone else. 

The hawking mobbing was quite raucous!  Five of six Jays squawked loudly, while high up in the air, all the Swallows were twitting with great agitation.

The woodpecker worked on, unconcerned.

As it has been several months since I've seen this large bird, I was very happy to watch him work.

I only wish the photos were better. Though it was a cloudy day, he was backlit with the morning light.  

"What's up?" 

The hollow branch made a most satisfying 'thunk'.

As he was larger than the hawk, apparently he did not consider the bird to be any kind of threat.

The Steller's Jays were so upset, that they also mobbed the woodpecker, and not longer after this photo was taken he flew off in search of a quieter location.

I took a walk later in the morning and found a couple of more birds including either a Wilson's Warbler or a Yellow Warbler.  I did not get a very good look at it, and was not able to snap a photo.

I did manage to get a snap of a Bushtit as it flitted about in a bush.

And I was rewarded with a sighting of a new to me bird - an Orange-Crowned Warbler.  It has a far more colorful name than the bird deserves!

The bird's colors are very muted, but it does have a lovely song.  These birds summer from northern California and up through Washington and then spill over to most of Canada. Not bad birding for one day.