The Response Was Overwhelming!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to weigh in on the Cedar Waxwing's tail.  The response was overwhelmingly in favor of changing the last row to yellow.  I orginally tried DMC 422 but decided it was not bright enough.

So here's DMC 726 - I think this is truer to the bird. 

He does too, so he's happy now...

...everybody is happy now!

Just when I thought we could take down our 'Watch out for baby quail" sign...

We have several young California Quail again.

Much, much smaller than all the other birds.

There's a group of two youngsters who appear to be hanging out on their own, and then this group of three with their Mama Bird.

She looks to be doing a good job.

I am now seeing White-crowned Sparrows every day.  They are one of my Winter Regular birds.

At first I thought this young Robin was a fir cone, but upon further investigation...

We looks very newly fledged to me.

This bird was my Big Excitement Dancing Up and Down on Sunday morning.

He's a male Common Yellowthroat. 

You'd think I'd have seen anything named 'Common' long before now...

...but no!  He is a new Yard Bird, new County Bird, and new State Bird for me!

Also on Sunday morning I suddenly realized that I was hearing the weird and haunting call of several Varied Thrush.

I was able to locate this female and snap off a couple of photos. These birds disappear deep into mature forests to raise their young, so it is by far more common to see them in the fall and winter when they reemerge.  If you are interested, here's a link to their Typical Voice. Take a listen, it is very different from any other bird you've heard.