Two in the Bush

Coming home from our daily ramble today, the toddler and I spotted a pair of golden-crowned Kinglets in the ocean spray shrub in our front yard.  Of course the shrub doesn't look like it does in the linked photo; the leaves are all off and only shriveled seed heads remain, which is what attracted the Kinglets in the first place.  We've got quite a collection of birds hanging out in the front yard right now, everything from a tiny Pacific or winter wren to the unidentified sparrow that scuffles by the front porch (I think it's probably a song sparrow) to the flashy little Anna's hummingbirds that are a constant, noisy presence at the window feeder and in the top of the elder tree near the front door.

While the cold snap was here a few weeks ago, I hung out a suet cage for any little birds who might not be able to find other food in the frozen landscape.  The only critters who have found it so far are the local crows, who have done a good job of picking most of it out.  I really don't mind the crows myself, but I'm not going to refill the cage with suet until (and unless) we have another really cold spell.  The crows have plenty of other opportunities for food around here.

The SRKW have been conspicuously absent from local waters lately.  Since we've been having some pretty impressive winds off the coast, I hope they are in some remote, sheltered inlet to the north where no prying eyes can find them but where the new babies aren't facing the challenge of trying to breathe in high seas.  I was hopeful to hear that a number of fins had been spotted off Lummi Island over the holiday weekend, but they turned out to be transients.  Here's hoping our residents show up again soon!