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| Townsend's Warbler, Golden Gate Heights |
A hermit thrush and a townsend's warbler seemed to be companion-calling each other just outside the window. Each "chup" from the hermit was followed by a whistle-like "peep" from the townie. I grabbed my camera and went downstairs to investigate, thinking at first that the hermit was making both calls, which I'd never heard before.
I quietly stepped out onto the landing above our backyard garden area and could hear the hermit making its usual chup call from a hidden perch in our hazel tree, but it soon escaped into a neighbor's yard. That's when the townie flew into the scene, at first lighting on top of a grated metal security door on a another neighbor's house, apparently to check for spiders. Finding nothing of interest it fluttered over to the first neighbor's front-yard juniper tree where it again dug into a spider web (photo above).
When the townie flew out of sight I remained out back, enjoying the morning. I was also waiting to see if anyone interesting would fly into the neighbor's oak tree. I heard some tapping and soon spotted a downy woodpecker going to town on the branches of the oak. Usually when I've seen a downy in that oak, it remains too hidden by leaves and branches to photograph, or the backlight is too intense. I was happy to get a brief opportunity to snap a couple of shots this morning, but my joy was soon cut off, not by the bird flying away, but by the drizzling rain that began to fall on my lens.
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