In the quiet of the woods the bubbling song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet erupted, and the high trill of the Brown Creeper signaled its presence. The hormonal drive to breed had birds singing regardless of the weather.
The Golden-crowned Kinglet is a tiny bird of conifer forests that has a yellow, black, and white head pattern. It spends most of its time in the upper reaches of pine, spruce, and cedar trees.
A bird has a sleek crest, a black mask across the silky brown face, a berry in its mouth, and a yellow band across the tip of its tail. It must be a Cedar Waxwing!
Although seen most often in winter, the Varied Thrush is a breeding bird of the Olympics and Cascades and may also be found in the Blue Mountains of southeast Washington.
Anyone who has grown up in the eastern United States knows about the Baltimore Oriole as a woodland and garden bird and the mascot of the baseball team with the same name. Less well known, however, is Bullock’s Oriole, the western North American counterpart to the Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula.
If you are in this small bird’s primary habitat, which is long-needled pine forests such as Ponderosa Pine, you should be able to find it fairly easily because of its hyperactive behavior and incessant and distinctive three note call.
It is found only along fast-flowing, rocky streams in the western United States and Canada. Generally non-migratory, but may descend to lower elevations in winter. It is the only truly aquatic songbird (it swims underwater) and has no other close relatives in North America
The cascading song of the Canyon Wren descends from cliffs and canyon walls, and is surely not forgotten once heard. It is most often heard in spring, but there are times when a mated pair will sing spontaneously at other times of year.
