A Lucky Day

I took this photo today during a bird walk we took on the Reedsport Levee, one of our favorite “hot spots” for birding. This Steller’s Jay appears to be trying to hide from me behind a willow branch.  The sun was also playing hide and seek with us, but we were lucky enough to complete our bird walk without getting rained on, and we were able to identify 28 species.  Toping that, two of the birds we identified were “first” for us, a Red-breasted Merganser, and the Myrtle form of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I had assumed the warbler was the Audubon’s form of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, because we have seen them a lot, and it wasn’t until I got home and looked closely at the photos that I realized I had the Myrtle form of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I repeat, it was a lucky day.