A Black-and-white Warbler came to the bubbler for a couple of quick baths this morning.  There’s also life high in the trees behind our yard.  Here are two photos from the past week:

Pileated Woodpecker

Raccoon

First Eastern Phoebe of the season in our back yard.  Just one last usual fall visitor has yet to make an appearance:  an Orange-crowned Warbler.

First American Goldfinch (adult female) of the season in our back yard, at the cylinder seed feeder.   After I saw her, I put up a feeder with sunflower chips in the pergola.

And in the afternoon, a Yellow-throated Warbler made the first appearance I’ve ever seen in our back yard:

Yellow-throated Warbler

First Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season in our back yard, at the mixed-nut feeder.

We were in Tucson for a long weekend spanning from the end of October to the beginning of November.  We saw some birds we’d seen there almost two years ago:  Cactus Wrens, a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, a Vermilion Flycatcher, Verdins, Gila Woodpeckers, and Gilded Flickers.  We also saw some new birds this time:  a few Pyrrhuloxias, a Say’s Phoebe, Rock Wrens, a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, a Curve-billed Thrasher, several Greater Roadrunners, plus a pink-sided Dark-eyed Junco and a Chipping Sparrow.  And there were birds familiar to Florida:  House Finches,  Northern Mockingbirds, Red-tailed Hawks, a Loggerhead Shrike.   We saw these birds on short walks at Saguaro National Park (east) and Molino Basin, on Mt. Lemmon.

Say’s Phoebe

Saguaro National Park (east)

We also went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where a funny thing happened on our way to see the 2:00 p.m. Raptor Free Flight show:  My better half spotted two Cooper’s Hawks with prey up in a tree.

Cooper’s Hawks, with Cactus Wren

Cooper’s Hawk with Cactus Wren

Barn Owl (one of the beauties at the 2:00 Raptor Free Flight show)

On our first day back in Jacksonville, I saw the season’s first Hermit Thrush in our back yard, taking a series of baths in the bubbler in the late afternoon as the light was fading.  It is good to go, and it is good to come back.