Thank Some Deity Or Other It's Friday

Despite the high tide, I checked out Holden Creek after work today.  After what seemed like a really, really, long week I was ready for a bit of meditative birding.
A party of 8 western sandpiper were feeding on a small pool on the marsh, viewable from the raised area. A flock of some 20 least sandpiper occasionally whizzed around, flushed variously by merlin, northern harrier and red-tailed hawk. They were apparently feeding at the back pool. Other than a pair of green-winged teal, the marsh was seemingly quiet.
A belted kingfisher and 3 great-blue heron were hunting around the flooded creek edges.
Mucking around in the shrubbery were a family group of common yellowthroat, numerous house finches and white-crowned sparrows as well as both Pacific-slope and willow flycatchers.

Mystery Revealed

Given the nature of the picture, I'm not going to go into finer identification criteria with this one...
So, the most popular vote was in favour of merlin, eh? I'm delighted to say after weeks of most people getting the mystery birds irritatingly right... it's not merlin!
Spotted sandpiper was next most voted. Guess what? Nope, it' not spotted sandpiper.
Equal votes went to marbled murrelet and Anna's hummingbird... and I'm delighted to reveal that the honours go to the hummer!

Phew - well, now that that's done, we'll get back to normal. I'll post a new challenge for you all in the next day or so. But I promise I'll go a little easier on you all... Watch this space.

Hot Hot Heat

Well, the tide was up when I got to Holden Creek this evening so there was no wandering around the marshes for me.
In fairness, I gave it my best shot but the creek was deeper than my wellies, so to speak.
So I had to content myself with staying in dry land and 'scoping the seemingly shorebird-free vista before me. Pah.
Although the place was waderless, as far as I was concerned, there was a bit of stuff going on to keep me  entertained for a while.
There were plenty of post-breeding gatherings - house and purple finches, mingling with the large starling flocks in the dead hawthorns, and quite a build-up of cowbirds with around 20 birds present.

The first belted kingfisher I've seen here for a while posed nicely, gasping for breath in the soaring temperatures.  
And I finally got a shot of the chaser-like dragonfly shown here - apparently a common whitetail. I've seen a few of these dazzling beasties, and several other wicked looking odanata, just lately.