Monday, May 16, 2011

With Warblers patience, patience, patience...

I took a break - no birding, blogging or commenting - while my camera was being repaired. I was afraid I was going to miss all of the spring warbler season and was getting pretty morose, but I got the camera back just in time.

Warblers don't sit still for a photo shoot. It takes patience, patience and more patience. Most of my photos ended up just showing leaves and bird-shaped shadows. So I am going back for another try at that elusive Prairie Warbler, or the Black-throated Green Warbler, the Black-throated Blue Warbler....



This Canada Warbler was flitting through dark moist undergrowth on a neighbor's wood lot.


A Chestnut-sided Warbler was singing high up in a tree.

A Common Yellowthroat scolding me, but then calmed down.





Yellow Warblers always have such an innocently sweet expression, but they are ferocious predators of invertebrates!


Not a warbler but a Warbling Vireo

My time waiting for my camera wasn't all wasted. I got to go shopping for some sorely needed spring clothing, caught up with my emails with friends and relatives and got to read a couple of books. It actually turned out to be a nice respite from bird-centered activities - just too bad it had to be during peak warbler migration.

Must check out: amazing distribution maps for many species in the "State of the Birds 2011" report with much of the information collected by eBird  -- shows how important it is to submit your sightings.

Cheers and good birding!

Please leave a comment.


32 comments:

  1. Nice to see you back from your break! Happy Spring Birding!

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  2. Hi...patience pays of for precious!! I love the Warblers and there so many different ones!! You have some lovely ones here, good that you got your cmera back in time.
    I can't wait to start seeing them here in Maine...it should be very soon!!

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  3. Your patience certainly paid off, your images are absolutely gorgeous! Sometimes a change of plans/routine like a broken camera can be just what's needed. As long as it didn't keep you too long away from birding!

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  4. The warblers are beautiful birds. Wonderful sightings and great photos. Happy birding!

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  5. Beautiful birds...so colourful.
    Lovely images.

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  6. I love the yellowthroat shots... I hear ya about the warblers not sitting still. Bird-shaped shadows, indeed!!!

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  7. Hi Hilke

    What a great collection of warblers. One of the true joys of spring, like living jewels.

    Regards
    Guy

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  8. Thank you, Dawn, Grammie, Katja, Eileen, Andrew, Jen and Guy, for taking the time, for your thoughtful comments!

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  9. For birds that don't sit still, you sure did a nice job capturing them!

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  10. Great captures Hilke. Boom & I have missed you. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  11. Lovely photos of all the small birds. Glad your camera came back soon. My camera is away being fixed too!

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  12. Hi Hilke. Nice to see you back and sharing some spring warbler colours. The Warbling Vireo would be at home with oue 'Wood Warblers' ... mostly drab greys and browns.

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  13. Fantastic post and photos! Love the little masked bandit.

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  14. What a collection Hilke! I think warbler photography should be its own speciality. Just IDing them is challenge enough. Seems like you have to find a hot bush and hope someone lands for longer than three seconds. A camera that shoots through leaves would be helpful too!

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  15. Patience pays off in the end. Some great birds there.

    On the catching up, I have lots I should do, but hard to put the camera down, and stay in and do it. lol

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  16. Lots of fun captures here, good luck on the black-throated green and blue warblers next time!

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  17. Despite leaves and branches you got some wonderful shots!
    I LOVE the one you caught in the middle of singing.
    I don't think I could do without my camera. I'd have to borrow a spare. :)

    Thanks so much for your visit.

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  18. What a great post on warblers. I love them and your pictures are fantastic. Sometimes cameras, like all machines, can be a real problem.

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  19. The chestnut warbler is beautiful and I really like the common yellowthroat to. We dont have them here. Thanks for your nice comment.

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  20. Hi there - the variety of these warblers is remarkable - as are the colours. It makes me wonder how many shutter clicks it took to get these pictures!

    Cheers -Stewart M - Australia

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  21. Happy that your camera is working again. Beautiful images. Well done!

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  22. Wonderful captures indeed!!!
    Thanks for the link to the State of the Birds.

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  23. Great captures of these hard to capture birds! That little Warbling Vireo is so cute!

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  24. It is sure hard to get them. But somehow that is part of the fun. Isn´t it? Great set of birds.

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  25. You are a very patient person!You got beautiful pictures,thanks for sharing,glad you are back,phyllis

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  26. Warblers are probably about the main colorful and beautiful birds, but as you said so hard to get pictures off!!! Still you got some nice shots there of beautiful birds.

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  27. Hi there - thanks for having a look at my blog. In answer to your question - Australian "Moutain Ash" and European/ American "Mountain Ash" are not the same species - a nice example of why things have scientific names as well as common ones. The Australian Mountain Ash is a type of gum tree - Eucalyptus regnans to be precise!

    Cheers - Stewart M.

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  28. Those Warblers seem to be great birds! With that yellow it makes you feel like summer - great shots!

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  29. ...you got some fantastic photos here! The best shots I ever got of a Prairie Warbler were at Ding Darling in Florida. The bird was so enamored with the clicking of the camera he almost landed on my hat! Head south to the Indigo Trail! :-)

    ...glad your camera is back in working order.

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  30. Glad you are back and your camera as well! And also glad you got these gorgeous feathered friends there!
    Beautiful!

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  31. Such good pictures.
    (she said with a touch of envy :-)
    What was wrong with your D300, that it needed repair?
    "scolding" really describes the indignant sound of some birds.

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  32. Wonderful shots Hilke! I understand the need for a break! I had one foisted one me too b a computer virus and a strained back. All is well now (for good I hope!) but I missed most of warbler season too. I did not know it would get over so quickly!

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