End of Summer Birds

Summer is winding down. The first cool nights are here. The bird population in our yard is changing. I haven't seen any Robins for some time doing their running, stopping and listening for worms in the ground. It's oddly silent except for the raucous cries of the Blue Jays and Crows. I still hear an occasional Gray Catbird, though, giving its cat-like calls from deep inside a shrub. 

This one is was sitting out in the open and was about to launch into flight.

A couple of weeks ago three or four Chestnut-sided Warblers were moving around in the thicket close to our driveway with one of the them looking like a male. I went  to get my camera, but then only found this one bird, probably a first year youngster. 

When walking along a trail pishing will usually draw out one or two Common Yellowthroats 

Dragon flies and butterflies abound. Avian migration in the fall is kind of protracted and all you can do is be on the lookout. In my next post I'll talk about Nighthawk migration.

Happy Birding!

Wood Warblers and other spring migrants

The warm weather over the past several months deluded us into thinking that we had skipped winter and that it was spring already, but the birds kept to their usual schedule. 

On a couple of walks I saw among others a Canada Warbler, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Palm Warbler, a Yellow Warbler and a Common Yellowthroat. There were also plenty of Yellow-rumps and A. Redstarts, but none held still long enough for a decent shot.

I always marvel at the great diversity of colors and patterns among the warblers. There is such an amazing congruence between what we find beautiful and what the females of the species find beautiful ---after all it's the females who, over the course of evolution, select the males whose looks they find most pleasing.

Photographing warblers can be extremely frustrating. They are usually high in the trees and moving faster than my finger on the shutter release. Often when I look at the photos at home I can't even find a bird in the tangle of leaves.  

In terms of flycatchers there are plenty of Eastern Phoebes around, but other species are rarer. So I was happy to get this cutie, most likely a Least Flycatcher to judge by the complete eye ring and the short wings. 

Finally I got a brief glance at a Rusty Blackbird walking along the mud bank of the West River, the first one I have seen in a couple of years. Vegetation was blocking my view down to the river and when it finally opened up the bird saw me and promptly disappeared. So no luck in getting more shots.  

Happy spring birding!

Wood Warbler Season

My first thought is, when waking up in the morning, where am I going to bird today. I can't wait to get up and get going. I am fortunate not to have to travel very far to arrive at great birding spots. They are all around me. I just have to make up my mind whether it's going to be a pine forest, a second growth terrain, a grassy field, a swamp,  pond or river...

This weekend with warblers on my mind I hiked up Hogback Mountain to the top of the Tower Trail where last year I had seen my first Blackburnian Warbler astonishing me with his bright orange chest. And I saw him again, on the same moss-covered weather-beaten conifer, with the morning sun reflected in the blazing orange of his throat and chest.

 Eventually he dropped down into a  spruce to forage.

He found a fat spider...

...which he promptly swallowed. Last to go were the spider's legs.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

 Photographing warblers, such as the Black-throated Blue Warbler above or the Black-throated Green Warbler below, who are at home in the shady understory of a forest, present a special challenge. What's needed is a lens with a wide aperture to let in enough light, but the best I can do with mine is an aperture of 6.3, which means I have to use a slow shutter speed and high ISO to get anything at all. So usually I end up with grainy underexposed photos that require a lot of post processing work.

Black-throated Green Warbler

I found this Chestnut-sided Warbler in a power line cut. He was in bright sunlight but didn't want to sit still in his pursuit of insects through the brush until he finally flew into a distant tree to rest for a few minutes.

Cheers and happy birding!

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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!

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