Hooded Warbler

One of my recent hikes on South River Falls Trail (back in May) yielded the usual menagerie of spring migrants, including some that nest in the mountains of Virginia. One species in particular that nests in Shenandoah National Park is Hooded Warbler.

At the very start of my most recent visit, Tammy and I came across a Hooded Warbler that appeared to be gathering nesting material. I took several photos of the bird as it moved about the bushes very close to the ground. It was quite shady in those spots, so I set the ISO on my camera up to 400 in an attempt to compensate for the low light. When the bird suddenly perched in direct sunlight, I had time to snap several pictures that turned out to be above average. Unfortunately I did not have a chance to readjust the ISO back down to 100 before taking these, so they are a bit overexposed. But I will take what I can get :-)

Chestnut-sided Warbler

I have to be careful when I tell people that I "go hiking", because they often assume that my purpose is to hike, as in "to get from point A to point B". If I ignored birds and all wildlife, and did not carry a camera, then I might hike that way. But it is very difficult for me to ignore birds or any wildlife, and I nearly always carry my camera, so my objective when I hike is definitely not focused on getting from point A to point B. In fact, if anyone ever suggests that it would be cool to accompany me on a hike, I immediately warn them about what I like to call "birdwatching pace". When I hike, I am slow. Really slow. Any bird song, or movement, or wildlife in general, will distract me and may result in incessant photographic attempts. It is not uncommon for me to average about 1 mile per hour when I hike. If the chosen trail is 6 miles long, then prepare for 6 hours of hiking that is punctuated by frequent stops to listen, look and photograph. I really enjoy the heck out of whatever trail I happen to hike :-)

Three of the last four weekends I have managed to get out to the mountains of Virginia and combine a hike with birdwatching and photography. Two of the three were on the South River Falls Trail within Shenandoah National Park. I really enjoy getting out to the mountains during spring migration because of the increased odds of seeing something more interesting. Last year I even caught a glimpse of an American Black Bear.

This, and the next few posts, will include photos from these trips. For this post, I elected to share one of the more common warblers that occur in the mountains of Virginia. As you descend in elevation in Virginia, the Chestnut-sided Warbler becomes less common to the point of being absent. But "on top" of the mountains, they are everywhere. Their "pleased pleased pleased to meetcha!" song rings out from all over the place. In the spring, when I arrive at the trail head for South River Falls Trail and get out of my car, the song of the Chestnut-sided Warbler is nearly always the one I hear first.

Prairie Warbler

The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center also has another very short trail on the "road side" of the property (as opposed to the "ocean side"). This trail has no cages for injured or recuperating birds. It was simply a short walk through dense low trees. That may sound boring, but that short walk was sufficient for me to see three different species of warbler in about ten minutes. Even better, because the trees were so low, the warblers were never really very far away.

Seeing a warbler, even when they are not in full breeding plumage, is always a bit exciting to me. Their plumage feels out of the ordinary, and when I first see a flash of yellow or orange, I am immediately drawn to it. Even better, they are a challenge for me to photograph. They are very active birds, so catching one sitting still long enough, close enough, and with a clear enough line of sight can be a rare event. I have no shortage of photographs that are of the spot where a warbler was sitting just a moment ago, or a blurred image of a warbler flying out of frame, or a leaf or stick behind which the warbler is sitting. Patience and diligence will pay off, however, and I will eventually get a photograph that is worth sharing.

In this particular case, my target was a Prairie Warbler. He was not in full view, but it was enough of a view. And he was close. These photos are cropped from their respective originals, but I used my Tamron 28-75mm (at 75mm) instead of my usual Canon 100-400mm long lens.

American Redstart

My recent trip to DGCA yielded yet another opportunity to photograph an American Redstart. This one was nearly eye-level, instead of being way up in a tree, and he was in foliage that was right next to the trail. As he moved through the foliage, I took several photos on a whim, not really confident that I would get anything worth sharing. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that this photo was fairly sharp, even if the bird is not presenting his best side and there is some greenery in the way.

American Redstart at nest

Here is one last photo from the Sugarloaf hike. Very early in the hike, we stumbled across the nest of an American Redstart. It was right next to the trail, but since the trail does not get much traffic, I suspect that the few people who get near the nest just walk on by, not even noticing it. We lingered for a few minutes, a respectable distance away, while I attempted to get a picture of an adult feeding a nestling. The adults, however, did not give me much time to take a photo (I imagine their priorities were a tad different from mine). They would bring in some tasty morsel, quickly give it to one of the nestlings, and then be off again in search of more food. The photo below is the best I could muster under the circumstances, factoring in that I did not want to linger too long for fear of distressing the adults.

Blackpoll Warbler

While at DGCA I had several opportunities to photograph a Blackpoll Warbler. I made the most that I could out of those opportunities, but the results were not exceptional. Like most warblers, they were quite happy to flit about faster than I could keep up, picking insects off of leaves and branches.

I secretly suspect that they mocked me as they hopped about, moving just as they heard my camera beep-beep when it acquired focus. The joke is on them, however, because the focus was usually acquired on a nearby leaf or branch, not the bird. Ha! Who is laughing now, bouncy Blackpoll?

American Redstart

When I hiked the South River Falls Trail, one of the more common birds that I saw was American Redstart. When I say "common", I mean it. They were everywhere. By the end of the hike I was mumbling to myself "yet another Redstart" after taking the time to follow some movement in the trees with my binoculars so that I could identify its source. And like most Warblers, these birds are not what you could call passive. They are always on the move looking for the next tasty bug to catch and eat. In fact, one of the tricks used by American Redstart is to fan its orange and black tail in an attempt to flush insects out for the snagging.

Somehow I managed to get a reasonable photo of a male American Redstart. I have made many attempts at getting a photo of an American Redstart, but they usually move much faster than I can point and focus my camera. Either I got lucky, or this one took pity on me.

Black-and-white Warbler

The color pattern and tree climbing behavior of a Black-and-white Warbler make me think of a White-breasted Nuthatch in a Zebra suit. That is, however, where any similarity (if you can even call it that) ends.

I took these photos of a Black-and-White Warbler while hiking the South River Falls Trail (pdf) in Shenandoah. The first shows an attempt at grabbing a meal. The second is a very brief moment of rest for the bird. Usually they are very active and nearly always moving.

Canada Warbler

As you walk down the South River Falls Trail, the trail will eventually come down to the stream that leads to the waterfall. It is at this point, and for the next mile or so, that you can reliably find Canada Warblers staking out territory in the spring. They flit about in the newly leafed-out trees, over top the stream itself, singing away. If you know their song, you will have a much better chance of finding them in the foliage.

Another Prothonotary

Today was a high-birding, low-photo kind of day. I saw lots of birds, but did not have great opportunities to take pictures. One exception was a very active Prothonotary Warbler who became somewhat predictable in his jumping around from tree to tree. I stood in the road and just waited for him to fly back into the tree in front of me, and when he did I snapped a few more pictures. Even though I posted pictures of a different Prothonotary yesterday, they are just too pretty not to take more pictures of them. Especially when they pose so nicely. Here are two that I think are the best of the bunch.

Prothonotary Warbler

Based on the variety of birds that I am posting, you can probably tell that Lake Fausse Point State Park was a pretty good place to see birds. Here is a photo of a somewhat cooperative Prothonotary Warbler.

Hooded Warbler

I heard several Hooded Warblers within Acadiana Park. They were around every corner, but I only saw one because they tend to like thick underbrush. The one I saw stayed put long enough for me to get this picture.

DGCA in Winter - Songbirds

After checking out the ducks, I took a short walk down the gravel road behind the visitor center to see what other birds might be lurking about. In total, there were only a few species that I would expect to see in winter that eluded me during the four hours I was there. It was very relaxing to be out there with no agenda and no rush. Just walk slowly and occasionally stop to investigate some sound or movement off in the trees or underbrush.

I again managed to get some pictures. From top to bottom, the pictures are of: Belted Kingfisher (the "belt" is across the breast, so you cannot see it here), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (the ruby color in the crown is usually not something you see...the bird has to "flare" the feathers on top of his head to expose the feathers with the ruby color) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (also known as "Butter-butt").

Chestnut-sided Warbler

This is a fuzzy picture of a Chestnut-sided Warbler. I took this near Seawall in Acadia National Park.

Peek-A-Boo

I took this picture on the Wonderland trail. This is a Black-throated Green Warbler. He was really close, but he never came all the way out to give me the "full monty".

Just for comparison

This is the original photo that produced the first Northern Parula picture below.

Blackburnian Warbler

This bird is vivid. The second picture is pretty low quality, but shows off the flame orange color on the breast of Blackburnian Warbler.

Nashville Warbler

This picture was almost too blurry to post. But since you can clearly tell that this is a Nashville Warbler, despite the low quality, I figured I would share it.

Northern Parula

Here are a couple slightly fuzzy pictures taken today of a Northern Parula, a type of warbler. These were taken using the big 100-400 lens. They are fuzzy because I was not using a tripod, I had the lens extended out to 400mm and the bird seemed like it might be in Canada because it was so far away. The second picture shows an interesting color patch on the bird's back that you usually do not see. Northern Parula are usually in the tree tops so often all you see is their underside.