Monday, May 18, 2015

Passerine Pics

For those of you who have no idea how birding works, spring migration is generally the event most folks look forward to.  With thousands millions of song birds (scientifically known as Passerines) winging their way north in their fancy breeding colors, folks like Natalie and I hit the woods and fields looking for that next bird.  

For me, as of late, I have been enjoying photography. If you have been visiting this blog as of late, you already know this, right?  

So, I thought I would share some pics from recent days outside. 

This dashing fellow is the American Redstart.  After flying in from northern South America, they are looking to establish territories like all the other migrants.   These guys, however, do it with a twist. They are known to have two females in two different territories.  You could think of as a dude with two wives (neither of whom who knew the other existed) living on two different sides of a small town.  Oh, what would the neighbors think.... 


The Red-eyed Vireo really does have red eyes. They just don't show up well in this photo.  In any case, their claim to fame is their non-stop singing.  One fellow in the 1950's recorded a Red-eyed Vireo singing his short song over 22,000 times in a 14-hour period.  My head hurts just thinking about it...


Fortunately for photographers, the Black-throated Green Warbler has the nice habit of feeding low in the trees. This matches their tendency to nest low, as well.





Tree Swallows have to be one of the most eye-catching birds out there.  If you catch of glimpse of them in sunlight, the structure of the feather reflects light not unlike that rainbow sheen coming from the oil drop on your driveway.  When the light goes away, so does the color.  Amazing. 
 

With today being the 18th of May, there is a solid 10 days of migration left. In fact, there is a few more as some birds are still moving through the region in the opening days of June. Unfortunately, the trees will be leafed out.  

We'll do the best we can. Maybe I'll have a few more pics to share in a few days....








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