Warblers are small, fast moving birds, which can be very hard to identify, but when you are lucky with them, it's pretty awesome.
[as I prep this piece, there are chimney swifts flying around the house, mocking me with their speed. Warblers may be fast, but chimney swifts are insane]
This prairie warbler is one such bird. I've only seen prairies a few times in my life, and about half those times were in one specific location. Kennebunk Plains, in Kennebunk, ME. They show up in other places, but I mostly find them at this one spot. They're not hard to identify: notice the white on the tail. When they fly,it's like a yellow dark-eyed junco. And notice the facial lines: like someone took the letter "P" and faced it down. If you remember those two pieces of information, you'll know Prairie warblers from a lot of others.
Today's dawn chorus will talk about warblers, warbler IDs and pretty much anything else I want to talk about :)
Sorry for posting this an hour early: there's a good chance we'll be heading out birding this morning and I want to make sure it's up for 9am, so I figure earlier is better. --Julie
A few quick administrative things: first, our normal host is taking a break, so I'm filling in when I can, which is most weeks. I'd like to see this happen every week, so I'm seeking volunteers to take slots, but putting myself down for them if no one grabs them. Every slot I've got that's not one I specifically want, is listed as "Julie/Open" -- if I want a specific week, I'll be listing it as "Julie." If it's listed as "open" it means I'm unavailable. Please respond to the tip jar if you want to volunteer and I will update as I can. So currently the schedule is:
- May 30: Julie
- Jun 6: Cardinal
- Jun 13: Kestrel
- Jun 20: Lineatus
- June 27: Julie/Open
- Jul 4th: Julie
- Jul 11: Kestrel
- Jul 18th: Open
- July 25: Julie/Open
- Aug 1: Open
- Aug 8: Kestrel
- Aug 15: Lineatus
- Aug 22: Lineatus
- Aug 29: Lineatus
Dawn Chorus is normally posted on Sunday mornings, 9am EST / 6am PAC. Please plan to post on or near this time if you volunteer for a slot.
Second: all the images below are small versions. Clicking on them gets you to larger versions with more detail (where they were shot, etc.).
The first photo here is of a black-and-white warbler at Laudholm Trust in Wells, ME. The second is from Parker River Wildlife Refuge. You can tell black and white warblers because they look like someone crossed a Zebra with a brown creeper. Basically, they are black and white. Their voice is kind of like a squeaky wheel and they are feisty. I have been dive-bombed by them on multiple occasions:
Notice the black cap on this bird? That's what marks it as a Wilsons Warbler
For several years now, I've been trying to get really nice photos of a blackburnian warbler. Today, I had a whole lot of opportunity to get those shots and it paid off. One good way to ID blackburnians is by the bright orange on their head. No other warbler that I know of matches that sort of pattern:
Parulas are very colorful birds, that look kind of like they're wearing a muticolored collar decoration of some sort:
Yellow warblers are the only warblers that are almost all yellow. Save for some red streaking on the chest and pink legs, you've got the yellowest bird you can find. And it's not just any yellow. It's a bright, vivid, vibrant yellow that you think should only exist in movies.
So obviously the blue-winged warbler has a blue wing. But it also has a neat little eye mask. The thing I love about them, however, is their very odd call. It's how we found this one last week in Maine. Blue-wigned warblers are not easy to come by, and I'm not great with warbler calls, but I recognized the call immediately and we eventually found it. I got some very nice shots of the bird, but not spectacular ones. I was happy with them. That was, until I came back the next day and got these:
This was during a walk we took last year in Northern Vermont (Victory Basin), which is a great place to go birding. It's a canada warbler, best noticed by the ornate necklace like pattern on its chest:
The Nashville warbler is one of my favorites. It's one of the first uncommon warblers I photographed and ID'd so it's kind of special for me. But this look was incredible:
The morning before this shot, we went on a bird walk and I didn't get a single photo the whole time. Instead, I got these amazing shots of an American Redstart sitting in my backyard when I got home:
This Northern Waterthrush gave me a real challenge. I've only ever photographed them twice and only gotten a decent photo once:
Go figure. I've been trying to find a Louisiana Waterthrush for years now, and I finally found one within walking distance of my house
Closest look at an ovenbird I've ever had.
This common yellowthroat made itself quite visible in the marsh near our house.
Black-throated green warbler, from years ago:
Blackpoll warbler.
This Pine Warbler was quite the surprise for me-- it took me the help of more experienced birders to get the ID right, as I found myself baffled by the fall plumage.
The Chestnut-sided warblers have chestnut-colored sides, but some pretty funny looking characteristics otherwise. They're hard to ID at first but once you see them a few times they're impossible to mistake for anything else:
Palm Warbler, part of a large flock of them that were flitting all over the place as we walked through the cove. This, by the way, is probably the best photo of a palm warbler I've ever taken:
This is from last spring. It's one of the best photos I've ever taken of any bird.
We were checking out the Hinsdale Causeway when we realized we were completely surrounded by warblers. This first yellow-rumped warbler photo was taken from inside the car. The second was taken during a morning walk.
For a first ever look at a bay-breasted warbler, I think I did fairly well. This was from Parker River Wildlife Refuge in May of 2009:
This was the first day I was able ever to get decent photographs of a male black-throated blue warbler. This was the best of the lot.
And now a couple non-warblers: This week, I took a break from mowing to check out birds for a few minutes when I spotted a pair of red-eyed vireo, one of them right on the edge of the yard. What I especially like about two of these photos is how they demonstrate every field mark relevant to the red-eyed vireo: hook at the end of beak (vireo marker), red eye, black mask through the face and black cap: all of these make for a perfect red-eyed vireo ID:
The Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher is about 4.5 inches long. I love it when I get great photos of these birds:
I'm going to end with a couple personal things. First, I'm on kind of extended unpaid vacation at this point. That's the nice way of saying that I got fired a couple weeks ago :) But I'm making good use of it-- part of what I've done is started up what's below. Another aspect is having time to breathe and figure out what I want to do next. I'm not treating the firing as a good thing, but I'm not treating it as a necessarily bad thing, either. I have some breathing space, time to devote to birding, at a perfect time of year for it, and am very optimistic. It's one of the reasons I was willing to take temporary custody of Dawn Chorus for the Summer.
Second, a personal plug. I've decided my photos are good enough to start selling seriously so I've produced a line of greeting cards, such as:
If you're interested in purchasing any cards or have any feedback about them, please visit chickadeecards.com. The site is still fairly new and I've done my best to create different versions intended to work on different browsers, but if anything works or doesn't work on it, I'm glad to take whatever feedback y'all have. I'm very new to the radical differences across different browsers so even if you're not interested in purchasing one, I'd love to hear if the page works for you (and if not, what system you're using).
Also, one more quick note: I will be the featured Artist of the Month this coming August at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center in Newburyport, MA. My prints and cards will be on display the entire month and I will be there for an opening reception in early August. When I have more info, I will post it here and on my website.
As usual, treat this as an open birds & birding thread.
Thanks everyone. Good birding!