Upstaging The Warblers
May 23rd, 2017
I continue to be cursed for warbler photography at Point Pelee.
On the first day of our outing, there were lots of warblers, but almost none of them were out on the tip (where you can sometimes get extreme close-ups as these exhausted birds, having just flown across Lake Erie, drop into the low vegetation and, well, veg.) They were in places like Tilden Woods, flitting around high up in the trees. It's great for them that conditions were so good they could just breeze right past the tip and into the woods, but not so great for photography, especially not with my modest 300mm lens. I had a much better time (and saw more birds) once I finally stowed my camera away and went back to just binoculars. I saw seventeen types of warblers all in all, of which the highlights were a nice view of a Blackburnian, and an excellent view of a Northern Waterthrush.
The second day was much better, or so I'm told. Unfortunately I wasn't there, for reasons I won't go into.
But the trip wasn't a complete loss for photos. When we arrived at the tip of the tip, I was thrilled to see a number of Red-Breasted Mergansers, males and females, swimming close to shore. My group was eager to move on and find a rumored Tufted Titmouse, but I see all the titmice I need when I visit my folks in Virginia, and I don't see nearly enough of this unusual, charismatic duck--especially the drake in his full nuptial plumage. So I lingered behind, missed the titmouse, and got some photos of the nearest drake as he showed off for the ladies.
I also think this early-morning Barn Swallow came out rather well. A whole colony of these swallows breed in an open shelter near the tram stop, building their mud nests on ledges beneath the ceiling. They are completely habituated to humans, whizzing back and forth to and from their nests right over our heads.
Gathering nest-building material.
May 23rd, 2017
I continue to be cursed for warbler photography at Point Pelee.
On the first day of our outing, there were lots of warblers, but almost none of them were out on the tip (where you can sometimes get extreme close-ups as these exhausted birds, having just flown across Lake Erie, drop into the low vegetation and, well, veg.) They were in places like Tilden Woods, flitting around high up in the trees. It's great for them that conditions were so good they could just breeze right past the tip and into the woods, but not so great for photography, especially not with my modest 300mm lens. I had a much better time (and saw more birds) once I finally stowed my camera away and went back to just binoculars. I saw seventeen types of warblers all in all, of which the highlights were a nice view of a Blackburnian, and an excellent view of a Northern Waterthrush.
The second day was much better, or so I'm told. Unfortunately I wasn't there, for reasons I won't go into.
But the trip wasn't a complete loss for photos. When we arrived at the tip of the tip, I was thrilled to see a number of Red-Breasted Mergansers, males and females, swimming close to shore. My group was eager to move on and find a rumored Tufted Titmouse, but I see all the titmice I need when I visit my folks in Virginia, and I don't see nearly enough of this unusual, charismatic duck--especially the drake in his full nuptial plumage. So I lingered behind, missed the titmouse, and got some photos of the nearest drake as he showed off for the ladies.
I also think this early-morning Barn Swallow came out rather well. A whole colony of these swallows breed in an open shelter near the tram stop, building their mud nests on ledges beneath the ceiling. They are completely habituated to humans, whizzing back and forth to and from their nests right over our heads.
Gathering nest-building material.
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mustangsallie
May 23rd, 2017 at 7:21 pm
The barn swallows are really pretty little birds, and it's great how you capture them doing their thing, being busy little birds.
Mike
May 24th, 2017 at 1:34 pm
Nice... glad the photos came out rather better than initially expected!
It was an enjoyable trip, even if plans changed part-way through.