Saturday, May 23, 2009

A few random acts of birdness...

Prothonotary Warbler...from behind! I can't seem to get a profile from these sunshine yellow little beasties!



I am sitting outside of the BirdMobile watching the sunset over the marsh. Can life be any better? We are located about three minutes from the infamous, ever popular Magee Marsh. The world headquarters for Warbly MAYhem every spring.

I'm watching the Red-winged Blackbirds coming in for the evening, the Tree and Barn Swallows zooming all around, Song Sparrows and Common Yellowthroats are singing in the distance.

Dragonflies are dancing about in the evening sun as I type.

This is all very distracting because I should be doing a post on the latest photos I've edited. Well, I'll show you the photos...but Monday, I'll do a post on the BirdMobile and the wonders before me.

Oh my, The Song Sparrow just moved within twenty feet and is singing to me.



This Veery just finished preening and cleaning up for date night.

These Palm Warblers are considered to be a "common" bird in May. I beg to differ, thank you very much.

Here's an Ovenbird...up in a tree for a change. This was the first time I saw one that wasn't foraging among the dead leaves.

WAY off in the distance these two Great Horned Owl nestlings were squirming in their dead stump abode. As we were watching them, a Blue-winged Warbler zipped by. I have another shot of this nest and you can see a fuzzy Prothonotary Warbler next to them!

It hasn't been very often that I've seen a Great Crested Flycatcher, let alone get an eye level shot of him! And of course, he's giving me the crazy eye!

The 10th was a good day for thrush watching! We saw a few of these Gray-cheeked Thrush as well as Swainson's and Veerys.





This Eastern Wood-Pewee is doing the Hollywood model profile thing. You look mahvelous dahling!

I saved this confusing little birdy for last. What do you think?
I'll post it's name on my next blog!


Well, the mosquitos are coming out and they think I taste good...I'm out for now!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The OTHER side of the field guide...

A Palm Warbler in a different light.
If you hold your field guide up against a REAL bright light and look through the back of the pages, this is what you would see. At least it works in my guides. I haven't dedicated a whole post to behinds in awhile and I missed it! I'm still not caught up with editing, I'm on May 10th with quite a way to go.
Check Out Bill of the Birds latest blog on Warbler photography. After reading his blog, I realized I sold my last lens for the wrong reason... Hopefully, Bill and all you other frustrated photographers will appreciate the butt shots!

A Yellow-rumped Warbler rump shot, appropriate, eh?

Vireos give me trouble and this Warbling Vireo was no exception!

Do you know what it's like to be color blind and have birders yelling "IT'S RIGHT THERE! WHAT ARE YOU, BLIND?" I say, "Why, yes, I am." Until this Scarlet Tanager moved, it blended right into the foliage in my eyes.


Believe it or not, this is about the best shot of a Prothonotary Warbler I have ever taken. It's just one of those birds...

This Great Crested Flycatcher was the first that ever posed for me! Should I start a 'life photo' list?

I have lots of little flycatcher butts like this Eastern Phoebe.

This Black-throated Green Warbler from behind is one of my new favorites. Nice dappled sunlight, it says "Spring" to me!

You can't have too many Black-throated Green shots! You can identify warblers by the markings under their tails. There is a plate in the Peterson's guide to Warblers by Jonn Dunn for that.

Not my best Black-throated Blue Booty, butt I like it. BT3, aka Bill Thompson, was presented with a BTB butt framed print, a much nicer one than this, at the Ohio Ornithological Society conference. I was a proud boy!

You can tell it's a Bay-breasted Warbler by its cool hat. Sporty, eh?

This Baltimore Oriole is not quite from behind, butt close!


When I finish another days photos, I'll post more birds. I have some great shots from the Ohio Ornithological Society Conference, and of course more from Magee Marsh and Black Swamp!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Dave is a little BEHIND...

Did I really say that?

[The Doodles is our special guest blogger tonight, 'cause, just 'cause. MeDave]
Magical Magee Marsh in May, where the action is!

If you look VERY closely, way in the back where the boardwalk is, behind the trees, you can see the warbly things Dave always talks about. We saw 25 species of warblers over the IMBD weekend and a total of 89 species. Wow!


Hard core Ohio birder fun! When I said 'Say Cheese' this is what happened! Wise guys.

Birder's From Behind...

One of the many highlights of the "International Migratory Bird Day" weekend was sitting around the campfire in the rain and chatting with fellow bird 'butties' and the guides from Tropical Birding , who are manning the Magee Marsh boardwalk in May. As you can see, we had 'buns' of fun!


Only in Ohio do birders sit out in the Spring rain to enjoy a campfire and talk warblers. We take advantage of every moment this time of year, no matter what the weather since the warbling warblers are only here in May.


When Dave gets caught up from being BEHIND editing his photos, he'll post more pretty pictures.



Don't tell Laurie that I cut in and posted a Wilson's Warbler. Shhhhhh!!!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sooooo Many Birds...

I hate to refer to him as number 318, but that's what he is on my meager list!
...Soooo little time!
This weekend was spent at the Ohio Ornithological Conference in Perrysburd, Ohio. It used to be called Perrysburg. I haven't downloaded photos yet...I still haven't finished LAST weekends photo fest! I may be caught up by Novemberish...
For more info and gossip on the OOS gang meeting check out Weedpicker's blog and Big Jim McCormac's blog. Look at their blogs anyway, you'll enjoy them.
So as you can see by the opening photo, I had another life bird (do the dance now!), the Golden-winged Warbler. Folks were mobbing the boardwalk and waiting for hours to find this little gem. Me and the Doodles walked up to the site and within five minutes Laurie was the first to spot it! She's a keeper! Trying to shoot this jumpy little buggar was a true challenge. It was in and out of a tangle of vines any where from a few feet away to about twenty feet away. And then I had to, once again, squeeze my skinny self between manic birders and the rail of the boardwalk to get a few shots. I went from sitting on the ground to standing on tip toes, this bird does not stand still for the paparazzi!

Yep, number 318! The ONLY Golden-winged Warbler to be spotted on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. You really must go there in May for THE finest warblering in the United States!

After him, the rest were easy (ha!) Here's a few of my favorite warbly things from last weekend with more to come I'm sure...and then there's the shots from this weekend...and...

Bay-breasted Warbler were in numbers I have never seen before. And a few even sat still for a second! Who's a good boy?!


These Blackburnian Warblers LOVE to be WAAAYYYYYYY up high. They like to watch birders try to hold their optics over their heads and moan in agony...just to see the little flame throat! Mean bird!

I'm still having a hard time getting a nice frontal kind of shot of a Black-throated Blue Warbler. I may have a few from today. We shall soon see!

Good name for this one, a Black-throated Green Warbler. Ya think they ran out of clever, misleading names when this one came around?

If you listen closely, you'll hear the Canada Warbler whistling "Oh, Canada!"

A bird from behind...at last! Common Yellowthroats are hard enough to get a close view of, let alone sneeking up behind one!

Here's a cute little Nashville Warbler giving Dave the crazy eye. I get that a lot. I don't know why. I think of myself as a very normal human.
This Orange-crowned Warbler was a rough one for Lil' Loopy Dave to ID. Orange isn't one of my colors. Not to mention this is a rather drab bird...for a warbly thing.

I know this is a Yellow Warbler because it's yellow and that's one of the colors I can see. Pretty smart fella, huh?



Wow, a front shot of a Yellow-RUMPED warbler! What has gotten into me lately?