By the way, here is the horrendous picture from my Chuck and Whip hunt the night before at Green Swamp. I am going to have to get a floodlight to get a picture of a Chuck. The darkness prevents proper focusing and the eye is so big it explodes with the flash.
Back to Howell Woods. There was tons of birds everywhere, most migrants have moved on but otherwise it was really birdy.
Acadian Flycatcher - red eye is do to flash which must have still been on from previous evening.
Prairie Warbler.
Yellow-breasted Chat - these were everywhere.
Summer Tanager.
Indigo Bunting.
Click and Clack - the tappit brothers.
Jimmy the Greek.
Wood Thrush!!!! Love it when I get a bird for my Big Year. In fact I am really having a hard time with Thrushes in general.
Kentucky Warbler!!!!! This guy was very vocal. He was at entrance to Slough Trail signing constantly and when I walked back past the trail two hours later he was still there singing.
He looks like an Elvis Impersonator here.
Stay Cool!
Jamie
So glad you got the Kentucky Warbler at Howell Woods (and on that reliable Slough Trail). The Wood Thrush was a nice plus. Most of the migrant thrushes have already passed through, so hopefully you will get the thrushes in the fall. There's a couple of places where they tend to "congregate", and theoretically, there are twice as many thrushes in the fall as in the spring due to the new generation.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about photography (I am mostly a "pointer" for photographers who follow me around on Wake Audubon Meetup trips). I do recall that there's some sort of infrared device for getting nighttime photos; by definition, these would be in black and white. Photographers use them for filming sea-turtles who are nesting or "boiling" from the nest. Many areas do NOT allow standard flash photography at night, as it disrupts the night-vision of the wildlife, and can lead to stress or even injury.
I don't know how to take night-time photos, but I DO know that "Google is my friend". (Wildlife photography night) This link might be helpful; as always, be very careful when you download ANYTHING from a web site! (That's the ECPI teacher in me speaking.) http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/06/25/free-wildlife-photography-cheat-sheet/ - Keep up this wonderful mission! I know the summer will be relatively quiet, but then, there's odd seabirds that visit off-shore in the summertime. Hope you can get those, too! - Erla
More advice from a no-nothing: carry a camera AT ALL TIMES, even if it's just your cell phone! That way, you won't miss the rare bird that may come cruising by. Case in point: 6/29/13 Jeri S got a photo of an immature Magnificent Frigatebird when she and I visited Wrightsville Beach on a patches-of-rain day. She ALMOST left her camera in the car at one stop, but I convinced her to take it for our walk, as I had a plastic bag and a backpack to stow the camera in the event of rain. Five minutes later, the frigatebird appeared! Life-Bird for both of us, and Jeri's photos were placed in the CBC site. I also noticed on ebird that a birder (Sims) saw a frigatebird high in the sky in Durham, above his yard (9/2/12), north of Falls Lake (VERY inland!) and he was able to get a recognizable photo with his cell phone. Ebird was happy to see the proof for both sightings. You need to use Magnify on Sims Flickr photo to see the bird, but it's definitely a frigatebird. The links for these are: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14532214 (for Jeri and I) and http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11493663 (for Sims); Jeri's photo is at http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/gallery/Smart/mafr.html
ReplyDelete- L Erla B