After taking relatively few bird photos for several years, I renewed my interest in photographing these beautiful and sometimes-elusive creatures this spring. Some of the photos I captured and places I visited the Second Week of May are presented here.
Monday
On Monday I spent a bit of time south of Main Street Pond in Enfield. I was hoping to get some more photos of the species I had seen here May 6. Sure enough the Brown Thrasher was still singing loudly from high up in a tree.
But it could not drown out the warbling Warbling Vireo.
Or the swee swee swee ti ti ti swee singing of a Yellow Warbler.
Tuesday
At Mink Brook Preserve early Tuesday morning, I found a group of Cedar Waxwings near the river a short distance from the parking area.
I’m not sure what happened to the stem still attached in the photo above. Here is a sequence of another Cedar Waxwing struggling with one.
I headed east along the Quinn Trail named after friend and informal mentor Brian and his wife, Allie. Something was moving near the base of a tree. Turns out it was a Pine Warbler gathering nest material.
Below is a brief slide show of the process.
Near this spot I was able to photograph the male (top) and female (lower) Pine Warblers seen below.
After lunch I visited Campbell Flats in Norwich, VT. There I found a Yellow Warbler …
… and a single Solitary Sandpiper.
Arriving home, a pair of Black-and-White Warblers were keeping our nesting Eastern Phoebes company.
Wednesday
I joined the Mascoma Audubon “Warbler Wednesday” hike at Boston Lot in Lebanon. Unlike the previous week, I did not start before the group but generally stayed with them. While searching for birds close enough to photograph I took some wildflower photos. Here is a brief slide show with red trillium, fringed polygala, jack-in-the-pulpit, and a tiny wild ginger flower.
Back to the birds. My best luck was in the field to the left before the lake. I saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker industriously working a tree. I was able to get a few partially-clear shots through the brush.
In the same area but a few steps into the woods, while trying to photograph an uncooperative Ovenbird, a Veery flew in front of my lens.
At Boston Lot Lake a group of Mallards launched from the far side. I photographed them at a slow shutter speed (1/15 sec) while panning to get a motion blur effect.
Heading back down I got a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and female Baltimore Oriole in the same tree. An American Redstart also landed there very briefly, but I was not quite fast enough to get it.
Heading back to Hanover, my friend and fellow photographer, Marc, and I stopped at the Mink Brook area. A cooperative chipmunk posed for us.
Along the Quinn Trail, the Pine Warbler was apparently still building its nest. This time it had a bill full of milkweed fluff.
Before departing I was able to get a photo of a female Common Yellowthroat.
During an afternoon hike with my wife through the Trescott Ridge Wetlands, I got another winged species flying — a bee working the marsh marigolds.
Thursday
Thursday found me in the Kearsarge region towns of Sunapee, New London, and Newport. At Wendell Marsh in Sunapee I found a family of Canada Geese.
I checked out the loon raft on Lake Sunapee to see if the loons who hatched and raised the first chicks on the lake in over 40 years were back. Sadly they were not nesting. It is possible that they fished out the area and got discouraged. But we can hope. You can read my story about them in the Summer issue of Kearsarge Magazine due out soon.
At Cricenti’s Bog in New London (officially the Philbrick-Cricenti Bog), I managed to get a photo of a beautiful Magnolia Warbler.
My wife and I hiked the rail trail along the Sugar River in Newport. We watched a Black-capped Chickadee disappear into a hole in the top of an old stump. I snapped the photo below as it emerged. It sat there for a long time even though I was very close.
We also saw a House Wren and an American Redstart.
I think the most beautiful bird of the hike was a Common Grackle glowing in the early afternoon sun.
Friday
On Friday we travelled north to Bedell Bridge State Park. This is a beautiful and diverse area, much improved over what I remember from some years ago.
I got a quick shot of a Yellow-throated Vireo with bold yellow eye rings. I misidentified this bird in an earlier version. Thanks to Susan Wrisley for correcting me.
A White-breasted Nuthatch had captured an insect.
A beautiful Common Yellowthroat cooperatively posed for me.
I spotted a Green Heron in a tree above the wetland.
Across a part of the pond I photographed a bird searching for food. I couldn’t figure out what species I had captured so I consulted George Clark, my go-to-guy when I am stumped, which seems to happen often. He identified it for me, but you will have to make it to nearly the end of this blog before I will reveal the answer. Here is a three-photo slide show of the bird.
A Baltimore Oriole had caught a small something or other.
A Common Grackle sang near the edge of the water.
And a Chestnut-sided Warbler posed nicely for me.
Unfortunately my schedule for the morning only allowed me to spend about an hour at this spot. I hope to return again this spring.
Saturday
I had to travel to Hopkinton Saturday to photograph an assignment for a magazine. I was able to do some bird photography before and after that.
Near the shore of Kezar Lake in North Sutton, NH, I found two thrushes. Here is a Veery.
And below is a Hermit Thrush.
Near Smith Pond in Hopkinton, I found a Northern Cardinal high up in a tree.
In Contoocook Village I photographed a Warbling Vireo along the Contoocook River.
Since my main focus for the day was the magazine assignment, I didn’t expect many birds. But I decided to stop at Cascade Marsh in Sutton on the way home. There I saw my fifth American Bittern in three weeks. This one and three others were quite close to me at spots in Thetford, VT, Norwich, VT, and Lyme, NH. This was the first time I had seen a bittern in Sutton.
This bittern was quite vocal.
Below is a 19-shot slide show of the bittern calling. This sequence lasted 10 seconds.
The bittern moved a bit to a spot that afforded a reflection.
The bittern then disappeared in the tall grass only to reappear walking through the sparse woods toward me. I zoomed out but could only capture part of the bittern.
It then ambled across the road right in front of me.
It walked through some brush and grass toward the pond on the other side of the road. When it emerged and gave me a view, its feathers looked quite messy.
The day was not over yet. I still had to help a snapping turtle along the road near George Pond.
I did not leave until it was safely back in the small wet area across from the pond. It had a face only a mother could love.
A number of years ago, 6 miles from this spot as the warbler flies, I got a sequence of photos of snapping turtles mating. As you will see if you click this link, it is not a gentle process.
Bird Identified and More Photos from the Second Week of May
As I promised, the bird I photographed Friday at Bedell Bridge is a First Year Male Red-winged Blackbird. My photos do not look like the two drawings in Sibley, but if you examine the photos I took you can detect a bit of a “red” coloring emerging in two of them.
Here is a slide show of other photos from the Second Week of May.
