29 May 2008

MORE WARBLER PHOTOGRAPHY

Here are some more images I made during this years warbler migration.  I have to say that we really never did have a great fallout day of warblers this year.  A fallout day is when you get a large arrival of migrating warblers that have been blown into an area. This often happens when there is a low pressure area south of us which then spins birds up to us on southerly winds (the birds take advantage of these winds to help them on their journey north).  This year that never really happened.  The winds seemed to be out of the north during most of May. This caused the birds to just kind of dribble through on their way north.  But fortunately, I was able to spend a large amount of time out in the field this year and I was able to put together a collection of images that I am very pleased with.

Here is a photograph of a black and white warbler.  This particular individual was a very handsome specimen.  Most of the black and whites I see look a little scruffy, this guy was feather perfect.

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Black and White Warbler

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Blue-winged Warbler with Worm

This flashy fellow is a blackburnian warbler which is always a crowd pleaser with bird watchers

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Blackburnian Warbler in Song

Soon I will be leaving for a trip to the Galapagos Islands and the cloud forests of Ecuador.  In the Galapagos, I hope to photograph the amazing plants and animals of this unique island habitat. I will be bringing my high-speed flash setup to the cloud forest to attempt to photograph hummingbirds on the wing.  Ecuador is home to 130 of the worlds 328 species of hummingbirds, hopefully I will be able to get a crack at one or two of them.