Many Happy Returns (of Spring)

While I work to digest (meaning edit) the roughly two thousand images for a trip to Patagonia, the sights of returning birds lured me to take a break from the computer.   Here are a few images ranging from ordinary subjects to interesting behaviors that are worth sharing.

No spring is right without the sight of a brilliant red Northern Cardinal ready to defend its territory from any intruder.  The call of another male was enough to pull him out of the thick cover this morning.

I was surprised to see a Palm Warbler in this stand of Red Osier along an abandoned farm road.  He was primed to sing once the day got brighter. 

The best was a group of about a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers.  This one landed on a branch and inspected it closely.

Warblers are sharp-eyed.  This bird looked closely at the small side branch just below its beak.   See anything unusual?

I did. It plucked up the well-disguised caterpillar.

For full disclosure, I was not certain what I had seen until I got back to my computer to look more closely.  This happened extremely fast. 

This surely energized my willingness to get up early for birding and photography.

Regards,

 

Paul Schmitt