An Autumn Challenge- Capturing the Belted Kingfisher's Flight

My photo interest in the Belted Kingfisher goes back to April 2016 when I found an often-frequented fishing perch on the edge of the large Catherine Marsh that stretches between Montour Falls and Watkins Glen.  This image was the first time that I succeeded in  anticipating the dive toward a fish.  It's not perfect, but still an inspiration. The problem in collecting multiple captures begins with the bird never really giving a hint that it's going to attack. Secondary is that from year to year the perches shift locations. Now, that perch location is choked with duck weed.

In 2020, I again found a good perch area and captured some good inflight results like this.

Camera technology is also improving with faster shutter speeds and eye tracking auto focus.

The real enabler is finding a reliable perch where I can be "unseen".  Got that this autumn. I can even comfortably sit in my SUV.  Here's the dominate bird.

 I say dominate because I've frequently seen warfare with a second kingfisher.  Today I was limited for time, yet got this composite of the bird launching an attack.  Note how the wing positions show a sequence from unfurling the wings,  a strong down stroke, and a recover upwards.  These three are just 1/20 seconds apart.  Just luck.

What's next?  Well, I can dream of a longer sequence with even better light and perhaps facing me a little more.  

Enjoyable to see this so clearly.

Paul Schmitt

The Second Season- American Goldfinches in August

Spring and early summer nesting get most birding attention, and rightly so. However, right now in August, the American Goldfinches are putting on a fun show.  This a favorite image of mine. The male goldfinch has lost a single seed to the breeze.  No problem.  There's abundance aplenty.

The Goldfinch is a very small bird at about 5 inches long and only 13 grams.  The male has brilliant lemon yellow feathering with deep black on forehead and wings.  The female, seen later, is notably more subdued. Both male and female are very vocal in early summer but mostly quiet once nesting begins.

At the time I captured the image below, the female was on the nest and the male was collecting seeds to feed her. He will do that for about two weeks while she incubates the eggs.  Then he will feed both chicks and the female.  Close to the time when the young are fledged, she will join in the feeding.

Let's first look at the male.  The rich lemon yellow body immediately captures attention along with the black forehead and wing primaries.  He's about 5 inches long, as is the female.  At 13 grams, they are about equal to an AAA battery.  In mid August, this male was collecting seeds to feed his mate sitting on eggs.  Later, he will be busier feeding chicks.

When I began following goldfinches in June, they were singing often, perhaps keeping connected as they foraged.  Now, they are silent.

The female builds the nest.  This year, I was able to find a female gathering nesting material.  Various sources say she uses plant fibers, spider webs and, especially, thistle down.  Here, her beak is full of down.  Some sources say the nest is tightly built and weather resistant. Never found one. While identical in size to the male, her colors are subdued and there is no black forehead.

While I did previously note that the male feeds his mate incubating the eggs,  yesterday I did photograph a female feeding on seed heads in our garden.   It was a warm, dry morning so I consider the temperatures allowed her excursion. 

They do love Cone Flowers.  We leave the stalks standing through the winter and often see goldfinches picking on them.

Second to Cone Flowers are both Monarda didyma and M. fistulosa.  Here's a showy male on M. fistulosa.

I have lots more images of these golden visitors, but keep telling myself to curb the impulse to overdo my enthusiasm.

Hope this encourages some to find a bit of late summer joy.

Paul Schmitt

How Time, and the Nesting Season Flies

The birds that nest around my home are a favorite part of summer, It begins with their song long before the furious rush begins to feed their chicks.  It's already over for my beloved House Wrens. Let me explain.

My Mom said I was skipping school one morning in May. I was in third grade.  A pair of  House Wrens had built their nest in the clothespin bag that hung above the porch railing, close to our kitchen window.  She said the wren chicks were close to leaving the nest.  I sat at the kitchen window with a view of the nest, and as predicted, the little wrens formed a line along the porch railing begging for food.  I was hooked.  

Now, we've had House Wrens nesting for 35 years. Sometimes, the pair becomes very accepting of our presence. Other times it seems to be a new pair and we are scolded. This year's pair is accepting.  I have learned that the adults often sing when they bring food to the box.  Later, I will explain why this is important.  

Seven days ago, this wren brought a dark caterpillar, and the chicks were too small to appear in the nest hole. 

Initially, the adult enters into the box.  The exit is very fast and a challenge to capture. They have 3 to 5 beaks to fill, so there is not time to waste.

 

Actually, as the chicks grow, the pace gets frantic. Sometimes, I've timed the visits at under a minute with both adults active.

Occasionally the adult is inside for a while. It is usually housekeeping.  Specifically, the chore is removing a fecal pellet.  Again, hard to get the timing.

Soon,  feeding is often outside.  

Now, the hole gets crowded.

Surely, this was what my Mother saw on the evening before she decided to keep me home.  I clearly recall that she explained how I was going to learn more than my third grade teacher could offer.  However, her words were a bit sharper than I'd care to repeat. 

A day later the box was empty, and I was hearing the adults singing to the fledglings in the bushes out front. The early singing before delivering food is conditioning the chicks to exit the box when it is time to leave the box. I've also seen this in woodpeckers. 

A day later now, and it sounds like the wrens have dispersed. How quickly the nesting season disappears. 

Thanks, Mom.

Paul Schmitt

The Return of Our Eastern Bluebirds

After a two year absence, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds have returned to the nest box in our grassy backyard.  In 2021, this male posed on a dead stick above the nest box before dropping down to deliver food to the chicks.

I had been seeing small flocks of them on my neighborhood walks.  There were at least three juveniles along with an adult.  In the last week, there was increased activity, especially near the box and a male entering with food.  So, I set up my pop-up blind on the evening before hoping for some warm morning sunlight to bring out their colors.

Shortly after 8:30 am, the male arrived with a juicy green caterpillar.  Amazing color.

Bluebirds are very fast, so a prime objective was to capture a bird in flight.  (There is a pretty high strike-out rate.  Couldn't afford to do this in my film days.)   Shutter was at 1/2000 second, and I was wishing for even faster.  Whew!

There was another behavior displayed.  Recalling that weeks before, a juvenile Bluebird was seen following an adult, there was the possibility that some of these first brood juveniles would join in bringing food to the chicks.  Here is one of the first brood arriving with food.

On several occasions, a juvie did pop in while an adult was inside feeding. It appeared that it backed away and  probably ate the catch.   

On other instances, the juvenile exhibited real curiosity such as when this youngster peeped into the side opening to observe.

There were also some squabbles contesting access into the box.

Mixed in with these comings and goings, there were also pauses and diversions of attention such as when this adult Robin arrived on the perch attached above the nest box.  

The vivid orange breast was too rich to ignore and the pose so notable.  I welcomed the intrusion since the bluebird harvest of bugs had slackened.

I am thinking that in about 7 to 10 days, the new brood will be crowding the entrance opening just before they fledge.  Wishing for a nice warm morning light to once again photograph.

Thanks for letting me share this experience.

Paul Schmitt

The Bobolinks are here!

Few birds are as exuberant as a male Bobolink in May as it anticipates the arrival of the females.  Its song is a bubbling cascade that is picked up by competing males.  If unfamiliar, it is best to just search for it on the internet.  It's lovely.  The singing is temporary.  Once the pairs begin nesting, the bubbling chorus is replaced by whines and chips.

Bobolinks are a grassland bird that find minor stalks or bushes to perch on for their singing.

The yellow cap on the head and the white on black back of the body earn it the name "Tuxedo Bird".

They are an inquisitive bird that balances the singing with searching for catapillars.  (Saw it but wasn't fast enough to capture on camera.) On the plus side, they are not shy around people.  Was often within twenty feet, standing still naturally.

The bird can perch on very thin grass stalks suggesting how little they actually weigh.

The biggest challenge is being quick enough to actually capture a sharp image of one in flight.  

This was a 1/2000 second shutter on burst mode with eye tracking autofocus. Expect one good image in a hundred whenever I add some anticipation of flight. 

Another trait that I find interesting is their ability to find makeshift perches, sometimes bridging between two stalks.

Bobolinks also display a fluttering flight similar to how various raptors hover when looking for prey.  Seems this is more part of display for these birds.

My most loved behavior is still the full throated song offered with shaking throat feathers from a perch on what ever is available.

This is all so temporary.  In about two months, the grassland will have large flock of adults and juveniles coursing over the meadow before quickly departing southward.

Happy to share where to find these with my neighbors.

Paul Schmitt

Five Beautiful Spring Wildflowers

It's time to share a small set of wildflower images for 2024. My aim is to always strive for some new images that offer a fresh view. 

The spring weather here in New York has been challenging for wildflower photography.  Sure, it's been warm and has offered reasonable rain.  There have been some really windy stretches that limit image sharpness. So, I am limited to only five fresh images.

My first offering is of the "lowly" Skunk Cabbage,  Symplocarpus foetidus.  The plant has a clever approach.  First, in early spring there are few insects to pollinate other than flies.  So, it smells like carrion (but it's not.)   So the flies get nothing in return.  Also, it creates a hood over the pollen to shield it from any rain washing the pollen off.  This hood usually keeps the pollen out of sight.  

I searched a large area in the wet woodland before I finally found this beautiful cluster of three plants.

Next is a plant that is now thriving in my house garden,  Lungwort aka Pulmonaria officinalis.  Common in Europe, it seems to have adapted well here.  Mine have been in colorful bloom for seven weeks.

Medieval herbalist attributed the leave's similarity to lung tissue as indicating usefulness in treating lung disease.  (note" Phone image using  iPhone 14 with ProCamera app.)

Next is Sharp-lobed Hepatica,  Hepatica acutiloba. Beautiful blues just like the previous subject. 

Hepatica blooms before its leaves emerge.  At the base of the stalks is the emerging crop of 2024 leaves.

Now,  for the most exciting wildflower I have found this spring. I cannot recall ever seeing such brilliant colors in a Purple Trillium, Trillium erectum.  Furthermore, it is very large and true to its name - the plant is very erect.  The specimen in the distant left is nodding, as is more common.

In addition, the warm green under leaf is notable. Everything was perfect including the rise in the land that isolated the plant from the very distant trees.  The photo is also from my iPhone. I could not get my Canon lens adequately low to the ground.  

My final image drifts into photo geek territory, so please humor me.  Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides is easily overlooked.  The leaves are bluish green and the small flowers are a subdued yellow-green to brown.  The plant is relatively tall, so slight wind causes problems obtaining sharp results.  I love the challenge.

Returning home with this image yesterday, I decided that I would create an ink drawing from this photo to really "see" the structure of Blue Cohosh. When finished, I realized that the textures, forms and colors of the plant are not really understood when making the photo.  Now, I see it, and have abandoned any thought of adding watercolor.  It is beyond my skill.

Thank you for your interest.

 Paul Schmitt 

Something Special in April

No complaining today about clouds hiding the eclipse.  After several years of struggle, our Lenten Roses have produced a vigorous display.  The proper name is Heliborus orientalis.  We have fenced it each winter to thwart the hungry deer, and I'd say it was worth the effort.  

The first plant is pink tending to a sort of a mauve shade. Looking closely one sees the petals have speckles of darker values.  The right bloom is finished and should soon show a seed pod. 

The second plant is tending towards a warm yellow with some clearly greenish shades.  It, too, has the speckles. 

There is a steady stream of small bees and perhaps even small wasps.  After all, there aren't a lot of competitors on April 9 and 10.  

I'm seeing a lot of other plants emerging, so expect some images of spring in the gardens and the woodlands.

 Paul Schmitt