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

A Real Honey Hole

For a fisherman, a honey-hole is that special place where there is always a good catch.  So it is too with birders that there are those special places where a lot of birds can be found nearly without fail.

In Florida this month, I found a real honey hole.  We were on a nature trail near Titusville mostly looking for early warblers when a beautiful Red-bellied Woodpecker caught my attention.  I usually see them high in the trees so this chap at eye level was special.

The tree he frequented had some exposed termite burrows plus several seeping wounds in the bark.  He was particularly around the seeps. Then, he showed me why.

He was feeding on the sap seeping out the wound. I examined it for insects but found none.  It was literally a real "honey hole".  He came back to it repeatedly.  

In the process of waiting for each return, there appeared another visitor.

It is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  There were several other warbler species in the area, but this was the only one down low at eye level.  And, why was he down here?

He had the same appetite for the sap, and came back frequently.

There are birders who build a long list of birds seen.  I find unique behaviors observed to be a more interesting sum of experiences. 

Paul Schmitt