After a wet Friday, Saturday dawned clear and sunny and brought a number of red efts to the yard. This was the start of a good weekend for photography.
On both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, I spent some time down by the north end of the lake. There were at least three species of warblers (yellow rumps, common yellow throats and I third that I could not identify or photograph) present. Chickadees, pheobes, and kingbirds were also present.
I concentrated on the birds which spend time down low in the bushes along the waters edge… mainly the warblers and the chickadees. These birds will be present all summer but the become next to invisible when the shrubs leaf out. Even without the leaves they are difficult to photograph as they spend most of the time in the thicket of branches. Usually one get a single chance to trip the shutter when a bird appears at the “surface” of the thicket.
Late Saturday afternoon, we put kayaks in the water at Eva’s Marsh WMA in Hancock. I don’t think that we visited Eva’s Marsh last year. Yesterday, we discovered two big changes since our last visit. There is now a very long (200 feet or more) beaver dam bisecting the marsh. Thus, the mud flats that used to support foraging sandpipers here are now well under water. Additionally, there is now a single great blue heron nest on a snag in the back section which was not present on our last visit.
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Great warbler shots. It will be fun to follow the developments on the Great Blue Heron Nest over the summer.
Trees are filling in quickly here. Those warbler shots will be hard to come by pretty soon.
K
Comment by Kevin — 12 May 2014 @ 5:40 PM
Hi Guys!!!
Why in the hell would something colored hunter-orange make sense evolutionary. Might just as well stand out in the open and scream “Here I am, eat me!!” Seems to go against basic natural selection. Despite that it’s an amazing looking little creature. Glad to see you made it out of hibernation OK Frank!
Comment by Joe Keen — 12 May 2014 @ 8:22 PM
Joe,
My (chemists) understanding is that brightly colored critters are generally toxic (or are mimicking a toxic species) and that their coloration acts as a warning.
See the third bullet point here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/67022.html (I can’t seem to figure out how to make an active link in a comment so you will have to cut and paste… sorry!)
— Frank
Comment by Frank — 13 May 2014 @ 10:53 AM