I’m trying to get caught up with birds I saw last week while continuing to see that many more individuals this week. It’s almost like being on a birding tour.
On Wednesday, September 25, Riverside was busy. Great Egrets have been gathering by the Hofmann Tower, along with one or two Great Blue Herons.
I crossed Joliet Avenue at the bridge in my usual fashion and started walking the paved trail along Swan Pond. Yellow-rumped Warblers were starting to show up.
Magnolia Warblers, like the one at the top of the post, were easier to see.
I found a female Black-throated Green Warbler, however backlit.
First winter White-crowned Sparrows were along the path.
Crossing the swinging bridge, I found two Great-blue Herons and a Great Egret standing in the shallow river.
More Magnolia Warblers were waiting for me in Riverside Lawn.
Another Yellow-rumped Warbler posed for me.
I was surprised to see a new dragonfly!
A Lincoln’s Sparrow tried to hide in some dead leaves and kept sneaking looks at me.
Here’s another Yellow-rumped Warbler.
I approached a clearing with fallen logs and saw steam rising up from one of them.
Shortly thereafter, I found a male Black-throated Blue Warbler. It was hard to get good photos with the bright sun behind him. But even if I had not seen the whole bird, that last photo showing the trademark “handkerchief” white spot would have clarified his identity.
More Yellow-rumped Warblers appeared. They are very busy and not too shy.
It’s often hard to capture an American Redstart but I managed to find one or two in momentary repose.
There were a couple Bay-breasted Warblers.
And a Black-and-White Warbler came to investigate the bark of a hackberry tree.
Here’s another American Redstart. I’m including the last photo because I have seen a lot of these birds’ attempts at tree-climbing this fall.
And here’s one more Bay-breasted Warbler.
And another Yellow-rumped Warbler.
The bird below turned out to be a Pine Warbler. I’m beginning to think they are the most confusing fall warblers, period.
The last bird for this post is another Yellow-rumped Warbler.
I have been lucky to find small mixed flocks of warblers several times over the past week or two. It seems like the race is on to capture as many photos as I can. It’s a busy week socially too. And right on time, we are having a little taste of October weather. The long, lazy-seeming days of summer have slipped away.
Great photography. You have a keen eye and a steady hand.
Thank you. I wish. It’s luck and image stabilization.
Lisa, each time I scroll through your migrant bird photos I take a moment or two to reflect. Sometimes I think I may know the bird and then I see your identification and I pause again. I am then driven to go on-line and check out the various locations of yellow, white undersides, where the gray is located and how much, are there wing bars, etc. Am I getting better? Maybe! But I appreciate that your post gets me looking closer and closer at the variations in color pattens. Continue your process of frustrating and challenging me. Well done.
I wonder if it just goes to show that it’s all a matter of opinion when the images are confusing. I am driven to try to identify the birds in the photos I have taken, but sometimes I see others’ photos that look nothing like the bird at all, so where do you begin, or better yet, where does it end? I hope my photos are helpful. I do try to comment when I find a field mark that is new to me, so to speak. The quest continues.