I had a 6 hour drive back ahead of me, so it was only one last morning out to try and rustle up some subjects who were willing to be photographed. It went a bit easier than the last two days. For a split second I thought I heard my trusty, reliable Pine Warbler again. Then I realized that this was a Chipping Sparrow. Take a visit to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to hear its song and compare it with that of a Pine Warbler. Moments later the bird popped into view on a rather ugly perch.
Chipping Sparrow
I had some other moderate luck with birds, highlighted by a singing Lincoln’s Sparrow in a small field. Just when I was about to call it a day, I ran into the most cooperative subject of the morning – this Black-throated Green Warbler. He was calling non-stop and picking off caterpillars off of the trees. Although none of the photos from the weekend were particularly good, it was fun to get out into the remote woods of the Upper Penninsula as a last act of spring before summer takes hold.
Black-throated Green Warbler
My second day in the Hiawatha National Forest also proved a bit difficult. I had great luck finding birds, hearing them calling all over. By now, I had become somewhat familiar with the general layout of the National Forest and its roads. Even though I could quickly locate the birds, they were in a mood to remain high in the trees or buried in the undergrowth. It was a dry and sunny day today so I took care to find a Lady’s Slipper that was fully shaded for this photo.
Lady's Slipper
The afternoon was similar to the morning. No birds anywhere close to photographing range. As the sun got low, I gave in and turned my camera towards the great landscapes around. The landscape up here has so much character with small stands of dead trees, coniferous forests, large shallow ponds, deciduous wooded areas and open grassy areas. As the mosquitoes feasted on me (they were out in large numbers this trip), I spent some time photographing a few of the marshy areas and then this grassy area at the edge of the forest. The light began to dance between the trees, adding layers and texture to the grass.
Hiawatha National Forest
Spring keeps rolling along. In the Upper Peninsula it comes a bit later than it does most other places in the continental US. It really bursts forth around the beginning of June. It’s about a 6 hour drive to get up there, but I was looking forward to spending some quality time in the Hiawatha National Forest. The place is simply beautiful and it is so remote that I see only a few people on the logging roads each day. Unfortunately I didn’t have much luck locating some of the songbirds I was looking for. The wildflowers were abundant and never flew away. These pink Lady’s Slippers were abundant in some forested areas.
Lady's Slipper
I kept trying with the birds, not having much luck. Even if I had not been able to create a single image, it would have been wonderful just being out in the forest. It seems to be that when things get hard, the reliable species who are always there for you show up. Today it was a Pine Warbler which is quickly becoming my most photographed warbler. When all others are shy, I can count on this species to remain curious.
Pine Warbler
Today was my second day in Ohio photographing songbirds with Matthew Studebaker. If you missed it, I talked more about Matthew in yesterday’s post. Today started out wet, really wet. The rain was coming down hard for quite a while. But that doesn’t hamper the birds. The orioles were out singing en masse. We had a great morning photographing both Orchard Orioles and Baltimore Orioles like this one.
Baltimore Oriole
Eventually the rain cleared up late in the morning. While with the orioles, I noticed a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird that landed in a bush nearby. She seemed quite relaxed and stayed still for a while – most of the time you see hummingbirds they don’t stop moving. It was a great weekend with Matthew Studebaker. Lots of lessons learned and great times. We didn’t have as much with the warblers as we had hoped, but we still found some great birds.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird