Philadelphia Vireo - Viréo de Philadelphie
Ottawa has lots of resident migrants - birds that come in the late spring and stay until fall, breeding and producing offspring while they are here. These birds give us lots of opportunities to observe behaviour and across a range of behavioural stages.
Other birds pass through with the objective of reaching the boreal forests further north. These birds we see coming and going a few months apart, if we are lucky. In the case of the Philadelphia Vireo, sightings are even trickier because, when they are in a habitat with other Vireos, they are the ones who head to the peak of the canopy, above the Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos.
As a group the Vireos all have some common elements that are variable in intensity from species to species. The Philadelphia has a darker yellow front than the Warbling, and the cap is darker too, looking more like the Red-eyed. But on a bleary early morning, that yellow is what announces the Philadelphia.
This was a lucky, ‘time in the field’ encounter that lasted about a second. Securing an image of the bird down low was pure luck, with stormy weather playing a part, and also partly a consequence of the camera reflexes one develops over the course of the two migrations with fast moving birds. I doubt I would have secured this image in the spring.
Philadelphia Vireo - Viréo de Philadelphie
Ottawa has lots of resident migrants - birds that come in the late spring and stay until fall, breeding and producing offspring while they are here. These birds give us lots of opportunities to observe behaviour and across a range of behavioural stages.
Other birds pass through with the objective of reaching the boreal forests further north. These birds we see coming and going a few months apart, if we are lucky. In the case of the Philadelphia Vireo, sightings are even trickier because, when they are in a habitat with other Vireos, they are the ones who head to the peak of the canopy, above the Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos.
As a group the Vireos all have some common elements that are variable in intensity from species to species. The Philadelphia has a darker yellow front than the Warbling, and the cap is darker too, looking more like the Red-eyed. But on a bleary early morning, that yellow is what announces the Philadelphia.
This was a lucky, ‘time in the field’ encounter that lasted about a second. Securing an image of the bird down low was pure luck, with stormy weather playing a part, and also partly a consequence of the camera reflexes one develops over the course of the two migrations with fast moving birds. I doubt I would have secured this image in the spring.