View allAll Photos Tagged FallMigration
Young male on its Fall migration journey through the area. Sep 2019 Archilochus colubris enjoying some Pride of Barbados blooms
Hi Everyone!
From my Fall 2017 Archives:
Snow Geese live and breed in the High Arctic. They migrate hundreds of miles south to winter along the coastal marshes of the U.S. and Mexico. I captured a few of them fueling up at Oak Hammock Marsh, Manitoba.
Snow Goose - Chen caerulescens
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird testing out a Strawberry Fields (Gomphrena) Flower. Learning multi-flash continues...Archilochus colubris
A Brewster's warbler is a hybrid that results from a Golden-winged warbler mating with a Blue-winged warbler. As such it has plumage features of both species. I've had the good fortune of photographing over a dozen Brewster's including both first generation and second generation back-crosses. We had 4 this Spring on my Michigan trip including one female. I've photographed females of this hybrid before including both first and 2nd generation back-crosses but this was the best opportunity I've had with a female Brewster's to date. The image of this bird is from Georgia as it was migrating along the Chattahoochee River corridor. Kudos to my never tiring friend Romin who said let's try this corner once more for migrants after a generally slow morning. I otherwise would have missed this bird and had an unmemorable morning.
1st generation Brewster's do have some yellow below and the females have more than the males but the amount of yellow below is far less than even the dullest of the Blue-winged warblers. See my previous post for more on the Blue-winged warbler.
Above this bird's coloration is similar to a female Golden-winged warbler. Its eyeline (from Blue-winged parentage) is more gray than black and its crown has a great deal of olive in it with a small forehead stripe of brighter yellow all of which points to a female rather than a male. Its wingbars are white similar to what is found in a Blue-winged warbler.
Finally notice the beak coloration which is more brown/gray than black which is the case with all fall winged warblers whether they are Go1den-winged, B1ue-winged, or hybrids. Generally you can look at a photograph of a winged warbler and know whether it was taken in Spring or Fall just by beak coloration.
8/08/2021. Georgia Mountains. This species is beginning to move south by this August date in our area but this species also does breed at the Georgia Mountain location where I took this image. This image is instructive as it illustrates the transition from the Spring adult male plumage to the duller fall plumage. Notice the orange although still fairly bright is a good bit duller than a bright Spring male. Also note that the solid white wing panel of the Spring male is being replaced by a pair of full looking white wing bars.
The beak is lighter in color and the black is noticeably duller on the face. First fall males are yellow rather than orange and fall adult females are also more yellow than orange but have a uniform looking charcoal face patch (auricular) whereas the first fall male has some darker black on the top and or posterior part of the patch. First fall females are the dullest (more of a buff than yellow or orange) and later fall individuals can appear very pale almost white. No matter the season or sex all birds of this species will have two paired pale back stripes which of course is often not seen well.
I will follow up on this post with a fall female and a first fall male to help illustrate the differences discussed above.
My limited experience with this species (they are regular but occasional visitors here in migration season) suggests that the actor turning stones is less photogenic than it seems on first blush. This bird has just turned, and inspected the soil beneath, the stone on the diagonal in front of it. It seemed relaxed and poised, as opposed to the many images I have with its face underneath the rock as it uses its bill to flip the thing over.
This solitary non-breeding adult was on its was through town, spending only a few hours on the Ottawa River.
If you like this and some of my other images, I invite you to take a look at my wildlife/birding blog, which I try to update every few days. ... grenfell.weebly.com and my web page at www.tekfx.ca
I appreciate your feedback and comments! so feel free to contact me for any reason. I can be reached at billm@tekfx.ca or on Flickrmail
All images are copyright. Please don't use this, or any other of my, images, on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission © All rights reserved and my web page at www.tekfx.ca
Georgia. My backyard. Picked this bird up with my creekside motion activated Blink camera when I was out of town and was hoping it would still be present when I returned. Our backyard has plenty of ripe dogwood berries, pokeweed berries, and beauty berries so hoping for more berry loving migrants to find the yard. Also hoping the AmerIcan Rob1ns don't find them first and clean us out. LOL.
Another Warbler that seems to hang around longer than others here, and a bird that tends to be more solitary. Even when loosely associated with a mixed flock, it is often found on the periphery. It can be aggressive as well, often moving other insectivores out of a shrub.
This was another case of standing and letting a small flock move east to west around me. The Parula came in at the tail end of the other birds, and was completely unfazed by my presence. While keeping an occasional eye on me, the bird scoured the undersides of leaves for lingering insects.
This is another case where the French name moves in a different direction than the English: the French name is ‘collared Warbler’, which makes sense given the beautiful rufous throat markings.
A more distant shot than I typically post but I like the fall bokeh here as well as the isolation. Sometimes when a crop is too tight one can lose perspective on how tiny warblers really are. It seems in this age of hurried phone photo views tighter crops are favored by many. For me fall warblers has always been about trying to capture various plumages one doesn't see in Spring but more and more it is an endeavor to try to create a composition as well. That later undertaking can be taken to a whole new level in Spring. Spring migration begins in about 5 months here!!
This is my 3rd of 3 posts of my encounter with this migrating species on 8/7/2020. See the previous two posts for comparison of the plumages.
This also is a rarely photographed plumage and also highly desired by those who collect warbler plumages. This plumage is very similar to the adult female plumage but there are important differences which are well enumerated by Dunn in his Peterson Field Guide-Warblers. Even at this young stage the first fall male plumage shows some transition towards the well known adult male plumage but those findings can be easily lost by those looking for that Cerulean blue color or for evidence of a necklace although I've seen some first fall males show the beginnings of a necklace on the lateral sides.
The most consistent findings to help separate first fall males from females of the species are the evidence of emerging dark lateral crown streaking, a darker appearance to the post-ocular line which runs across the top of the auricular (cheek patch), and some degree of dark streaking above the upper wing bar and sometimes across the back too (this individual doesn't show evidence of back streaking yet). The amount of blue tones above can be substantial in a first fall male or it can be meager presumably depending on age since hatch. Females of any age never show lateral crown or back streaking nor do they show a darker posterior ocular line. For those with interest take a close look at images of Cerulean adult males for the findings I mention above and I think that will help you better see the early signs of these in first fall males.
10/2019. Georgia.
We don't get alot of this species in the fall in the Atlanta area. This one stopped a while in my friends' yard to fatten up on the watermelon and grapes. This view shows the decurved upper bill which helps this species eat fruit which it primarily enjoys on its wintering grounds. There still is some orangish tones in the face consistent with a fall adult male. There also is alot of yellow below veiled in large part by fall plumage white feathering, heavy black streaking below, and a pretty solid white wing bar, all consistent with a fall adult male.
Creating fall warbler compositions is much more challenging than spring work. This image was taken in a friends' yard. They use fruit to help attract fall warblers to their yard. By strategically placing this perch in their beautiful garden this image became a possibility.
Happy to have these little birds back in the garden, light was a bit better in between rain showers.
Not sure if this is a Warbling Vireo or a Philadelphia Vireo, the former is more likely. But I liked his attitude 😊
Each season, when the warblers are in South Florida, my American Redstart Warblers will visit the bird bath late in the afternoon to drink and bath.
This bird is a rarity for Florida and breeds in arctic regions of Eurasia. There is a European population and an Asian one. Some birds breed in Alaska. The Alaskan birds can travel non-stop all the way to New Zealand or Australia which can be a non-stop flight of up to 11 days. Say what???? This bird is from the European population which is best told by the solid white rump which is best seen in flight. I did get some flight shots to illustrate that. The bird's beak with the pink base and the overall shape is similar to our familiar Marbled Godwits but the bird is smaller in size and forages a lot like a dowitcher and can be easily overlooked. In fact this bird is about the same size of a short-billed dowitcher and I was able to get an image of those two species side by side.
Just dwelling on the amazing long distance migration of the Bar-tailed Godwit I decided to use my own wits and dwell a bit on God. Mind you I am a physician with a Biology degree. I find it ridiculous that some people believe all of this is here due to evolution. Evolution obviously occurs but that is not what set everything in place to start with. It was created by God from nothing. It certainly takes less faith to believe that then all this came from nothing on its own accord. A non-stop flight of 11 days by a bird. Just use your wits and think on that. Humbly submitted .
Tennessee is not a very good descriptive name for this species as it doesn't even breed there. It only passes through that State on both northward and southward migrations and breeds much further north. Perhaps it needs a rebrand ala Facebook (Meta)? LOL.
If you like this photograph as well as some of my other images, I invite you to take a look at my wildlife/birding page, which I try to update every few days, at grenfell.weebly.com and my web page at www.tekfx.ca
As always I am delighted and most appreciative of your your feedback and comments! so feel free to contact me for any reason. I can be reached at billm@tekfx.ca or on Flickrmail
All images are copyright. Please don't use this, or any other of my, images, on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission © All rights reserved and my web page at www.tekfx.ca