It has been an odd spring. An early warm spell in late March led to early blooming wildflowers and early emerging insects. However, a series of fronts in April have kept our migrating songbirds cooling their tarsi south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Last night, they broke out.
When I visited the park this morning, there was birdsong everywhere. Blue-winged Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and numerous others that I could not identify in the early morning fog.
And there were orioles. It was not a good morning for photography, dark, gray, and foggy, but I ran the ISO up way high and managed to capture a few images.
Most obvious were the flamboyant Baltimores. Milord was decked out in jet black juxtaposed with hot orange. They carolled and sang, chasing and flashing through the new leaves like roman candles. They did not allow for a close approach.1
But we have two flavors of orioles. Where the Baltimore Oriole is all flash and fancy, the Orchard Oriole is elegance and reserve, tastefully decked out in black and chestnut.
I got to spend some quality time fairly close to one of these, just back from Central or South America.
We usually have one or two breeding pairs at the park every summer, and this lad was singing his heart out. Looks like he’s going to stay.
- A little inside photography stuff. These shots were taken at ISO 1600, and at considerable distance. They have been sharpened and had noise reduction applied. The results are not bad, despite being heavily cropped. However, you will note that they are published at 80% of full size–otherwise, they are obviously grainy.