House of Feathers - Episode 9 and more…
This is not the order that I had planned to share with you from my Labor Day Weekend outings… but I have changed my mind and will start with this morning and share Saturday and Sunday morning another time. I want to first start by thanking Dan and Allan for helping me with the identifications of birds that I either don’t know or get mixed up - thank you both very much. When I do post my sightings from Saturday and Sunday Dan and Allan will have their work cut out for them - I was in the right place at the right time to see and photograph so many warblers - and so many that I can’t confidently identify as it was the first ever seeing them or the first time this year!. I’ll get to that post when I can. I also want to thank you all for overlooking grammar and spelling in these posts. There are not enough hours in the day to try and get these out to you - thank you.
This morning I decided to make the drive to see the Crane family since I was up extra early and that is a good 40 minute drive for me. I had a beautiful sky along the entire drive - reds and oranges trying to break through some low lying darks clouds. By the time I was 5 minutes away from where I park the sky was filled with broad strokes of pink everywhere - a beautiful morning.
As soon as I turned onto the road where I park I scanned the swampy area on my right that connects to the swamp that is much more hidden where the cranes spend the night. Just as I was doing my u-turn on the road to park I glimpsed movement in the swamp. I immediately parked and looked to my left - are you kidding me? The crane family was all hunkered down right there in full view! I have never found the crane family in this area before. I wondered if opening my door would disturb them - nope! One adult was already standing and I just saw mounds for the rest of the family - still not ready to stand up yet. I grabbed my camera and tripod out of my backseat - got it all set and wondered - should I just shoot from here or walk the 5 steps to cross the road and set up there? I decided to give it a try crossing the road - they did not care one bit. I honestly could not believe where they were and where I was. Of course I was there before sunrise and I was really hoping the sun would rise soon to give me more light for photographs. Just as I was focusing for my first shot I thought - what am I seeing? Well…..I was seeing the pieces of molting feathers everywhere like huge snowflakes! I have never seen anything like it. They were just going at it - plucking out bits of feathers that just fluttered to the ground - it was incredible to see.
Unfortunately I am not sure if both of the young ones are still with us - once they all stood up there was only one young one… I am holding out hope that the other one flew out before the rest of the family this morning. I am very grateful that I can also share that the young one I saw looks incredible healthy and strong and stuck very close to mom and dad. Look at all of the fluff from the molting feathers everywhere…And look how big the young one is -
I love this - 3 bodies that are as if they are one…
All of a sudden they were all on high alert -
And in an instant they had moved very quickly a little deeper into the swamp and started calling! I took this shot and then immediately tried to get a video for you. I have a lot to learn and practice for video but here you go - I have to say I kept wondering… maybe the other young one had flown out just before I got there and they were calling to it? I honestly don’t know…
As soon as I took the above shot - they flew out! Sorry the video isn’t better - but they sure caught me by surprise at how quickly they flew out. That sure answered the question that I had driving out this morning- has the young one learned to fly yet?
I still can’t believe that all happened - it all happened so fast. Since they didn’t fly into the field that I have permission to wander around on I just walked around a little further down the road to see if I could spot where they landed - and I couldn’t. So I walked back to my car and left 10 minutes after sunrise and headed to Bullitt. As always, I just kept re-playing everything that unfolded in such a short period of time with the cranes - I know how lucky I am that I arrived when I did or I never would have seen them this morning. I am still hoping that maybe I will be able to share news that the other young one had just flown out early…. When I have time I will head back there another morning - fingers crossed.
I arrived at Bullitt and it was stunning - 48 degrees, beautiful sun just beginning to stream across the fields and light up the tops of the trees. I decided to hustle and get up to the upper field as quickly as I could since I have usually already been up there for about hour at this time. As I was walking in the lower field that leads to the woods - I heard Common Yellowthroats chirping all around me and one sounded very close. I stopped and set up and scanned left to right and look who was looking right at me! That little female just melted my heart…
I continued on along the path, through the woods and stopped as soon as I got to the upper field. I adjusted my setting as the sun was lighting up the field beautifully. I kept scanning left and right and just as I looked again to my left - two beautiful doe together.
And then ………!
Then the second one took off and instead of continuing to the left like the other one- it went further up into the field and I was able to get this shot… letting us know that a doe can do handstands too! :)
Once I do the post from Sat and Sun you will see that finally….. I have had some luck photographing American Redstarts this weekend- wow, they are a challenge - constantly flitting around. This is a gorgeous female.
As I was focused on the Redstart this Cedar Waxwing almost flew right into me! I wear an orange shirt - I am not trying to be camouflaged and I think this Cedar Waxwing was attracted to my shirt color! It startled me so much that it took all that I could do to keep track of it and get this shot when it landed…
It then flew a little further ahead of where I was standing -
Back to the female American Redstart -
Female Common Yellowthroat -
Gorgeous Red-breasted Nuthatch -
And then this stunning Cedar Waxwing flew in right next to me to my left. I stand in this spot just willing something to land there…. :)
It was more than time to head home as I walked very slowly on the path through the upper field this adorable female Common Yellowthroat did what I dream of… sit there perfectly for me…
And then this… thank you little one…
My last shot of the morning -
Thank you for coming along with me -