This spring had two general highlights: I got out birding more often than the past few migrations, and I spent much more time photographing what I saw.
Well, let's be honest: trying to photograph what I saw. Here's a typical image I captured.
There is a bird in there, promise. Click on the image for a larger version.I'm pretty sure it's not just me, I suspect many avian photographers wind up with high percentage of "missed" shots. Huh, upon a very brief further reflection I actually have two categories of "missed," those non-photos where I never even raised the camera before the moment disappeared, and those where I shot a picture but missed the subject.
This year I've seen the number of "Damn, wished I'd gotten the camera on that!" instances slowly decrease while the "Damn, I almost had it!" instances slowly increase. I take that to be a good thing in my development as a photographer (pun absolutely intended).
Hopefully I'll continue sliding towards a place where I'll get recognizable images more often than not, but the more-experienced photogs please let me know: is that even a reasonable goal? Anyway, until that day, I'll continue to take my photographic lemons and turn them into blog-post lemonade: identity quizzes!
So, here's another one. Any thoughts on what this fleeing bird might be? Image is from Ithaca, NY on May 19, 2009. For what it's worth, it's from the "Hawthorn Orchard," a wooded patch of dense Hawthorns some 15 - 30 feet tall.
Answer, with better images, coming shortly.
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6 comments:
No clue. :) But I like the picture.
Yellow rump and hint of some breast streaking.
Is it Cape May Warbler?
@Sparverius - Thanks for the compliment - it is a nice habitat by itself. And I find my "misses" often come across as "artsy," or at least I like to tell myself that. If only they were intentional!
@Nate - Good eyes! I'm impressed, and happy, someone actually saw the bird. To answer your observations and guess: yes, yes, and no.
:-)
Ah, lemonade that cool refreshing drink.
Magnolia Warbler?
Yellow warbler?
Now that I've revealed the identity in a separate post, including more identifiable pictures of the bird, I can officially say:
Congrats, nishiki_85, you nailed it!
Even better, the "cool, refreshing drink" reference, which I believe comes from Eddie Murphy's classic Elvis impersonation on "Delirious" (viewer warning if you click through).
Beauty!
-Mike
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