An image of a Black and White Warbler taken this past spring. The song-birds have begun moving south now. Things have been so busy, I’ve barely had a chance to go birdwatching to watch them pass through.
“Black and White Warbler”
Tag: black and white warbler
A Few Spring Wood Warblers
Spring migration for the “land birds” is pretty much over. As usual, I am not happy with the amount of photos I was able to get of these guys as they pass by. But, I did enjoy every moment I got to spend trying. Here are a few that I have gotten around to processing so far. These were all caught at Monsanto’s World Headquarters, one of my favorite migration traps in the StL metropolitan area.
A large warbler, the Bay-breasted Warbler is a rather uncommon migrant. The lighting was terrible in this scenario and caused a good deal of C.A. However, this was my first usable image of this species.
Lovers of the tree-tops, I find that Northern Parula are easily heard but more difficult to spot. They can be found in large numbers across Missouri and do nest throughout the Ozarks.
The oh so cute, Palm Warbler, or “Palmies” are one of the species I seemed to spot more often than normal this spring. These guys are usually found on or near the ground on lower tree branches and bushes.
The Blackpoll Warbler’s migratory trek is one of the longest of all the songbirds. These guys nest throughout the northern boreal forests and go as far as northern Alaska. They winter in South America.
Finally, the bird pictured below is the Black and White Warbler. More abundant and easier to spot, these birds behave much like the nuthatches – climbing up tree trunks and looking under limbs for their arthropod prey.
Black & White
I have been coming to a realization lately that although it is nice to try and continue to know, understand and discover ourselves, it may be of detriment to actually try and define ourselves. We as humans love the definition. It puts a nice bow on the subject at hand and we can then go on to define the next potentially scary or perplexing item. However, if we hang a much to determinate definition on ourselves then it doesn’t leave too much room for change or growth. By definition we become somewhat of a fixed, static entity. As fond as I am of Tolkein’s Middle Earth stories, I am becoming less and less engaged in stories of black and white, good or evil. As time goes on I am finding myself far more interested in stories with characters of the in-between. One recent example is the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George Martin, but there are other better ones. Any suggestions?
“Black and White Warbler, Autumn 2012”
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 