Given that I could only go early in the morning before work on an overcast and misting/sprinkling morning the photo opps were limited. The above photo was taken at 1/25 of a second on an ISO 400, the slowest exposure I've ever tried for digiscoping.Poor light aside, the birds were putting on quite the show. Some of the males were singing, which was interesting since they're not even in the Stokes eastern CD's. They were giving plenty of their dry rattling calls as well, with a few Laplands about for comparison. Periodically the birds would take to the air in bounding flight before swooping back in, flashing a lot of black and white in the tail (much more than the Laplands) as they landed. Many of the males were well into breeding plumage. There were also some drabber males and females, but, at least in springtime, we had little trouble differentiating them from Laplands just on color alone. I probably should have spent more time studying and taking notes on the females given that drabber plumages are obviously bigger ID issues, but what can you do. The males were really sharp little birds. Hopefully they'll stick around for some sunny shots...
1 comment:
Hey Man!! Glad you got some shots! There was no way I could last night. Nonetheless, I got nice looks making them my 356th species for the state!! Lyle Hamilton and I had to work hard to get them, but well worth the trip. Hope to see ya at the birdathon. BTW...Scott jenenx and I are heading to Arizon May 9-15...shold be a blast! See you soon.
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