Friday, August 22, 2008

Redstarts on the Way to the Bass Ponds

After I finished checking out the boardwalk over near the Old Cedar Bridge in the Minnseota Valley NWR I decided to head north on the path that leads under the new Cedar Ave Bridge and over to the Bass Ponds.
The small trees that line the trail make for good habitat to search for warblers during the spring and fall migrations. During the summer you can still find a few warblers hanging around, usually yellow warbler or common redstart, as in this case.
You may expect a bird that is called a redstart to have some red coloration to it. This is true with the male of the species, which has reddish feathers on its wings, back and tail, but the female redstart, pictured here, has yellow color instead of red.
They use these colored feathers on the wings and tail by flashing them to startle insects. When the insects flush the redstart is there to reap the rewards.

3 comments:

Shelley said...

How great to capture them w/ the insect in their mouth!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I like he beaks full of bugs too!

Ecobirder said...

Thanks Shelley and Lynne. I always prefer to get pics in the true environment and in their daily activities. Some times I take pics around feeders and I get some great shots but for me a lot of the fun comes from getting out in nature to get that pic.