More Mystery Warbler Pics

Well I guess that I do not feel so bad now. I thought that this spring I was doing much better at identifying warblers but then I found this bird and it kind of threw me for a loop.

But this bird does not quite seem to fit any type exactly. So far we have it narrowed down to probably a Nashville, Orange-crowned, or female redstart. Here are a couple more pictures that might help.
The last photo sure does look like a female redstart but the breast sure has a lot more yellow then other female redstarts that I have seen. It also looks too yellow to be a orange-crowned warbler but the last picture also shows a broken eye ring and first picture shows a white throat. It looks more like the color of a Nashville but the eye ring and throat color don't appear to be correct for a Nashville. Hopefully with these two pictures it will be easier to ID. If you have an opinion please post it in the comments.

For the record the picture was shot at Park Point in Duluth, MN on September 20th at around 9:30 AM. The bird flew to this branch and was in the light for only about a minute before it flew back into the cover of the trees.

I Could Use Some Help

I have been busy lately, when not working, sleeping, blogging or out taking pictures, putting together my 2009 calendar. Every year since 2000 I have put together a calendar that I give as a Christmas gift to family and some friends. All of the photos in the calendar are pictures that Michelle or I took during the previous year. The first couple I had done at a drug store chain and the quality was very disappointing. So for the six years that followed, 2002 through 2007, I printed them and put them together myself. I was very expensive and time consuming for to put them together so we did not do very many, despite requests from people to buy them. Last year I got smart and went through an Internet calendar publisher. They came out very nice, good quality, and the only time that I had to put into it was putting it together initially. Another bonus of having them printed was that other people who wanted a calendar were able to order them also, we put the orders all together to get a quantity discount which made it cheaper for us too. I am almost done with the 2009 calendar, which I am going through the Internet printing company again, but I have hit a small problem. I am contemplating using the following picture, that I recently took at Park Point in Duluth, in the calendar but I am not sure on my ID of the bird.

My guess is that it is an orange-crowned warbler but I have a problem distinguishing between orange-crowned and Nashville warblers when they are not in breeding plumage.

Here is another view. My reasoning is that it has a white throat and a broken eye ring which are characteristics of orange-crowned compared to the yellow throat and complete eye ring of the Nashville. However I need to be 100% certain before I can go to print and my time is running short. So please tell me what you think in the comment section. Please be honest if you think that I am wrong. Thanks.

Cedar waxwings at Cedar Avenue

Instead of returning to the Upper Midwest Audubon Conference, after I ate on Saturday, I decided to start my field trip to the Bass Ponds early. This meant I would miss the program sessions that were scheduled from 1:00 to 2:00 but I figured that this way I could get back early enough to catch Laura Erickson's program which was scheduled as one of the alternatives for people who did not want to go on a field trip. The first place that I headed to when I arrived was the trees where I had been photographing warblers the week before. There were still a few yellow-rumped hanging around and so with a little patience I got a couple of pics.While I was sitting watching the warblers a red squirrel came over to check me out. It looks like he brought his own lunch to the stake out.
After I spent a bit of time watching warblers I decided to move on and check out the ponds. They were pretty quiet except for a group of canadian geese.The river channel was another story. In the river I spotted quite a few geese and mallards as well as a few egrets still hanging around and a flock of american coots.

I still had time before I needed to leave to get back to the convention so I continued on the trail under the new Cedar Avenue Bridge on my way to the old Cedar Avenue Bridge. This area is mostly fields with one small pond. There were plenty of insects there and I got some great shots, but I will put them in my next post so that this one does not get so long. In the fields there were also a few black-capped chickadees searching for seeds. When I passed by the new Cedar Avenue Bridge I saw a little larger bird fly. I did not get a good look so I could not ID it but it looked a bit larger then a robin so I was curious. After a bit of off road work I found out what type of bird that it was.I have always thought that cedar waxwings were cool but I did not know that they hung out on the side of Cedar Avenue.I worked my way around so that I could get a picture from the other side. The light was not great for shooting in that direction but I wanted to get a shot of the back side of the wings. If you look closely at the left wing you can see the wax that gives the waxwing it's name.

I was running out of time so I headed back to the convention and did arrive in time for Laura Erickson's program on prairie birds. Laura is a great speaker and her program was very interesting and humorous. Afterwards I picked up a copy of her book 101 Ways to Help Birds which she graciously signed for me. I have jut started reading the book and so far it is one that I would certainly recommend. More importantly it had been nominated for the Stephen T. Colbert Award for The Literary Excellence! I feel honored because, according to Laura, my copy was the first one to get the official Stephen T. Colbert Award for The Literary Excellence seal.

Birding Minnesota Valley NWR Long Meadow Lake unit

Since I decided not to go out to Crex Meadows on Saturday, due to the morning rain, I decided to go to the Minnesota Valley NWR Long Meadow Lake Unit instead. I parked over by the old Cedar Avenue Bridge and walked down the trails under the new Cedar Avenue Bridge and over to the Bass Ponds. Over in the trees between the Bass Ponds and the Minnesota River I found quite a few yellow-rumped warblers.

When I first approached the trees most of the warbles took off and flew to trees further away.

So I just stood still by the trees

and soon the warblers began to return to the trees by where I was standing.

I kept standing in one spot not moving except to take a shot.

Since I was not moving the warblers pretty much ignored me.

Several times warblers would land on branches only a couple feet away.

I stood there watching and shooting pictures for about 45 minutes until some bicyclists rode by and flushed all of the birds again, so I moved on. Down on the river there were a lot of Canadian geese, mallards and American coots.On my way back an immature Harris's sparrow popped up on a dead log near the path.

He posed for a couple of shots and then headed back into the deeper foliage.Back by the old Cedar Avenue Bridge I went out and checked the boardwalk. I spotted several mallards and geese out in the shallow water. On the way back to the parking lot I snapped this picture of a mallard in a small pool next to the path.

On my way home from Crex Meadows

On my way home from Crex Meadows last week I spotted a red-tailed hawk perched on a tree on the side of the road. Fortunately it was real close to the St Croix Riverway Marshland Center. I pulled into the parking lot and parked then walked down highway 70 and got a couple of shots before he took off. Since it was already early evening it looked like the Marshland Center building was closed but since I was already parked I decided to take a look around the grounds. I started by going around the south part of the building. In the back was a small patio surrounded by bushes filled with black berries. I sat and waited a few minutes and soon a few yellow-rumped warblers showed up to feast on the fruit.After watching the warblers for a few minutes I continued down the path, that ran along that side of the building, and I spotted a dainty sulfur fluttering by the path. It landed on some dead leaves on the ground and I was able to get a couple of shots. The path led down to the St Croix River which is very beautiful all decked out in fall colors.
On my way back to the car I decided to take the path that went along the north side of the building. The first thing I spotted were several dark-eyed juncos scavenging on the ground near the path. As I approached they took off and one was generous enough to land in a nearby tree. There he posed for me with the sun shinning in his eye and a backdrop of autumn color behind him. It may be a common bird but it turned out to be a wonderful picture.

A short while later I found a chipping sparrow that was willing to give me a great shot also. At least I think he is a chipping sparrow. It is still hard for me to ID sparrows in their fall plumage.The last bird that I got a shot of was one that I heard before I saw him. I am not very good about identifying bird songs but the gray catbird is an easy one. It took a few minutes but I finally found a couple of them in the low brush and got a pic.I was a bit confused by the eyes, which according to the field guides and pictures of other catbirds that I have taken in the past are usually dark. Maybe it was just the way that the light was hitting it. Usually you don't get the luxury of shooting catbirds with any light, since they are typically in dense brush.

For a small 30 minute side trip, that started out because of a hawk sighting, I don't think that I did too bad.

Birding at Wood Lake Nature Center

Besides all of the insects I did also get some bird pictures from my trip to Wood Lake Nature Center on Wednesday. I spotted a couple of Cardinals up near the visitors center.
This one appears to have completed it's molting.

While this one is still missing a couple feathers on the face. I also found a couple of waterfowl.

Mallards are always around.However american coots have only recently returned, stopping by on their way south.I also found a few warblers back in the woods. Here is a yellow-rumped warbler. It was in the same tree as a different warbler that I have not been able to ID. I will post several pictures of the second warbler in my next post and maybe one of you bird geniuses can help me out.

Yellowstone Birding 3: Back to the birds

We did see a few birds during the snow storm on Tuesday. Besides for lesser scaup we also did see a couple of yellow-rumped warblers. I believe that this is a male of the Audubon's variety. There were a few of them scavenging the beach of Yellowstone Lake.

On Wednesday after we finished photographing the male black bear near tower I noticed a guy taking pictures of a blue grouse. The bird seemed to stand still and very close to the photographer as though it enjoyed having his picture taken. I stopped to get a couple of shots myself. As the other photographer moved the grouse seemed to follow him. This happened for a couple of minutes with the bird following behind the photographer.
It was pretty apparent that this bird was very habituated to human contact. I am guessing that he had been fed in the past and was looking for a hand out. He finally stopped following the poor guy and decided to try some more natural food.

While photographing the coyote den on Wednesday I spotted a female mountain bluebird flying around. I managed to snap a shot when she stopped to pose on a branch. We saw several male mountain bluebird during the trip but were not able to get close enough to get a descent shot this time around.
Floating island lake is named because of the small island which appears to be floating in the middle of the lake. Every spring that we have been there we have seen sandhill crane nesting on this small island. This year was no exception.

Since the nest is a little ways from the road I decided to break out the scope and digiscoped a couple of pictures instead of using my Canon.

We also spotted the male foraging the fields to the east of the lake.

Talk about foraging. Birds like crows, ravens, and american magpie, as shown below, were always around the gift shops, visitors centers, and picnic grounds waiting for food to drop. The little beggars reminded me of my cat, always begging for food.