Yesterday I gave a talk to Friends of Pheasant Branch prairie restoration volunteers on the importance of habitat for birds, the perils of migration, and other threats to their livelihood. During the hour I couldn’t help but notice several male Common Yellowthroats chasing one another around near the parking lot. So, early this morning I decided to return to the prairie parcel to digiscope them.
At first all I could manage to get were backlit shots but soon realized these images were kind of neat in the way sunlight outlined the birds and how their legs and beaks glowed with translucence. As the masked warblers repositioned and protected their territorial borders, I eventually got a few shots of them with the sun to my back. They’ve been very busy the past few months and you can see they have noticeable feather wear, but their voices remained as determined as the first week of May.
And that brings us to July...
All images © 2011 Mike McDowell