Birders, I’m finding out, are an excitable breed. Sometimes they travel in flocks and sometimes alone. You can often identify them by their binoculars and spotting scopes and sometimes their cameras with enormous camouflaged lenses. They have special apps on their smartphones and frequently can be observed with their heads buried in one of the numerous identification guides they may be carrying.
I encountered a very excited member of this species as I passed by the bird feeders at my local marshland park this past weekend. He had his camera—with a large lens and flash—set up on a tripod pointed at the feeder. Crouching in the shadows with a remote release in his hand, he was obviously waiting for something.
Before I could pose the obvious question, he asked me in a whisper if I also was there to photograph the Wilson’s Warbler. He must have mistaken me for one of his own kind, probably because I had a camera with a telephoto lens around my neck. I got the impression that this bird was rarely seen here and that word had circulated in birding circles of this find. Suddenly he snapped a few photos and went rushing off into the underbrush, saying that a fellow birders had alerted him that the bird had also been seen near one of the benches in the park. His closing words to me were that the warbler had been timed as coming back to the feeder every four to five minutes.
Caught up in the excitement, I waited near the feeder with my camera. The only problem was that I did not have a clue what a Wilson’s Warbler looked like. How was I going to photograph it if I couldn’t identify it? An assortment of Downy Woodpeckers and nuthatches arrived and departed at the feeder and I was beginning to despair that I would see this elusive bird, when all of the sudden I saw a flash of bright yellow. It was a small yellow bird, a welcome sight on a gray late December day, and over the course of the next fifteen minutes or so I attempted to take his picture.
When I arrived home, looked at my photographs on my computer, and did a little research, I realized that I had photographed a Wilson’s Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla or Cardellina pusilla). Judging from the range maps on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, Virginia is on the migratory path for these birds, which breed in the northern and western parts of North American and winter in the tropics.
I am not used to photographing birds at a feeder, but managed to get a few interesting shots of the Wilson’s Warbler. To avoid scaring off the bird, I was at a pretty good distance from the feeder, so I had to crop the images quite a bit. I am quite content, though, that I have managed to capture some of the essence of this happy little bird.
Wilson’s Warbler Walking
Wilson’s Warbler Hovering
Wilson’s Warbler Feeding
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
i know birders who have more money in camera equipment than I have in my truck-some of them are pretty serious. But just think-you didn’t need anything special to get what probably amounts to just as good a shot of this bird as they did. It really is a pretty bird!
Great photos, Mike. I would say this was a rare sighting indeed. This bird should have been in Mexico by now. And warblers usually don’t eat seed, so it must have been desperate for something to eat. Lucky find!
It’s kind of amazing to me that I keep running across all kinds of birds and wildlife. I guess it pays to be persistent. Of course, it’s a little easier for me to be persistent when there is no snow on the ground and the temperature is a balmy 40 degrees.
love the black cap on its head.. that is great that you were able to photograph a rare bird. I am finding that when I see someone with a camera or camera and tripod and say hello, that they are very willing to chat about what is going on in the area, bird wise.
I’ve had somewhat mixed experience. Some of the birders are friendly and willing to talk and help identify birds. Others are much more serious and standoffish.
Excellent job in jumping at a sudden opportunity, and with great results!
Thanks, Gary. I’m glad I had the chance to see something a bit unusual and was able to capture it. Being lucky is a big part of getting the images, but you still have to be able to shoot what you see.
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Congratulations. That bird is probably in record books already.
Yes, I suspect that it has been added to some folks’ life lists. i am definitely not at that point in my bird watching.
It could and probably is a record for this late date. The kids and I birded for years. I never got anywhere as accomplished as a friend mine at that time. I had other things to do too.
Being mistaken for a birder can be an interesting experience. I don’t know if you saw it but 23 Thorns had a funny post about that a while ago. Nice photos.
Thanks for alerting me to the post from 23Thorns. It left me laughing as I read the entire posting. So much of it rang true, judging from my own experience, limited though it may be.
I thot it was hilarious.
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