Bathing robin

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Bathing robin

November 9, 2017 by Mike Powell

There were lots of American Robins (Turdus migratorius) on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, including one that decided to take a bath in a puddle in the middle of the path. A couple of years ago I probably would not have bothered to identify the bird as an “American Robin,” but now I know that there is a European Robin, which is a completely different bird.

The first shot of these three is the sharpest and I like the way that you can see the succession of puddles and the robin’s reflection. I am equally drawn, however, to the action shots with the water splashing into the air. The light was pretty limited at the time and only afterwards did I realize that my shutter speed had dropped to 1/125 of a second. That is why you can see some motion blur in the second shot, an effect that I think helps to give a dynamic feel to the image. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to include the third shot, but decided that I liked the out of focus robin in the background, whose peaceful pose is in sharp contrast with that of the frenetic flailing of the bathing robin.

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged American robin, bathing robin, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, robin, Tamron 150-600mm, Turdus migratorius, Woodbridge VA | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on November 9, 2017 at 7:59 am | Reply mvschulze

BATH TIME!!
on November 9, 2017 at 8:55 am | Reply Dan Antion

Great action shots!
on November 9, 2017 at 3:15 pm | Reply Robert Kirkendall

Wouldn’t it be funny if a bat joined in?
on November 9, 2017 at 7:22 pm | Reply exploringcolour

Same genus as our ordinary black blackbirds here. At our last place there was a depression in the parking area by the house. We left it there because after rain the blackbirds would come and bathe in the puddle and put on a great show!
on November 10, 2017 at 5:58 am | Reply Ann

beautiful photos esp the middle one. Award worthy! Thank you!
- on November 10, 2017 at 6:23 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ann. The middle once is my favorite for visual impact, but I also like the mood of the first one.
on November 10, 2017 at 6:57 pm | Reply nliakos

I love the splashing water drops!
- on November 11, 2017 at 4:53 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Nina. I think the water drops help to enhance the sense of motion and give the viewer an idea of how much splashing was going on. It looked to me like the robin was having fun as it washed up.