Sometimes it is better to be lucky and to react quickly than it is to be skillful and systematic. As I was tracking a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) recently at Occoquan Bay Wildlife Refuge, it suddenly took off.
In and of itself, this was not unusual, because these small birds are in almost constant motion, weaving their way in and out of the vegetation. Instinctively I snapped off a short burst of shots. I thought I had missed the shot and the empty frames at the end of the sequence indeed showed that I was a bit late in reacting.
However, one of the initial shots was this fun image that shows the warbler raising its wings to prepare to provide propulsion while its feet are still attached to the branch. I was shooting in aperture-preferred mode, which meant that the camera chose the shutter speed. There was enough light that the shutter speed of 1/1600 froze most, but not all, of the bird’s motion.
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to take off into the air like this little warbler, free to fly off to new destinations in search of new adventures?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice get. They are quite little buggers.
Thanks, Dan. We seem to have a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers in our area right now, so I have lots of chances to see them (and a lot fewer successful shots than opportunities).
I see a lot of warblers in the springtime while mushroom hunting. They zig, they zag and then they invent a new directional pattern.
That’s a great picture, Mike. So much effort captured in one image.