A breath of fresh air

February 17, 2020 by Mike Powell

I went searching through my archives yesterday for a photo from March 2016 that I wanted to have printed. I won’t dwell on my storage practices, but suffice it to say that I am not very well organized. The image in question, one of my all-time favorite shots, shows a Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) whose breath was visible in the cold morning air. I have posted the image a few times and have had some really positive response, but somehow I had never gotten around to having it printed.

I had forgotten that I had captured multiple shots that day and as I was going through them yesterday I came across the first shot below that I have never posted. I love the way that the image shows how the blackbird puts his whole body into producing his “visible song”—I remember my choir leaders instructing us on the importance of breathing from the diaphragm for better sound projection.

The second and third shots give you a better view of the bird’s breath as it was being expelled. I was playing around with image formats and decided to do a square crop that I think works pretty well with these images. One of the photo companies has a sale today on canvas prints and I may one or more of these shots printed to see how they look. A friend has also suggested that I consider having a metal print made of one of them.

The temperature, humidity, and lighting all have be perfect to be able to see this phenomenon shown here. I have not been lucky enough to see it again since that day almost four years ago, though others have taken similar shots at the same location in recent years.

If you are curious to read my blog posting about the initial encounter, check out my 8 March 2016 blog posting entitled “Visible Song.”

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter | Tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, male Red-winged Blackbird, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm, visible song | 28 Comments

28 Responses

on February 17, 2020 at 8:58 am | Reply mvschulze

Stunning captures! M:-)
on February 17, 2020 at 9:02 am | Reply babsje

Mike, that is very very cool – no pun intended! Best, Babsje
- on February 17, 2020 at 9:05 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I was amazed when I first saw it. Even though Red-winged Blackbirds are pretty common, most people (including many wildlife photographers) have never seen them like this phenomenon or were even aware that you could “see” a bird’s breath.
  - on February 17, 2020 at 9:38 am babsje
    
    I had no idea either, myself. Red Winged Blackbirds are fascinating. Here in MA, the males are first to return from migration, as early as the third week in February, the females follow later. My favorite experience with them was watching a male endlessly pester a Great Blue Heron that was foraging along the lake shore too close to the best.
on February 17, 2020 at 9:33 am | Reply weisserwatercolours

…..the animation, the articulation of the feathers, the light and the life. Superb.
on February 17, 2020 at 10:30 am | Reply Lavinia Ross

Beautiful shots, Mike! I love red-winged blackbirds.
on February 17, 2020 at 10:34 am | Reply Anne Williams

Wonderful!! Beautiful!!
Thanks for all the sharing of your wonderful work that you have done thru the years. It has enriched my life…
on February 17, 2020 at 10:57 am | Reply Jet Eliot

Truly a rarity, Mike, actually seeing the breath. I have been birding for 30+ years and have seen hundreds of individual red-winged blackbirds, close up with good binoculars. I bird a lot of marshes. I have never seen this phenomenon. I’m really happy for you that you captured this, because you spend so much time out in the field and have been rewarded in so many ways, I am sure, this being one of the rewards. Thanks for sharing it. I was instantly reminded of your frog vibration photo, another exquisite rarity. What we see in the field in all its variations is limitless and astounding.
- on February 17, 2020 at 12:15 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks so much for your kind words, Jet. It is interesting that you thought of the frog photo, because in my mind they are linked. I consciously entitled the post about the frog “Visible Sound” so that it matched the blackbird posting that I had called “Visible Song” several years earlier. It is truly amazing what there is to be seen in the wild and even commonplace species can surprise us.
on February 17, 2020 at 11:11 am | Reply joyroses13

Wow! These are awesome!!
on February 17, 2020 at 11:12 am | Reply Michael Scandling

Fantastic shots of one of my favorite birds.
on February 17, 2020 at 1:20 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Magnificent photos! What an incredible capture and how very cool to be able to see birdsong. Wow!
on February 17, 2020 at 2:01 pm | Reply Dan Antion

That’s worth searching the archives for, Mike. Great photo.
on February 17, 2020 at 3:22 pm | Reply Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography

Remarkable images… kudos
on February 17, 2020 at 4:26 pm | Reply Reed Andariese

Very Nice Mike! I think a metal print would look Great! Or an acrylic print. There are so many types of canvas for printing it is hard to know what you will get with an online order. In my studio before I retired we did a lot of fine art and display prints along with our commercial photography work. We had 5 printers up to 63 inches wide x however long it needed to be. Towards the end we did more printing than photography! It is fun to see your images printed.
on February 17, 2020 at 5:46 pm | Reply sv-anui.com

Love these. Definitely consider a print on metal – they look stunning.
on February 17, 2020 at 6:26 pm | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Great shots! I would definitely have prints made.
on February 17, 2020 at 7:02 pm | Reply A Curious Introvert

Fantastic images, love how you captured the breath and wings!🙂
on February 17, 2020 at 7:49 pm | Reply Eliza Waters

Amazing captures, Mike. This could easily win a photo contest – have you ever considered submitting one? Most Audubon and many wildlife orgs host them.
- on February 17, 2020 at 7:57 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I have only done one contest–a local one at the park where I actually took these shots. (I won second place for a macro close-up of a dragonfly.) As several of my friends pointed out, last year’s amateur grand prize winner in the Aububon contest was a similar shot of a red-winged blackbird take at the same park. (Check it out at https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2019/the-2019-audubon-photography-awards-winners).
  - on February 17, 2020 at 8:01 pm Eliza Waters
    
    Pick another contest for this year – you have so many excellent shots, and you’re already an ‘award-winning photographer!’ 🙂
  - on February 17, 2020 at 8:30 pm Mike Powell
    
    Thanks for the encouragement, Eliza. I may look around and see if there is a contest that I would feel comfortable entering. In case you are curious about the previous contest I entered, here is a link to a posting that I did about it that shows the “award-winning” photo. (https://michaelqpowell.com/2015/12/21/second-place-in-local-photo-competition/)
  - on February 22, 2020 at 3:29 pm Eliza Waters
    
    https://photocontest.nwf.org/menu-home.aspx?comp_id=9A448998-5EC2-400F-B03B-9EF07FB0FF69
on February 17, 2020 at 11:45 pm | Reply Laura Denise

WOW, Mike!!! Those are astonishing! Truly!
- on February 18, 2020 at 9:29 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. I am always amazed by the wondrous things that I manage to see when I am wandering about with my camera. Over time my observational skills and reaction time have improved and I’ve learned the importance of taking things slowly, i.e. taking the time to smell the roses, as the only saying goes.
on February 18, 2020 at 9:22 am | Reply Sherry Felix

Amazing capture.
- on February 18, 2020 at 9:24 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Sherry.
on March 17, 2020 at 7:11 am | Reply Blogger recognition award – Exploring Colour

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