As I was walking along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Monday (10 November) I saw and heard a group of small birds moving about in the vegetation. Many of them flew away immediately, but a few of them remained in place a little while longer. I thought I recognized the prominent pattern as belonging to an American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). I tracked one of the birds and captured the second shot, which confirmed my initial identification.
When I started to review my photos on my computer, I noticed that there was a second bird in the first photo below that I had not noticed when I took the photo. I naively assumed it must be another goldfinch. I posted the photo to a Facebook birding group and one of the more experienced birders there pointed out that the bill on the bird on the right was completely different. He identified the bird as an Orange-crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata), a species that he noted was “hard to find.” After reading that comment, I looked over my photos once again and decided to post the final photo of the warbler in a slightly different pose.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 