Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Yellow-rumped Warbler’

Looks like an angel

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 3, 2018| 11 Comments »

“You look like an angel…” I am not sure what was so special about that particular spot on that specific tree, but this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) used all of its aerial and acrobatic skills to peck away at it on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. From what I could tell, the warbler held on to the branch with its feet and used its outspread wings for balance. In the second image, it looks like the warbler was using a pendulum-like motion to generate momentum.

The bird’s body positions remind me of artistic portrays of angelic beings that I have a seen in multiple museums and books and I felt blessed to have had the chance to see this relatively common bird in an unusual way.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Yellow-rumped Warbler in April

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 13, 2018| 5 Comments »

I often wonder about the origins of the names of some species, but it’s pretty obvious why this particular bird is called a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). It is pretty hard to miss that posterior patch of bright yellow feathers, which leads some birders to affectionately call the bird a “butter butt.”

As I was tracking the bird through the vegetation, it came out into the open briefly, but turned away from me, and giving me a view of its underside. I find it fascinating to view a bird from multiple angles, but I must confess that I would have had trouble identifying the bird if this had been the only view that I had been able to capture.

Some of you may have noticed that I have been doing most of my photo treks these past few months in Occoquan Bay National Wildlife  Refuge. In this case, however, I spotted the warbler at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge last Friday, because I was checking to see if any dragonflies had emerged yet. There were none to be seen, but I am going out today, a week later, to search again for them. The weather is supposed to soar today to 80 degrees (27 degrees C), which is much more hospitable to dragonflies than the near-freezing levels that we had earlier in the week.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

A Winter Warbler Watercolor

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 18, 2018| 10 Comments »

One of my fellow bloggers, Jodi of The Creative Life In Between, saw a recent photo I took of a Yellow-rumped Warbler and asked if I minded if she used it for inspiration for a painting. Check out the wonderful watercolor she painted and the other cool postings on her blog.  Thanks, Jodi.

Jodi's avatarthe creative life in between

Yellow (rumped) Warbler in Winter Watercolor 11×14 140 lb cold press

A Winter Warbler Watercolor

I was looking at some beautiful photos on Mike Powell’s Photography Blog the other day of a fluffy little yellow-rumped warbler he spotted eating berries in the frigid winter weather at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Reserve in Virginia this month.

He was so cute, I asked Mike if I could paint one of his photos.  He kindly obliged.  My watercolor doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the bird or the magnificent shot Mike caught, but it was fun to do.  It’s been a while since I painted a bird.  And this little guy had his fluffiest coat on in the frigid temperatures we’ve been experiencing in the Northeast part of the United States lately, which made him just too irresistible for me to resist.

Thanks for giving me a shot at him Mike…

View original post 74 more words

Read Full Post »

Warbler and poison ivy berries

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2018| 18 Comments »

A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) really seemed to be enjoying the poison ivy berries that it managed to find on a frigid morning earlier this month at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

This little bird was so focused on finding food that it was not disturbed by my presence, which allowed me to capture a series of images.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Christmas warbler

Posted in Birds, Christmas, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on December 26, 2017| 1 Comment »

It was cold and windy on Christmas morning, but I nonetheless spent some time trekking about at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and captured this shot of a beautiful little Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). One of my Facebook viewers has posited that the berries the warbler is eating are poison ivy, though I cannot confirm that identification.

In my church, Christmas day marks the beginning of the twelve days of Christmas (many of you may be familiar with the song), so I am continuing to think about Christmas. I am saddened each year when I see Christmas trees confined to the curb the day after Christmas—I am not ready to move on.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a blessed new year.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Chasing warblers in November

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 12, 2017| 6 Comments »

Until I had a conversation with a birder last week, I never realized that Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) spend their winters in my area. Somehow I thought that they were merely passing through, migrating to some more distant southern location,

This past Friday, I spent quite a bit of time trying to get shots of some Yellow-rumped Warblers. Like the Golden-crowned Kinglet that I featured yesterday, these little birds seemed to spend most of their time hidden from me in the branches, periodically exposing a body part as if to tease me.

Here are a couple of my favorite shots of the day. I never did manage to get very close, but I like the way that the fall foliage helps to establish an environmental backdrop to the images.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

A few more Yellow-rumped Warblers

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on October 25, 2017| 2 Comments »

I am not sure why, but I have seen more warblers this autumn that I have ever seen before. In past years they always remained elusive, hidden behind the foliage, heard but not seen. This year I have seen them, especially Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) at several locations and on several occasions.

Here are several of my favorite warbler shots from this past weekend at Huntley Meadows Park. The first image, my favorite, is one of those lucky shots that occur when a bird takes off just as I press the camera’s shutter button. Normally that results in a bird that is out of focus or partially out of the frame, but this bird took off slowly and in a direction parallel to where I was focusing. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than to be good.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

 

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Yellow-rumped Warblers

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 14, 2017| 1 Comment »

It was cool, wet, and a little breezy yesterday, not exactly a perfect day for photography, but I made a trip anyways to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  My persistence was rewarded when I was able to capture some images of several cute little Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata).

When it comes to warblers, I generally have two big problems. Warblers seem to like to perch in the center of clusters of branches and it is often virtually impossible to get unobstructed shots of them. Even if I am able to get a clear shot, I am faced with the equally daunting challenge of identifying the bird. There appear to be a large number of warblers with similar patterns and colors and there are innumerable variations based on season, age, gender, and region.

I was pretty confident that the birds in these images were Yellow-rumped Warblers, but for reassurance I checked with some experts on a Facebook birding forum. One of them humorously noted that this bird is often informally referred to as “Butterbutt.”

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Periodically I’d catch a glimpse of a warbler in the trees of Huntley Meadows Park last Friday, but they mostly remained hidden deep within the branches. This Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), however, ventured out of the shadows just enough that I was able to get this long-distance shot of it.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts