Orchard Oriole
This adult male Orchard Oriole finally gave me a decent couple of poses on a recent morning! My guy was foraging, singing, and defending his territory against various avian intruders when he paused to let me shoot him for a few seconds. His chestnut-like tones look fantastic against the green leaves and blue sky. Someday I want to get a photo of an Orchard Oriole and a Baltimore Oriole for a better visual comparison of their sizes. Orchards are noticeably smaller than their cousins, just a bit larger than our vireos and warblers. It is hard to believe this fella will be heading south for the...
Read MoreOrchard Oriole
This adult male Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) is a Stratford Point resident, deftly avoiding our cameras for the most part while feeding mostly in the canopy. Occasionally he drops down closer to eye level, and he has been seen copulating with our resident female. It is likely that we will once again have a nesting pair on site. The family grows up quickly though, and even by the end of July this guy may be heading back to Central America. When they are not vocalizing they can be surprisingly inconspicuous. This is probably the best time of year to get some good views of them without...
Read MoreBlue-winged Warbler
This is another photo that I captured yesterday morning with a semi-friendly Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) taking a glance at me before he moved on. Can you identify the bird in the background? I intentionally did not crop this photo very much because I liked seeing the adult male Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) chowing down not much further up the trail from the warbler. I saw plenty of both Orchard and Baltimore Orioles yesterday, but none of them were very friendly for the camera. I’ll get you, orioles… Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreOrchard Orioles
This morning was a terrific one for yet more orioles! After being lucky enough to get a nice pose from a male Baltimore Oriole yesterday, I was able to get a couple decent photos of both female and male Orchard Orioles (Icterus spurius) today. The only reason they stopped at such low levels for me even for a moment was because the ladies were actively having to avoid all the guys chasing after them. Here is hoping I get to enjoy watching a pair building a nest soon. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreBird Fest 2014 day 1
This is the first of two blog posts on RTPI’s Bird Fest 2014 which took place on Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7. The first day featured two excursions focused on wetlands and grasslands. The wetlands stop took us to Akeley Swamp Important Bird Area just south of the New York-Pennsylvania border in Pine Grove Township, Warren County for a walk led by Don Watts. As you can see our morning fog lifted out and revealed a perfect June day. This afforded us a lot of good viewing opportunities and a chance to conduct rail callback surveys via my iPhone – we had Virginia Rails and a...
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