Monday, May 5, 2008

Ruby-crowned Kinglet and other evening sightings at the Charles River

It took a little bit of motivation but I went for a walk tonight around 6:30pm since it was so nice out and I wanted to see what birds were down at the River. As soon as I got out of my I heard an interesting song and followed it to a Baltimore Oriole. I was excited to see something right away and quickly opened my lens. I kept pressing the shutter button but nothing was happening. Then I noticed the red '0' in the bottom right-hand corner of my screen. The memory card was full- D'Oh! I quickly deleted a few pictures and managed to get a few good ones:


I also saw several yellow-rumped warblers during my walk:

A cute little Savannah Warbler:

I also saw a Yellow Warbler...


...and an adorable Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It took quite a long time to identify it using my guide. Kinglets are such a small group that they don't come to mind right away. (Despite the fact that I saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet at the river last January.) I spent a long time going through the wood warblers, and even looking at vireos, but then finally I came upon the one page in my Sibley guide devoted to kinglets. The pictures were too blurry to include, but I'm just glad I finally got to the bottom of it! Ok- I can't leave it out after all that. Here a few *terribly blurry* pictures:

3 comments:

Larry said...

good to see you're getting some exciting birds. Good job with the Oriole pics. It looks like you're really putting the effort in to get some good bird pics-keep at it!
I filled my card the other day in the middle of taking photos.It was the first time it ever happened to me but it was really caused by the video feature.

Anonymous said...

I saw your oriole (or his neighbor!) this morning on my ride into work. It flew across the bike path along Greenough Blvd about 100 yards in front of me, and was so vibrant in his orange-ness that I actually shouted "oh my goodness!" when I saw him. Lovely!

Birdinggirl said...

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your Charles River sighting. I saw two orioles during the course of my walk and I wasn't sure if it was the same bird or if he had moved ahead. They seem to be abundant along the river though, so it's likely there's several in the area.

I had the same experience myself! First I picked up on the call but when I located the bird I couldn't believe how bright orange it was.