Birds

Indigo Bunting

July 31, 2022 1629 (4:29P) – I was thrilled! My very first Merlin Sound ID recording caught an Indigo bunting at 2m14s. I could not hear it at the time but after watching the app highlight the bird periodically I finally was able to track it to the very top of an old wild black cherry tree, just singing its little heart out. I snapped some photos with my Nikon and hoped for the best. It flew down and landed on top of the green leafy raspberry brambles right in front of me but before I could focus in on it, it disappeared deep inside the protective thorns. Ah ha, that’s where you live! And then I remembered. I got some terrible photos in the spring of a male sitting on top of those same brambles, but with no leaves at the time. I didn’t realize he was just scoping out the place for his new home. 🙂
Photos below (left to right): Screenshot of Merlin Sound ID with Indigo Bunting (Uncommon) third from top; American Goldfinch (highlighted in yellow) was singing at the time screenshot was captured (4:02.91). Photos 2 and 3 are the best of the worst; 3 has contrast tweaked to 150 to reveal its beautiful color.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Below are photos of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The last two are not the best but they are what lead me to the discovery that it was a juvenile male. He had just floated to one of the last Obedient flowers and had turned facing the setting sun, which was coming through the tree line thick with weeds and vines. As usual I was just clicking away with my camera and managed to catch it, just right at that moment, one tiny red dot on his throat, the one and only little Gorget feather, catching one ray of sunlight, just right!

Photography by Vanessa L. Mitchner, Lyons, MI. Page banner (and slideshow above): top row, left to right: Northern Cardinals (1), Baltimore Oriole (2), Yellow Warbler (3), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (4); bottom row left to right: Blue Jay (5), Eastern Bluebird (6), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (7), White-breasted Nuthatch (8).