Little Bird Bonanza at Blackwater NWR
My last post featured the start of the autumn colors from my visit to Blackwater NWR on November 4. Here’s the start of the bird side from that same visit, along with a couple captures from my October 28 visit.
This post will feature the little birds. The little adorable ones that flit & flicker, dash & dart, jump & jet. Basically playing the games “peek-a-boo” and “catch me if you can” with anyone who dares to watch them.
These photos are the little birds that gave me a brief, splitting moment to capture their beauty.
First and foremost, I’ll start with a lifer to add to my list. In the woods with both sunlight and shade, I was working too fast and both over & underexposed my shots. But after cleaning up the photos enough to confirm ID, I can now finally add the Brown Creeper. <happy dance> My count is now 171, with a photo of each bird species in the wild to confirm. For an amateur bird photographer, I don’t think that’s half bad, and I have much fun doing it.
Here’s that new lifer, the Brown Creeper. Beg pardon on the graininess…
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper
And here are the other little birds captured during the two visits.
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Immature White-crowned Sparrow
(Thank you everyone for your ID help!)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
White-breasted Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch at the golden hour
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
(nicknamed “Butter-butt” as you can see why)
What fun it was with the challenge these little birds provide!
Next will be a quick post on butterflies and then the bigger birds from the same two visits.
Fantastic photos. 🙏🏻😎😌🤗
Thank you John!
These are great photos of the little ones! Incredibly good!
Thank you, Terry!
What a selection! Some great shots Donna hard to pick a favourite, maybe the Kinglet.
Thank you Brian! I wish the RCKinglet had flashed me his little ruby-red crown for the shot, that would have been icing on the cake with that one. 🙂
What a beautiful array of gorgeous little birds. I have to say your creeper lifer looks so much like our treecreepers, especially our White-throated Treecreeper, they are probably of similar family. Our treecreepers make a repetitive sound as they ascend the tree. They eat insects and grubs on the way to the top and then move to another tree. Always love seeing your Blue Jay.:-)
Thank you Ashley! I was able to walk one of the shorter trails (1/2 mile total) to try to look for them. No one else was on the trail which helps the birds stay settled better. Although a couple of the shots were from my car window. 🙂 Their was a flock of Blue Jays, that was the only shot that was worth sharing, lol. Just for you! 😉
I didn’t know Junco would be in your area. I just assumed it would be a little too far south. Great little birds, a favorite, and one I miss. We could always set our calendar by their arrival in New England.
We have a lot of them during the fall/winter. Always adorable looking, really cute when they puff up their feathers!
What a wonderful series!
Thank you Belinda!
Wow Donna, how great!
Thank you!
Wow! You definitely rose to the challenge with these captures AND identifications. I especially like the rear view of the yellow-rumped warbler. They are so cute! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Susan! I went alone and found the Marsh Edge Trail parking lot empty on one of the visits so I walked that trail specifically for the little ones. Usually too many people there; so being by myself, the birds settled somewhat with my intrusion into their world. 🙂
Great set
Thank you!
Congratulations on your lifer, Donna, and on capturing so many other little favorites. Do you think the sparrow in question might be an immature White-crowned Sparrow? If I remember correctly, the eyeline of an adult Chipping Sparrow reaches all the way to the beak. Not sure, though.
Thank you, Tanja! You were the first of others (including emails) that ID’d the sparrow as an immature White-crowned Sparrow, and I believe you are all correct. That was one of the other two options I came up with, and boy I start getting nervous IDing the immatures at times. 😉 Thank you for your help!
Wonderful gallery of birds Donna! Your mystery birds I believe is a young White-crowned Sparrow.
Great captures! 🙂
Thank you, HJ! You and others shared the same ID; and I had that as one of my other options with the white patch on the immature, but I do get nervous with being correct with the young ones. Thank you for your ID help! 🙂
Delightful photos, Donna. Congrats on your latest addition to your life list!
Thank you very much, Eliza!
Astounding photos because these little guys are so very hard to catch, they move around so fast. Liked your ‘butter butt’ the best, I think. I know we have a kinglet here, but it’s been way too flighty to catch anything close to a decent shot. But they are so cute! Can’t imagine how you tell the sparrows apart. Seriously! They’re almost as difficult as the gulls. 😀
Thank you very much Gunta, I was alone in the woods and up for the challenge. Really a lot of fun for me! Funny on the YRWarbler, I was in my car and he landed right beside me; he gave me a half dozen awesome shots. Doesn’t get much better than that! I do have to look up sparrows to be sure, lol. IDing sparrows & gulls, I seriously agree. 😊
Very Nice! It is always fun to photograph at Blackwater NWR!
Thank you Reed! It’s my go-to happy place. 😊
Congratulations on the brown creeper, they’re hard to photograph because of their behavior. I’ve missed every one I’ve seen this year.
I’d say that the chipping sparrow could be an American tree sparrow, but the bill color is wrong. I think that the white is a trick of the light at the time that you shot the photo.
And speaking of photos, these are great images of the small birds that you found, well done!
Thank you Jerry on all your comments! I did have several photos of the sparrow with the lightened white patch. I had thought about it being an immature White-crowned Sparrow; and others came up with that ID, which made me feel good because I’m always nervous IDing immatures with many birds. I did have a great time with the little bird challenge, I don’t get this opportunity often enough. 🙂
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