What is that Call? What is that Bird?
I went on a bender of birding visits to local ponds and truly enjoyed my time. Now I am broke and staying put until the next pay check.Though the visits were not always successful in the way that I wanted, there was always something to discover. At one point, I heard a call that I knew was somewhat familiar, a kind of “witcha-witcha-witcha, whitcha” and I kept trying to spot whatever it was. The sound came from the thickets surrounding the marsh. This is what I captured-can anyone help me to ID it? I live in central Alberta, Canada. Not a great shot and not sure that the sound belongs to this particular bird. Any suggestions?
Evening Respite-Gulp or Swallow
It was a gathering of the clans. The mosquitoes were out in full force and the birds were very relaxed on the board walk, grouping together maybe to visit,but also to feed.It is hard to shoot swallows in flight although I give due credit to some, like Christopher Martin, who have captured excellent images of swallows catching insects at the surface of the water. I went the easier way, when they were sitting on the handrails. There are two kinds here, the barn swallow with its orange breast and the tree swallow with white. The following were shot in aperture priority mode at 1/320 to 1/500 sec. from f/7 to f/11, ISO 400.
Above is a family with young ones in the foreground, male then female.
Male and Female Yellow-headed Blackbirds
Their raucous call echoes across the ponds in the wetlands and they make for comedic moments as they aim for an approaching mosquito, jump and almost fall off their perch. I find these birds beautiful so am happy to see them stay at the John E Poole Wetlands walk for the breeding season.
Too bad the one of him jumping and losing his foothold didn’t turn out but I like his concentration as the mosquito approaches. The bugs were out in full force but that fact made the birds quite busy and approachable.
The females have become brighter the last couple of days and they are ducking and posing on the rushes to get the attention of the fellows.
Scoot the Coot
I was minding my business, scanning the waters when all of a sudden there was a chase. Didn’t catch all of it but will share for the sake of the sequence. Got to hand it to those American Coots. They provide me with plenty of entertainment.They are aggressive, territorial, caring as parents, and have a myriad of vocalizations to listen to.
Aperture Priority at 1/1024 sec. f/8 130 mm, ISO 400
My Heartsong 