Past, Present, and Future

As a title, “Past, Present, and Future” sums this post up quite nicely. Although I’ve jumbled the order to fit my needs (and lets face it – it’s all about me, me, me) placing the future upfront.

Future: I was invited by the Heckrodt Birding Club to do a presentation on birding in Costa Rica. This club, new this year, is a local organization started by two members of the Northeast Wisconsin Birding Club – Mike & Mary. I led a field trip for the club back in July and I’m looking forward to presenting my photos and experience in Costa Rica to a new group of birders. That being said, my usual blogging time for the next 2-3 weeks will be used for editing photos, arranging content, and putting together my presentation. So bear with me for a few weeks and I’ll be back with the next installment of the Costa Rica Trip Report.

And if you happen to be in the area on Tuesday, October 6th, stop by Heckrodt Wetland Reserve for my presentation which is slated to begin at 6:30pm.

Present: This past Saturday we had the monthly Northeast Wisconsin Birding Club meeting (if you missed it, you missed a great presentation by Tom & Carol Sykes on birding Ecuador). Before and after the meeting I birded Mosquito Hill with Michael – and ran into Neil during the morning hours. The peak of fall warbler season has come and gone, but we still tallied 8 warbler species in the AM.

The best photo I could muster – all the warblers were actively feeding which made it nearly impossible to capture a decent photo. Black-throated Green Warbler – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

Did you notice anything in the bill of the bird above?

Breakfast Black-throated Green Warbler style – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

The most numerous bird of the day – Swainson’s Thrush – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

It’s always a lot of fun birding with Michael because he has a brain like a sponge (not to mention great eyes). As we were stalking the birds, he was slowly pointing out things like a Redbellied Snake, different flowers, and a number of butterfly species.

Michael spotted this Monarch caterpillar on a Milkweed plant – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

Red Admiral butterfly – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

Viceroy butterfly – Mosquito Hill 9-12-2015

Past: With the future and present covered I’m only left with the past. The photos below are from time I spent birding High Cliff this past May 4th & 7th. I wanted to get them posted earlier, but……well……..ah…..I’m a bit of a slacker.

Cape May Warbler – High Cliff 5-7-2015

Cape May Warbler

Palm Warbler – High Cliff 5-4-2015

Palm Warbler

I know the picture below isn’t great and certainly doesn’t do this species justice, but I’m happy to have any useable photo of a  Canada Warbler. These guys and gals skulk around in the thickets, as can be seen in this photo, and trying to capture a picture with an auto-zoom camera is 5% skill and 95% luck. Thankfully I had my Lucky Charms earlier that morning and Lucky the Leprechaun was looking out for me!

A little note on Canada Warblers: this is a species that likes to get its business done and get out of town. It’s one of the last warblers to arrive on breeding grounds and then one of the first to leave – get in, take care of business, and get out!

Canada Warbler – High Cliff 5-7-2015

Belted Kingfisher – High Cliff 5-72015

Can you ever have enough photos of Scarlet Tanagers? My post would suggest “no.”

Scarlet Tanager – High Cliff 5-7-2015

Scarlet Tanager – High Cliff 5-7-2015

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager – High Cliff 5-7-2015

Baltimore Oriole – High Cliff 5-4-2015

Baltimore Oriole – High Cliff 5-7-2015

I came across the Solitary Sandpiper below actively feeding and paying no attention to me. This allowed me to get relatively close without disrupting its hunt. Although not uncommon, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this close for this length of time with a Solitary Sandpiper. It’s one of the benefits of bird photography – spending more time with a species instead of just moving onto the next bird. In this case, I spent about 15 minutes following and photographing this sandpiper with the result being a host of pictures to chose from.

Solitary Sandpiper – High Cliff 5-4-2015

Solitary Sandpiper – High Cliff 5-4-2015

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper – High Cliff 5-4-2015

Mushrooms – High Cliff 5-4-2015

As mentioned above, it may be a week or two…..or three before my next post as I work on my presentation, but I’m hoping it’s sooner. Until then, get out there and Bird It Up!