Tag: nature photography

Let’s Chat

On By Mike and ChristyLeave a comment

There is a unique pleasure associated with spending a night camping next to the homes of a couple a male Yellow-breasted Chats during the spring courting season. Prolific singers in early morning and evening light but it was the all night singing during the breeding season that made for a memorable experience.

Males have a large repertoire of songs made up of whistles, cackles, mews, catcalls, caw notes, chuckles, rattles, squawks, gurgles, and pops, which they repeat and string together with great variety.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-breasted_Chat/sounds

That all night singing had us thinking it was dawn yet it was only 1 a.m. and wondering wonder….is this a dream?

The Yellow Breasted Chat is classified as a warbler but a warbler head and tails above other warblers in size as well as having a somewhat distinct shape A large head and neck as well as a long tail really make the Chat a very unique looking bird.

Yes, an evening spent in chat is an evening well spent.

In the Cottonwood tree

On By Mike and Christy2 Comments

An male Common Grackle looking shiny and sleek spent some time foraging around in this cottonwood tree as afternoon shifted to evening. It’s always a treat when just the right light revels the amazing coloration in their feathers. What appeared a basically black bird is reveled to have a green-purple head and iridescent purple-bronze body. And who can forget that eye.

Just singing my song

On By Mike and Christy4 Comments

Peeking out from behind the leaves and doing it with their typical style we proudly present ….the Gray Catbird.

With it’s distinctive cat like mew call radiating out from the dense undergrowth we knew if we waited just a little bit we might get a nice look at one of our favorite songsters and with a little patience we were rewarded.

This morning a pair of Catbirds emerged from the thick undergrowth into a nicely lit clearing. Although from a distance these birds look completely gray a closer look reveals a black cap and black-tipped tail and a bit of rufous under the tail.

“The Gray Catbird belongs to the genus Dumetella, which means “small thicket.” And that’s exactly where you should go look for this little skulker.”1

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/overview

Perhaps this pair were building their nest in this tangle of benches as Catbirds regularly nest in deep tangles building open cup type nests lined with inner cup of tightly woven grass, hair and small rootletts of plants.The nest is then used to incubated between 1-6 eggs which typically hatch in 12-15 days.

 In altercations, Gray Catbirds may fluff up the breast and rump feathers, spread their tail

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/lifehistory

The real treat of the morning was listening to the extended song of the male. A wonderful mix of whistles, squeaks,various mimicry of other birds, forest creatures and even mechanical noises strung together in a rambling song lasting up to 10 minutes.

Yellow-rumped

On By Mike and Christy3 Comments

A male Yellow-rumped Warbler makes a rare appearance from the forest canopy to rest on the firewood chopping block. Although we here them all day long in the spring and early summer we only get glimpses of them moving in the canopy of the fir trees high above.

Along the Missouri

On By Mike and ChristyLeave a comment

A Cedar Waxwing sits and peers out across the banks of the Missouri River. The Missouri is the longest river in the USA traveling from it’s beginning in the mountains close to home before traversing the landscape east and south for 2,341 miles. The Missouri has been a source of substance and transportation for up to 12,000 years. What a journey it must have been to travel this river before it was extensively dammed and wildlife abundant.