Northbound
Barn swallows in flight Nikon Z8 with Z100-400 at 200mm 1/1000 sec, f/7/1, ISO 400
Our second leg of the journey north ends with a stopover at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. At our hotel, the first birds to greet us were a flock of Barn swallows. Swallows are always a tough bird to photograph as they are fast and erratic. The ability of these aerobatic birds to catch small insects on the fly at high speed is just one more example of the miracle of Mother Nature equipping her creatures with all the necessary tools for survival. These swallows were nesting in the eaves of the hotel and preparing for their young to be born. When we return to NY, we have a favorite spot in Harriman State Park where the Barn swallows are known to nest, so we’ll be visiting there to try and get a series of photos over time showing the progression from nest building to fledging.
Heading into the grasslands of the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR, there were birds to be heard, but precious few that would accommodate me with a photo-op. The White-throated sparrow in the image above was almost invisible to the naked eye as he was tucked in the deepest shade of the tree. Fortunately, he perched in a “window” through which I could see his silhouette. I could not identify the bird from his outline alone, but I shot the picture anyway, overexposing with the hope of recovering a decent image in post-processing. As you can see, the image was fine and the identification was made simple once the image was lightened up. Ah, the wonders of technology. (See today’s Tech Tip at the end of this post)
Heading out to the refuge boat launch, there is a small pond where I always check for shorebirds, waders, and ducks. It was pretty sparse viewing today except for a lone duck that flew into the far side of the water. This fellow did not want me to get the id wrong and reared back to expose the telltale iridescent wing patches of the Green-winged teal, a small dabbling duck native to North America and breeding in Canada and northernmost central United States. The Green-winged teal is pretty rare in seasons other than Autumn and Spring, so this bird is more than likely on a long journey back to points north.
This Osprey has already finished his annual trek and is as far north as he plans to go. These birds of prey are migratory and arrive in Virginia from their wintering grounds in the West Indies, Central American, and South American in March and April. Once their nest is “built”, the eggs will be laid and are incubated for 35-37 days.. There are no young on this nest yet, but in another month or so, that will be a different story.
Other than a large number of gulls (mostly Laughing and Herring) down at the water front, the most prevalent birds were the Common grackles. These birds are here year-round and in spring they prefer to nest in tall evergreens which is where I found them today. Although there were plenty of these blackbirds in the refuge today, they are considered to be “near-threatened” due to habitat loss and the use of pesticides. Refuges where open fields are plentiful and the use of chemicals is frowned upon offer some hope to species like the grackle who need the wide open spaces to thrive.
Tech-tip- In the last post, there was an image of a Yellow-throated warbler which was “saved” during post-processing using a piece of software known as “Lightroom Classic”. In today’s post, the shot of the White-throated sparrow was also salvaged in a similar manner. Today’s “Tech tip” is this…..Shoot your digital mages in RAW format. While the images will use up a lot more storage space on your computer and in your camera, the chances of getting better results from your photos increases exponentially. A RAW file gathers much more information than a JPEG and files that are underexposed due to poor lighting conditions will pick up a lot more detail that can be retrieved during minimal post processing in programs like Lightroom Classic, Skylum Luminar, or Affinity Pro. For a short video on Why You May Want to Shoot in RAW, click below.
