Cape May Warbler (female), Setophaga tigrinya:
Ohio Department of Natural Resourse parking lot
near Magee Marsh.
During my visit
to Magee Marsh last month I had a few rainy, cool days. Okay, they were down
right cold days. Birds were not very
active and photography was slow. About
hour before the sundown on one of those days, I decided to leave early.
On the way out I
stopped at the Ohio DNR parking lot to check for birds. One of the evergreens, which I believed to be a spruce, had
a few warblers flitting around. The
birds were busily feeding, hopping from limb to limb gleaning insects from the
needles.
There was not another soul,
or car for that matter, in the parking lot so I drove up to the tree and parked
about 14 feet away and patiently waited for the birds to feed on the limbs
closest to me. After watching the birds
for about fifteen minutes, this female Cape May Warbler hopped right in front
of my camera. A few other birds came
along over the next 30 minutes, giving me some great photo opportunites.
Cape May Warblers
breed in a few of our Northern States and Canada. They build nest close to the top of spruce and
fir trees some thirty-five, to sixty feet off the ground. During the breeding season, the Cape May
primarily feeds on insects, but on its wintering grounds in the Caribbean, and
Central America it uses its tubular tongue to feed on flower nectar and fruit
juices.
Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/160 second @ f/8
