A Good Day of Post-Hurricane Birding
The remnants of Hurricane Helene blew through our area on Friday, bringing high winds and all day rain. The rain persisted all day Saturday as well, so I used that time to make some prints using my new Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1100 Inkjet Printer. Saturday morning I made some test prints, fine tuning the colors to make sure that the print matched exactly what I was seeing on the screen. By midday I was a printing one beautiful print after another, some from my Kentucky catalogue and some from Florida.
There is something special about seeing an image come to life through printing. I recently heard a photographer say, “create prints, not photos.” I think this is good advice, as it really forces you to make deliberate choices in your photography, both while in the field taking the photos and at home in front of the computer making the final edits.
The weather was better Sunday. It was still haze gray, but I was itching to get out, especially hopeful to see some rarities blown in by the hurricane. I decided to stay local, heading to Jacobson Park in south Lexington. The first birds I saw were a group of six Black Vultures hanging around the trash cans. The wind had blown the lid off the trash cans so it was an all-you-can eat buffet for the vultures. I used the opportunity to take a headshot of one of the vultures perched on a trash can. It’s still not the image of a Black Vulture that I have in my mind’s eye, but we’re getting closer.
Black Vulture. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 14400.
While photographing the Black Vulture, some movement in the bushes in the background caught my eye. There were a couple of birds, one being a White-eyed Vireo. I couldn’t get a shot on that bird, but I did on the Least Flycatcher. When I entered this bird on my eBird list, eBird alerted me that this was the first ever report of a Least Flycatcher at this location. I had to enter some comments to prove the sighting to the local reviewer, so I just added these photos. A first-ever report of a bird in a heavily trafficked urban park - how about that! Whether this is the result of the hurricane, I can’t say.
Least Flycatcher. A "first-ever sighting" of this species at Jacobson Park. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 5600.
Least Flycatcher. A "first-ever sighting" of this species at Jacobson Park. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 16000.
I then drove over to the Camp Kearney side of the park and walked along the lake’s shoreline. There I found about 50 Mallards bathing and preening. A few would leave the shoreline for the open water, splash around while bathing, then return to the shore to preen some more. There was a pier on the lake, so I went out on it, laid down to get as low as possible, and focused on one of the male Mallards bathing. I waited for the moment when he would start flapping his wings, then take a burst of photos, hoping the autofocus would stay on the eye and not focus on the wings. It worked!
Mallard. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 2000.
I left the Mallards and started looking into the trees and bushes along the shoreline to find songbirds, especially warblers. I was pleased to find a group of about six Palm Warblers, easily spotted by their pumping tails. While photographing the Palms, I spotted a Black-throated Green Warbler. That’s not something you see everyday! I was thrilled, and just tried to stay calm to take the photo and not spook the bird away. I managed to get a few shots before it took off for another tree in the woods.
Black-throated Green Warbler. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 4000.
Black-throated Green Warbler. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 3600.
Black-throated Green Warbler. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 2500.
Continuing my walk around the lake, I came across a Great Blue Heron perched on a stump in the lake. A cypress tree provided a nice backdrop, even on a hazy gray day.
Great Blue Heron. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 2500.
Underneath that cypress tree was another heron, a Green Heron staying in the shadows as usual. This one looked particularly attractive.
Green Heron. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 2800.
Not 10 yards from the Green Heron, a female Hummingbird buzzed me and started working over a few nearby flowers. By the time I got her in frame, she had perched on a small branch, posing as if I was her personal photographer.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 2000.
On the walk back to my car, a Carolina Wren was flitting through the bushes. I watched him for a little bit before he finally settled onto a branch a started preening, curling up in a ball to reach those tail feathers. What a cutie!
Carolina Wren. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 4500.
Carolina Wren. Always a cute little bird, this Carolina Wren is even cute while scratching its butt. lol. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 6400.
While I didn’t see any true rarities, I was really happy with this trip to Jacobson Park. While local, it is still a 30 minute drive for me to get to this park so it’s always nice when you can come back with some decent images. While the dense overhead clouds did make the color and amount of light a challenge, it did provide a “soft box” effect which meant I was able to shoot well past 10am.
All in all, a good day of birding! Be sure to get out soon while Fall migration is underway.
Happy birding!
