Not Warblers

Sep 12

This past Sunday afternoon I went out in search of warblers that might be passing through on their Fall migration. I went to Lakeside Golf Course and Jacobson Park in Lexington where warblers are known to stop. My first stop was the golf course. I arrived a little too early, around 4pm, and I walked around the parking area that is adjacent to the inlet from the reservoir. I didn’t find any warblers, so I settled in along the shoreline waiting for the sun to dip a little lower in the sky, hoping for warblers to show up.

They never did, but a Great Blue Heron flew in. I don’t think he saw me until after he landed because he completely froze when he did see me. Eventually he got used to me and refocused his attention on the water around him.

**Great Blue Heron.** Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 560.

To my surprise, a Green Heron then flew in. These small herons are so skittish that I was thrilled to have one so close by. It was in an area where the tree canopy were reflecting a vibrant green in the water which provided a nice pop of color.

**Green Heron.** Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1400.

After photographing the Green Heron I walked around looking for warblers when I spotted another Great Blue Heron. It was perched up in the tree, and by the fluff on the end of its bill could see it had been preening. It was very tolerant of me and I got some nice up-close portraits.

**Great Blue Heron.** Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1000.

The warblers never showed, but instead a flock of at least 50 European Starlings and Common Grackles flew in to feed on the chokeberry bushes. A few of the birds flew down to the shoreline to get a drink of water, and one Grackle in particular got within 20 feet of me. It was in a deeply shaded area, but that worked to my advantage because it eliminated any shadows from the nearby trees. With a bird so close, it’s impossible not to point your camera at it, so I did.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell how beautiful a bird is until after you take the photo and start processing it. That was the case with this bird. At the time, I was simply trying to get a good angle and watching the background. But in post-processing, it’s easy to see how colorful these birds are.

The difficulty in processing images like these is showing restraint. Because we want to show how colorful these birds are, it is tempting to push the vibrance and saturation sliders too far to the right, creating an unrealistic and inauthentic image of these birds. We’ve all seen horrible examples on Facebook and Instagram. The photo on the left (or the first photo if viewing on your phone) is the original photo with no vibrance or saturation adjustments, and the photo on the right is the edited photo (+18 vibrance and +15 saturation).

Despite the lack of warblers on this particular trip, Fall migration is definitely underway and it’s just a matter of getting out there and finding them.

Happy birding!