I spent the majority of my
time this morning photographing a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds. The male was desperately attempting to woo
the female. She was doing her best to
ignore him. When he thought he had her
eye, he would fluff up his feathers and spread his wings to look as sexy as
possible. Then he would strut in her direction.
Her lack of interest each time would be devastating and he would appear
to deflate. His entire body would shrink
as his feathers returned to their normal positions. A minute later and he would be back at it
again.
It was an extremely private moment. Neither realized that I and my long lens were
recording the romance. It wasn't an easy
scene to photograph. Cowbirds are mostly
black and the overhead cover was dense.
I had increased my ISO to 800. Because
my lens has a maximum aperture of f8, I was at about a 1/100 of a second shutter
speed.
Most of the time, I only have enough time for a couple of
shots. This couple was oblivious to me
and he wasn't having any luck, so I soon had many exposures. It was tempting to move on but I've learned
that a cooperative subject is a rare opportunity that should not be
wasted. The end result is that I have a
bumper crop of Cowbird photos and less variety of anything else.
The Great Blue Heron was fishing again today. He flies away as soon as he spots me or
another hiker. It is a good omen to photograph him because the alarm that he
sounds when he leaves puts most of the other wildlife on alert as well.
Perhaps that is why I got a glimpse of Wood Ducks. The male was high overhead on the branch of a
dead tree.
The female had three young ducklings out for a short
swim. If she had spotted me first, they
would have been hidden before I spotted them.
I'm not sure what the bird is. I suspect it is a young male Oriole. Birds are easier for me to identify in the early spring when they are adults in their mating plumage.
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