Kinglets and Herons

November 16, 2018

Late in the day, I had the opportunity to squeeze in a relatively short picture walk before I would run out of light—and time. So, I headed out the door with my short, easy to carry, lens (70-300mm) and walked through our woods to one of my favorite picture spots, a very small footbridge over a very small creek– an area that is quite popular with a variety of birds. Depending on the time of year, I might see cardinals, cedar waxwings, bluejays, goldfinches, sparrows, red wing blackbirds, nuthatches or juncos–to name a few. Lately, though, I’ve been seeing Golden Crowned Kinglets and Ruby Crowned Kinglets–but they very are hard to ‘capture’! These little birds are barely bigger than a hummingbird and are aptly described as “frenetically active”! In addition to being very quick, kinglets stay well hidden.

“These tiny songbirds usually stay concealed high in dense trees, revealing their presence with thin, very high-pitched calls.”

For me, these little birds were flitting about rather low– in among the bushes and close to the surface of the creek. I had a really hard time following their flight path in and out of the limbs and branches– and I had an even harder time hearing their high pitched calls.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Golden-crowned_Kinglet/sounds

Between their erratic flight patterns and my incorrect camera settings, I only have one good picture of a Golden Crowned Kinglet to share.  

All was not lost though! As I was trying to ‘shoot’ the kinglets, a beautiful great blue heron landed on the railing of the footbridge less than fifteen feet from where I was standing!! I slowly turned my camera in his direction and snapped as many pictures as I could before he took off.  What a thrill it is to be so close to a wild creature– and remain unnoticed!