May 12, 2019
I had every intention of staying home today and getting some things done around the house (it’s piling up!), but I also knew I needed to get some exercise. The big decision came down to whether to take the dog for a walk or my camera. If I took the dog, I’d actually get some exercise; if I took the camera, I’d have a lot of fun, but not get much exercise. Fun won.
Taking pictures of birds and butterflies and all things skittish, requires a lot of patience and a lot of standing still, but If standing still counted for exercise, I’d be an Olympic medalist! Today’s picture walk ended up lasting five hours—most of which was non-ambulatory and I ended up with nearly 600 pictures! It got me thinking – shouldn’t all that lifting and lowering of camera equipment count for something in the exercise department?? Do they have an App for that??
There was a wonderful variety of birds today and all I had to do was walk out my front door and into the nearby woods! Several of the birds were brand new to me– or I’ve seen them so rarely that I couldn’t identify them without my Merlin App. It must be that a lot of different birds are migrating through our area right now. I was quite excited to have seen so many different ones!
Early on in today’s walk, I spotted a small, black and orange, warbler-sized bird flitting around in the trees at a frenetic pace and I wondered what it was. It was almost impossible to get a picture! At first I thought the little bird might be a rare discovery, but I found out later that it was an American Redstart, a bird that can be found across much of the eastern and northern United States! Geesh! Where have I been??
Later, I saw another small, yellow and grey, warbler-sized bird that was also zipping around so fast my head was spinning. I thought I’d discovered another ‘rare’ bird, but then, a little light went off in my head and I wondered if the bird I was seeing might also be an American Redstart only a female or a juvenile—and it was!
Along with the Redstarts, I saw several other birds that I have either never seen before or have only seen on rare occasions, like the Black-throated Blue Warbler, the Veery and the Alder Flycatcher.
I couldn’t always get the best shots today– those warblers are busy little things, but I did document seeing at least 20 different birds! I’m so glad I decided that the housework could wait!
