Molly and I are poised for takeoff. We will spend the next week near the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior as volunteer lighthouse keeps at Crisp Point. Given all the work required to get ready, I did not have much time for birding and photography. Thankfully this tree swallow obliged me!
Back in the 1960’s when I was a young boy the trumpeter swan almost became extinct. Over the intervening 50 years the swan has clawed itself back where several thousand now live in North America. In northern Minnesota I am privileged to often see and hear these noble creatures.
When trumpeter swans fly and sing out, it an amazing sight and sound. Their call truly sounds like a trumpet, and their stretched out necks looks like a medieval trumpet. For this photo, I was using a very, very long zoom to not disturb this pair of birds … and hiding in some bull rushes. For more information on this largest swan in North America, please link to the Trumpeter Swan Society.
While walking back to my car, I also finally photographed the “bandit bird” (my nickname). For almost ten days I have been trying to get a good photo of a common yellow-throat. Normally these birds would be deep in thickets and marsh making a photograph impossible. Not today!
Trumpeter Swan
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Common Yellow-Throat
Most people may not know that the robin they see quite often in their front yard, has a close cousin, the wood thrush. The two birds are closely related (Wikipedia article). This morning, while on my daily “photo hike”, this robin landed on this fence and almost demanded I take a photograph of it! I agreed and took the photo. The framing was too good to pass up! Later on, I saw this wood thrush deep in a thicket. I was lucky to get an unobstructed photo.
Robin
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Wood Thrush
