Fresh air morning
First, I would like to thank you so much for your very kind blog comments, emails and texts! It is truly my pleasure to share my early morning adventures with each and every one of you. I am sorry I just can’t find the time to respond to your comments individually! I sincerely appreciate knowing that you enjoy seeing the gifts of nature that occur in the early morning hours. So now please come along with me as we experience yesterday morning’s burst of fresh air - take a nice deep breath, relax , sit back and please enjoy.
One of the reasons that I love spending time over at Ragged Mountain is that the land is so varied - meadows, ponds, streams, fields, and of course mountains. Many mornings the ponds are covered in fog and mist that begins to billow above the water as the sun begins to creep up and over the mountains to light up the landscape - it is truly stunning to watch this unfold.
I have been trying for quite some time to capture that magic - my best result so far was yesterday morning.
After this amazing light show ended I made my way over to my warbler area. Believe me my head was like swivel on a stick - I was constantly looking to see if Mr. 400 Pounder was anywhere in sight! He was nowhere to be seen yesterday. The birdsong was loud and beautiful but I was having the hardest time spotting the birds! Believe me that happens a lot. I set up in one of my favorite spots and was committed to staying there until I could actually see the birds - and not just hear them!
The first thing that came my way was this moth - does anyone know what this is?? It was constantly flitting around and amazingly landed for a few seconds so I could take this shot - just beautiful.
Then this butterfly started to put on a show. It would stay closed up for the longest periods of time and then in a very measured cadence would open and close its wings several times and then close up again, stay motionless, and then start again. Watching this butterfly with its rhythmic pattern of wing action actually slowed my own breathing down…
Then a flash of yellow flew right across my line of vision - I finally saw a bird! :). I kept thinking to myself - that is not a yellow warbler - could it be a blue-winged warbler?? It had just a touch of faint blue on its sides - as far as I can tell that is exactly who this is. My first ever sighting of a blue-winged warbler! The morning was already a huge success for me!
Then….an American Redstart!! I have only really had good looks of these beautiful birds one other time last year near the Deerfield River and did not get any good shots that day. This guy gave me such good looks as if to say - yes, the blue-winged is here but look at me!! And just my two cents… sometimes I just don’t think the names of the birds match up with who they are - and this is one example - I agree with those who think the Redstart could have been named differently - red??? But it is sure an absolutely stunning bird… what a gift to see this guy…
Just as quickly as he showed off he went out of my line of vision.
Needless to say I was really happy and then I noticed a short tugging motion on the berry bush that was just under where the blue-winged had been. It took me a few seconds to locate who was causing the tugging of the leaves and then I found her - wow!!! The sun was up over my left shoulder creating the most beautiful light on this gorgeous bush and this beautiful female - please enjoy!
Once again - thank you to all of you for coming along with me - I love sharing the wonder!