The Generous Eye. Blossoms mark the time. Happy Sunday!
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
I am almost always away from home when our ornamental cherry tree blooms. The buds are just appearing when I have to leave for Ohio and the Biggest Week in American Birding, and are generally gone, swept away by early May wind and rain, before I get back. This year is a pleasant exception. The tree bloomed a bit late, due to our delayed spring, and the blossoms survived the storms of May long enough so that when I returned from several weeks of travel they were still there to great me. As I am sure I have said in the past, this tree has a special meaning for me…for my family. I bought it as a bare root stick at the local Dollar Store when we bought the house in the spring of 1996 and stuck it in the ground next to an old pine tree stump. The stump has long disintegrated, and, against all odds, that little bare stick has grown into a mature tree 30 feet tall and with a trunk two feet through. This year its canopy of dense blossoms shades half the front yard, and I have had to cut it back twice already on the house side to keep in off the roof.
When I see it in full bloom…when I see the tree it has become, it reminds me of all the years we have lived here in Maine…and how rich our lives here have been. Oh, not “rich” that way…but rich in love and growth and joy. There have been difficult times. There are scars in the bark of the tree to testify, but the fact is that it has gown so big and tall and strong and that it is still blooming abundantly and beautifully…that is what matters.
The blossoms are about done for this year. The petals are falling. They spot the grass and moss of the yard. And every petal could mark a blessing that has fallen into our lives in the past 23 years…a wonder of grace…a gift of love. What a wonderful God!
I don’t know how many more springs I have to see the cherry tree bloom (who does?), but I am thankful to see it now…to be reminded into thanksgiving…to be reminded to count our blessings as the petals fall. Happy Sunday!
Female Cape May Warbler Sings
Most female warblers do not sing…but there are at least 9 species who regularly do (perhaps over 20 who do on occasion). The Cape May is among them. The Cape May is also one of the warbler species in which the female has distinctly different coloration than the male…enough so that you might suspect it is a different species (especially when you find it singing :). And, to add another to the list of things the Cape May is…it is another of those warblers named for where it was first collected…in Cape May, New Jersey…even though it only appears there during migration between its wintering grounds in extreme south Florida, the Caribbean Islands and Yucatán Peninsula, and its breeding grounds in the extreme northern US (in New England and the Mid-west) and southern Canada. In fact, it was not seen in Cape May for 100 years after the first specimen was captured there and is still considered an occasional migrant in New Jersey. I found this one from the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Erie shore of northern Ohio during the Biggest Week in American Birding. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatches are yard birds for us here in southern Maine, but I spotted this one off the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Erie shore of Northern Ohio…along with a host of other migrants headed north to their Canadian nesting grounds. Only when processing the photo did I notice the spider web behind the bird. It is the web, perhaps, that lifts this image out of the “bird portrait” category. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Accusatory Black-throated Blue Warber
The Black-throated Blue Warblers at Magee Marsh during this year’s Biggest Week in American Birding were among the most confiding. They were there in good numbers, even on the slowest days, and they were feeding low and close to the boardwalk. This one seemed very aware of me…or perhaps it was close enough to see its own reflection in the protective UV filter on my lens. I am not sure what it is accusing me of…but, honest, I was only interested in taking its picture. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Nashville Warbler
Not the brightest warbler in the bunch, the Nashville Warbler is still and attractive little bird, with a complex coloration. Notice the slight brown cap above the complete eye-ring. It is one of those warblers that got its name, incorrectly, in passing, since Alexander Wilson happened to see one in Nashville, Tennessee while it was migrating north to its breeding territory. The western race was once considered a separate species, the Calaveras Warbler. I got to watch this eastern specimen foraging for several minutes along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Erie shore of northern Ohio during the Biggest Week in American Birding. It was one of those rare occasions during the event when I was all alone with the bird. There was on one else near me on the boardwalk. I had the Nashville all to myself and it had my full attention. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Scarlet Tanager
Among the other non-warblers active in the spring passage of Magee Marsh, on the Erie shore in Northern Ohio each May, are the Tanagers, both Summer and Scarlet. One of the rare sunny days during this year’s Biggest Week in American Birding there was a group of three male Scarlet Tanagers and a female working the thickets between the boardwalk and the pond. They were paying a lot more attention to each other than they were to us and came in close and at eye-level. I don’t think there is anything redder in nature than a Scarlet Tanager…though, as in this shot, the sun can bring out the almost orange highlights. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
House Wren with lunch
While warblers are the stars of the show during the Biggest Week in American Birding along the Erie shore of Northern Ohio every May, it is hard to ignore the numbers of House Wrens along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. This year there seemed to great numbers. They were hunting in the leaf litter and singing from low branches everywhere. I caught this one in the act of dispatching a spider. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Northern Parula
The Biggest Week in American Birding is officially over for another year, but of course the birds are still coming north in numbers. This is a Northern Parula singing above the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Ohio shore of Lake Erie. A perky little bird, often hidden by leaves. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Blackburnian Warbler
Though it has not been a particularly great week for photography during the Biggest Week in American Birding along the Erie shore in Ohio…too many rainy dark days, and birds, when here, more interested in feeding than in posing…still I could not finish out the week without my yearly Blackburnian Warbler shot. The Blackburnian is perhaps my favorite warbler so I dedicated most of a morning to finding one, or rather a good photo of one, yesterday. I was almost back to the car and so far unsuccessful, when I spotted a group of photographers along the edge of the road in the parking lot and went over to see what they were doing. Blackburnian! Not my best shot ever, but still respectable. And there is me happy for another year. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Black and White Warbler
The Black and White Warbler is your classic tree creeper, often caught head down on a tree trunk or limb looking for insects in the bark. Tree cleaners. There are often several hundred at a time along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding in May, on the Erie shore in Northern Ohio. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.