Four Feathers Studio

It almost always starts with movement, a shake of a branch without a noticeable breeze, a flash of color in a sea of green leaves, or sometimes if I’m lucky, a brush of air against my cheek as they swoop past me, flying so close their wingtip almost touches me. Every time I see a shaking branch I think of the singing bush from the movie Three Amigos, which makes me laugh and then want to sing the medley of camp songs it’s famous for singing. “My bonnie lies over the ocean…” Well, if you’ve never seen the movie, it’s a classic with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase, and chances are you’ll never look at a shrub the same way again. Back to the matter at hand: movement in the trees that's unusual. This is the moment when I pick up my camera and begin to use it as binoculars, focusing in on the area of movement while trying to discover who's there.

 

April’s photograph of the Philadelphia Vireo captured the moment right after I had noticed unusual movement in the alder thickets. (Alder trees have a shrub-like appearance and provide wonderful habitat for flycatchers, warblers, and goldfinches just to name a few, food for overwintering birds, and serve as host for several species of moth and butterfly.) It was mid-afternoon in September, with the song and calls of goldfinch bouncing through the edges of the field and thicket, so when a bird popped out onto the shaking branch that wasn’t yellow I was a bit surprised. Looking through my lens I was even more taken aback because it was someone I had never seen before. Immediately the flash card images flipped through my mind, trying to match the coloring, the size—and then the beak made me stop short. The beak shape was leading me to believe I was looking at some kind of vireo: their beaks are blunt tipped and hooked at the end, and are much thicker than a warbler’s which are narrower and pointy. And that’s where my “expertise field skills” ended, and I would have to wait until later to ID the beautiful vireo that definitely was not a goldfinch. 

 

Philadelphia Vireos breed throughout Maine and up into Canada, returning to Central America in the winter months. They are definitely smaller than the numerous Red-eyed Vireos that nest and forage in the sugar maple trees in Wonderland, but larger than the warblers that are around. The Blue-headed Vireo was featured in last year’s calendar (February) and is the third species of vireo I have been able to ID and photograph in Wonderland. They are definitely a bit more chunky than the other two, with striking white eye rings, beautiful bluish-gray head, and soft, yellowish flanks—one of my favorites!