On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s Albatrossity Monday! But how did it get to be July already??? That’s crazy.
But at least we have some great OTR posts!
Albatrossity
After mid-May the migration push slows down a lot, but some of the later passage migrants are pretty handsome. And some of the summer residents have babies to feed, so there is always something new and different to watch. Here’s a late May smorgasbord of avian delights.
Common Yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) live up to their name, at least in my patch of Flyover Country. They can be found in any brushy area in most of North America in summer, even if it is surrounded by prairie grasses. If you learn to identify the song, you might be surprised at how ubiquitous they are. That might help explain why this species is one of the very first North American birds described in the scientific literature, when Linnaeus included it in his 1766 12th edition of Systema Naturæ. This male is making very sure that you admire his eponymous throat. Click here for larger image.
The more demure and retiring female Common Yellowthroat also has a yellow throat, but is nowhere near as flashy as the male. Click here for larger image.
Another bird with a yellow throat, both in name and in real life, the Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons) is often seen singing from an exposed perch; I have even seen one singing while it was perched on a nest! This is excellent for photographers, but I’m not sure if it is always a good idea for the bird. Click here for larger image.
This bird doesn’t just sport a yellow throat; it is basically yellow all over. This male Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) was probably a migrant, but a few do stay around here for the summer. Willow thickets and wild plum thickets seem to be among their favorite haunts here, and they can be found pretty much anywhere in the northern two-thirds of the North American continent in the summer. Click here for larger image.
Another basically all-yellow (or yellow-green) bird, this female Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) was snacking on some tasty insect when I interrupted her breakfast. Unlike the all-red male, her plumage can be very cryptic in the open-canopy woodlands that these birds favor for both foraging and nesting. Click here for larger image.
Yellow is part of the color scheme for this male Dickcissel (Spiza americana) as well, although it also has accents of basic black and rusty cinnamon. This is a species not found along the east or west coasts, with a summer range west of the Appalachians and east of the Rockies. It is a fascinating species for many reasons (polygynous mating system, nomadic behavior during the breeding season, abundance of vocalizations and local dialects, etc.). Click here for larger image.
The American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) is a passage migrant here, but I fondly hope to find a local breeding pair in my patch someday, as woodlands continue their march westward across the prairies. This is one of the most striking of our woodland warblers, and this adult male was fun to watch as he foraged, flicking that flashy tail repeatedly, in the May sunshine. Click here for larger image.
Apologies to the entomophiles here, but an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) with a big tasty caterpillar was too good to pass up, photographically speaking. And I suspect that some young robin nestling was pretty pleased with it as well! The range map for this common and well-loved species is quite impressive, and even more so when you consider the altitudinal factor. They can be found on a lawn in Florida as well as in the subalpine zone of an Alaskan mountain range. Click here for larger image.
Our final bird for today, the Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), is another common and widespread species, and the only member of the family Alaudidae that is native to North America. But since they don’t frequent suburban lawns, they are much less commonly observed by most North American birders. Like other members of the family, they sing in flight. If you have some time. the detailed description by JJ Audubon of larks he encountered in Labrador is worth the few minutes it might take you to read it. Note that he called them “Shore Larks”, the name applied to this species in England. Click here for larger image.
Ten Bears
Pollen. Which is actually a good thing, be better if there were more bees
Looks pretty cool on a dark green eMini …
SiubhanDuinne
Thank you, as always, for your incredible avian photographs. Yellow is my favourite colour by far, so I particularly enjoyed this collection of birds. (Sadly, I cannot wear yellow; I resemble a waxen cadaver when I do 😥.)
eclare
The Yellow Warbler is adorable, he even looks shy.
stinger
Follow, follow, follow, follow — follow the yellow bird road!
But hark! Audubon is a fun writer!
p.a.
Great as always!
This am watched a parent Blue Jay work itself ragged feeding two juveniles doing the “will sit on a fence and flare my wings for food” dance. Not much left in my feeders, just some ragged suet. I let food run out for a few days each cycle to discourage the birbs from being over-reliant, including Cooper’s lurking for some easy protein.
SteveinPHX
Birds with yellow feathers are always a treat to see. Thank you.
MCat
Thank you again for starting our Monday morning with the lovely birdies. This group is particularly beautiful.
Miss Bianca
Ah, that robin photo! We have a robin’s nest on one of the light fixtures above the back door to the theater, so I have had a chance to watch mama robin feeding tasty caterpillars and other bug beasties to the babies for the last few days now.
:)
J.
I have now added Dickcissel to my list of names to call certain people. Though that may be unfair to the bird. Great photo(s).
Redshift
I saw a pair of hummingbirds in a local park this weekend! First time I’ve seen ones that weren’t near a feeder. Apparently ruby-throated hummingbirds are the only ones we have on the east coast, but the weather was very overcast, so they didn’t look flashy.
Albatrossity
@J.: You might be amused to learn that the four-letter banding code for Dickcissel is simply DICK.
pieceofpeace
Love yellow, it fits summer and lifts spirits in winter. These guys/girls are lovely! Thank you…
Chat Noir
@Miss Bianca: We had a robin’s nest on the house we rented a few years back. It was fascinating watching the babies grow. After two or three weeks, they fledged and were gone.
Ohio Mom
@Redshift: I saw one once, flying over my driveway and catching a mosquito. The memory still thrills me.
mvr
These are nice to see as always.
We just got back from a trip to the Rockies (All of WY basically). Saw heard and even distantly photographed a Yellow Warbler near Encampment and at least heard a Yellow Rumped warbler in Grand Teton. (Of course my photos of birds don’t hold a candle to these.)
The other (partly) yellow bird I was were some Western Tanagers, including one perched on my fishing pole holder on my car. They’re a really pretty bird.
Albatrossity
@mvr: We drove rom Montana to CO earlier this month, and eastern WY was quite lush and green. Didn’t get into the mountains of western WY, but I bet those are green (and maybe even still some snow on the ground) as well.
And yeah, Western Tanagers are a gorgeous bird. Wish we had them around here!