Birding After Cabin Fever

After being cooped up in the house for nearly 5 days straight, you can be sure I got out of the house the first sunny day we had and headed for Theler wetlands and Port Orchard. In fact, I was surprised how few people I saw there as I thought everyone would be as anxious to get out of the house as I was.

I didn’t travel very far before I encountered this great blue Heron quietly guarding our pond,

Great Blue Heron

and I didn’t have to walk too much further before this unidentified gull decided to accompany me on my walk. Normally I don’t take pictures of gulls, but since this one insisted on hovering nearby in the breeze I made an exception.

gull

It seemed to want its picture taken, and it is, as John has noted, a good way to practice getting pictures of birds in flight.

Despite the joy I felt in getting out into the sunshine again, birding seemed quite slow. I worried what had happened to all the songbirds I’d seen the week before. In fact, I’d nearly quit birding when I happened to sight this little guy flashing from branch to branch.

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get a picture of a Golden-Crowned Kinglet before, though I have pursued a close cousin, the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, many times. At 3 3/4 inches long its survival depends on being quick, and it is, flitting about through the underbrush. It took me nearly fifteen minutes to get one semi-sharp shot. Looking at its silhouette it’s obviously a kinglet, but I was so focused on the white eyebrow and bright yellow colors that I didn’t see that until a few minutes ago.

2 thoughts on “Birding After Cabin Fever”

  1. LOVE the heron and I also like watching birds in flight. The gulls put on quite a show last week in Virginia Beach. I also saw some pelicans, which I don’t normally see there.

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