I’m convinced 90% of bird photography is getting close enough. Having all the technical expertise in the world isn’t going to get you a great bird photo unless you’re close enough to actually capture the image. While I can sometimes get good photos while on a hike, I’d estimate at least 90% of my best photos are those taken when I’m concealed in some way.
Often, that’s my vehicle. As I’ve said before, a great way to get good bird photos is to pull your car over next to a good area of habitat (a wetland, a small pond, a riparian area, etc.), and simply wait. Many birds that are skittish around a human presence are more bold when it’s “just” a car (regardless of what’s inside). However, there are better ways to conceal yourself, showing a much lower profile and getting to good birding areas that you could never take a car.
I started using a chair blind about 10 years ago. One of my favorite ways to use it is during shorebird migration in the spring, where I’ll set it up along a shoreline or the edge of a muddy field. This week I was birding up at Lake Thompson in Kingsbury County, when I came across a shallow water area with scattered mudflats, and quite a few species of shorebirds. A great place to set up the blind! I hiked out onto a good spot at the edge of the lake, making sure to place it in a location with the sun behind me (lighting always important for photography!). Of course everything scattered at first, at while the birds never came back in quite the same numbers as were present before I set up, it was still a great few hours. Here are a few photos from the day in the blind.
A Marbled Godwit flying past the blind, in hot pursuit of another Marbled Godwit. Both Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits were present in good numbers, but Marbled Godwits are the species that breed here. They were in courting mode, with display flights and birds chasing each other the entire time I sat in the blind. Not only my favorite photo of the day, this may be one of my favorite photos of all time, with the lighting, the pose, and the detail in the bird’s plumage.A Hudsonian Godwit in flight. Female Hudsonian Godwits, juveniles, or males not in full breeding plumage can sometimes be difficult to differentiate from Marbled Godwits when they’re standing. But in flight, the bold black and white patterns of a Hudsonian Godwit make it easy to identify. A Lesser Yellowlegs strutting in front of the blind. Lesser Yellowlegs are always one of the most common shorebirds that migrate through in the spring, and I have plenty of photos of them, but who can resist triggering the shutter on your camera when ANY bird makes it this easy? Opportunities that you may not be able to get without the use of the blind.Common Grackles are indeed quite common! They’re the bane of my feeder complex at home in the spring, as a small group of them can dominate my feeders and wipe out my offered goodies in short order! Despite that…I didn’t realize how few photos I really have of the species! Particularly when you get great light like this that shows off that iridescence.
If I could, I think every year I’d just take the month of May off and go birding. After a god-awful South Dakota winter, May almost seems too good to be true, with an explosion of life that seemed impossible just a month or two ago. I think birders always have a bit of the “grass-is-always-greener” mentality, wanting to see new species, and I’m no different. But I have to say migration in May, along with the arrival of summer residents, can make for some truly spectacular birding.
After today I’m at 154 species for the year for South Dakota. Not bad considering I was struggling to hit 100 a week or two ago. Today I birded Lincoln County, spending quite a bit of time around Newton Hills State Park. The highlight…when walking along the trail from the Horse Camp to the picnic area (along Sergeant Creek), I reached the halfway point that’s been THE spot to find Blue-winged Warblers in South Dakota. I paused and waited, hoping to hear the buzzing song that meant they’d returned yet again. No luck on Blue-winged Warblers yet, but while standing there, I heard a strange mess of a song in the bushes along the creek. It wasn’t a song I was familiar with, but reminded me of a Catbird or Brown Thrasher with the weird mix of phrases and some harsh notes. It took me a while to find it in the binoculars…White-eyed Vireo! A lifer for me!! I watched him belt out a couple of bursts of song through the binoculars, then reached for the camera and…bye-bye. Just a glance down to grab the camera and not only was it gone, but I didn’t hear or see it again. A bit bummed to not get a photo, but after birding 20+ years here any time you get a lifer it’s a great day.
Another highlight was when I wound my way back towards Sioux Falls by going past some of my favorite wetland areas. There’s the “Pet Cemetery” wetland south of Tea 6-8 miles or so where I often have good luck, but I ran into trouble today on the road that cuts through it. After the flooding this spring, there’s one spot on the road where water has been across the road, but it was very shallow and I’d already driven through it a couple of times this spring. Today was different! Today there was one big, deep hole in that road!! Now when I go birding I have a Toyota Tacoma with 4-wheel drive, and the thing has always been a beast, getting me in and out of any kind of terrain. Today I thought I’d met my match! When I hit the hole I was going nowhere fast, and the water was deep enough that I feared it was going to run into the passenger cabin. I’d pretty much resigned myself to getting wet and calling a tow truck, but after a bit of rocking, the hole reluctantly released my Tacoma and let me back out (with a LOT of effort!). So much for going on that road all the way through the wetland!
It turned out to be a blessing though. I turned around and headed back, and as I did, I saw a Great-tailed Grackle in the marsh. They’re a southern species that has been moving north in recent decades. I still remember when people were getting excited seeing them, and then…they seemed to disappear for several years (for me anyway). This was the first I remember seeing for quite some time. In another sign that birding is always unpredictable, I saw a 2nd one an hour later, up near Humboldt!
A lifer, and a rarity…a great day! And other than the White-eyed Vireo and Great-tailed Grackle, there were many first-of-year (FOY) birds for me including:
Baltimore Oriole (in my yard when I got home!)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (also in my yard when I got home!)
Virginia Rail
Snowy Egret
Marsh Wren
Pectoral Sandpiper
Cliff Swallow
Eastern Screech Owl
Swainson’s Thrush
Wood Thrush
Eastern Towhee
Ovenbird
Yellow Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Palm Warbler
A few more photos from the day:
Eastern Towhee, which have shown up in force in Newton Hills State Park. It was hard to find a place where you did NOT hear them singing. Long-billed Dowitcher at the “Worthing Sloughs” in Lincoln County, one of multiple locations where I saw this species today.Great-tailed Grackles weren’t the only FOY I saw at the “Pet Cemetery sloughs”. I also heard and saw a Virginia Rail.Shorebird migration still hasn’t fully taken off, at least not near Sioux Falls. There have been plenty of Lesser Yellowlegs around, but not a lot of variety yet.Snowy Egret, which I later found was the first I’d recorded in Lincoln County in eBird. It does seem like I see them quite a bit up around Lake Thompson, but not around Sioux Falls.
The day started off rather gloomy and wet, but after being on travel far too much lately and not getting a chance to bird, I was determined to head out today no matter what the weather was doing. I birded about 4 hours, staying primarily around Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County, and ended up having a great day. It’s clearly not peak migration yet for shorebirds, but they are starting to show up. Numbers were generally small in most places, but there was a pretty decent variety. Here are some photos from the day, many of which are “first-of-year” sightings for me. Click on the photos for an even higher-resolution version.
White-faced Ibis are a species that I don’t see all that often, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen them in Minnehaha County. There were 19 foraging in a flooded field west of Sioux Falls.
Another first-of-year, a Swainson’s Hawk soaring overhead when the sun came out this afternoon. I ended up seeing several Swainson’s Hawks for the day.
Franklin’s Gulls are one of my favorite spring migrants…they’re so beautiful when they have the blush of pink on their undersides. This wasn’t a first-of-year sighting, as I saw a few in the last couple of weeks. However, they’re really starting to come through in big numbers right now. This was right on the edge of Sioux Falls, at Harmodan Park on the southeast side of town.
By far the most common shorebird today were Lesser Yellowlegs, with a few Greater Yellowlegs mixed in. Here’s a nice comparison shot of the two. It’s pretty evident when they’re side-by-side, but not always so easy when a lone bird is spotted.
I have a billion Great Egret photos. But whenever I come across this beautiful bird, I can’t help but take yet another…
