An eventful and very nice weekend is behind us, although not much photography was involved. We finally got our kayaks out and paddled on the Mississippi. On the first tour Friday evening I left the camera at home and of course, missed my chance to make a photo of a mink that I saw climbing over drift wood along the shore. The lesson learnt was, never, I mean never ever leave your gear at home when you go out into nature… :idea: Joan joined me on the second trip Saturday morning. We had a really good time but a chance like the night before did not repeat. We saw some herons, an egret, muskrats, and lots of turtles. The photography results were mediocre, nothing I like to show here…
Instead I show you for the first time a Philadelphia Vireo. I still have some photos with birds from last month that I haven’t been able to identify yet. I made several shots from different perspectives of this Philadelphia Vireo and even if not all of them are tack sharp, or sometimes a branch covers parts of the bird, every image can be helpful for identification. At this particular picture you can’t see it but another one shows clearly that the vireo’s bill has a little hook at the upper mandible. This was the final hint for me in this matter.
I have never seen this vireo before, they come through here only during their migration to Canada, but I’m very happy that we can add another species to our list of birds that we have seen here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River.