Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Yellow-rumped Warbler

A few days ago, I started on photos taken during the week friends and I spent in Quebec, 12-18 May 2018. Some photos were taken in the small, coastal village of Tadoussac itself, others were taken in the wonderful garden of the home in which we stayed all week, and the rest were taken on several drives we made further along the coast. Unfortunately, so many of my garden bird photos will have to be deleted, as there was no room for me right by the window, so I had to take the shots from further inside the room and that definitely did not work! The one morning, I made sure that I got to the window first and was able to get some reasonable images : ) For many of them, I used my Panasonic FZ1000, which only has a small zoom, but I like the quality of images taken with it. I had to give up trying to use the faulty Nikon B700 (prism in viewfinder was out of place) - I was just wasting precious time and photo opportunities, and ending up with ruined photos (camera was since returned and money refunded). Though I prefer a more natural setting, I am happy to take fence or feeder shots if they mean I can see the beautiful details of the birds up close. Link to my album (358 images) about Point Pelee and area, Ontario: www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/albums/72157667191771677 At the end of our 4-day stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec City airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. Several trips were made to see different places along the coast, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese, in flight and also up close. Breathtaking! We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Zodiac, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos - difficult when bobbing up and down on the rough water! It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time. Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )

A quick, less than sharp, shot from driver's seat out through the passenger window of a bird that I usually see only at a great distance, flitting constantly. Taken yesterday, 29 April 2017, when I spent the day with my daughter. She was not up to a long day's drive, so we went to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast and a wander round their grounds. Afterwards, we called in at Spruce-it-Up Garden Centre, which neither of us had visited before. From there, I drove westwards as far as the Priddis area, where we had hoped to see a few birds. Not much to be seen, though this little Yellow-rumped Warbler was most welcome, plus a beautiful, but rather distant, Rough-legged Hawk and several Mountain Bluebirds. "Yellow-rumped Warblers are impressive in the sheer numbers with which they flood the continent each fall. Shrubs and trees fill with the streaky brown-and-yellow birds and their distinctive, sharp chips. Though the color palette is subdued all winter, you owe it to yourself to seek these birds out on their spring migration or on their breeding grounds. Spring molt brings a transformation, leaving them a dazzling mix of bright yellow, charcoal gray and black, and bold white." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id Typical weather - a mix of sun, cloud, rain and even snowflakes, but at least it didn't rain heavily all day. Thanks for an enjoyable day, Rachel! Lovely to spend it with you. I was so short of sleep and ended up sleeping all morning today, which is why I'm posting rather late. If I have time, I might just add later a few more photos taken yesterday, so that I can get back to dealing with my Trinidad & Tobago captures. Two back-to-back day trips coming up, though, so editing time will be very scarce. I have to get up in the middle of the night for the second trip, or I may even stay up the whole night to make sure I don't oversleep. What we birders/photographers do in the hope of taking photos!

Two days ago, on 23 September 2016, I had a few errands that needed to be run and then I called in at Fish Creek Park, hoping that I might just see the juvenile Black-crowned Night-Herons that some people are still seeing down there. Totally out of luck, though I did see a Belted Kingfisher perched off in the distance. Luckily, I had seen the Night-Herons a few weeks ago, during a birding walk. Also, got a couple of rapid shots of this little Yellow-rumped Warbler. "Yellow-rumped Warblers are impressive in the sheer numbers with which they flood the continent each fall. Shrubs and trees fill with the streaky brown-and-yellow birds and their distinctive, sharp chips. Though the color palette is subdued all winter, you owe it to yourself to seek these birds out on their spring migration or on their breeding grounds. Spring molt brings a transformation, leaving them a dazzling mix of bright yellow, charcoal gray and black, and bold white." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/lifehis...

I think I've given up of ever taking photos of Warblers - they are much too quick, constantly on the move and usually half hidden among the branches and leaves. Yesterday, 4 September 2016, however, I was in luck when this little Yellow-rumped Warbler became visible long enough to get a quick shot or two. The colouring should be more white than the creamy-beige colour. I had got up with the plan to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of the city, but the heavily overcast sky just didn't show any signs of clearing. I need a sunny day when taking mushroom photos in the forest, otherwise my photos come out very grainy and blurry. I had hoped to put on a few more kilometres on my new car, to get more travel done in order to no longer break it in. Instead, as I was all ready to go out, I decided to go and join a group of friends for another birding walk in Carburn Park. It was very quiet, bird-wise, but it was so enjoyable to go for coffee and a bite to eat at Tim Horton's afterwards.

Friends, Cathy and Terry, and I left Calgary early morning on Wednesday (14 May 2014) and got home at something like 12:15 a.m. midnight yesterday (Thursday, 15 May 2014), after two long, wonderful days in the Rocky Mountains, west of the city. Wednesday night was spent in a spotless motel, in a place that had so many Mountain Sheep roaming the streets, lol! Though we were hoping to see at least one Bear, I was happy as can be to see absolutely anything beautiful : ) Over the two days, we had 7 bear sightings, with three definitely different Black Bears (no Grizzlies), and possibly four. The rest of the sightings were of Bears we had already seen. We made many stops and at each one, we usually came across something different. This time, it was a little Yellow-rumped Warbler, which looked like a black silhouette until I brightened the image. They are such pretty birds. I usually see the Myrtle form, which has a white throat, but this yellow-throated bird is an Audubon's form. (Thanks, Dee!) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-rumped_Warbler www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-rumped_warbler/id One thing that was proven to me while we were away was that taking photos, even with a fairly light-weight point-and-shoot camera, is what is either causing, or making much worse, the awful pain in my arms and shoulders. Not a good thing, and it made it very unpleasant, every second of the day, unfortunately. In fact, the whole of my body felt as if it was inflamed. Just holding the camera and trying to keep it as steady as I could, was really awkward as well as intensely painful. Too much mouse clicking when using the computer at home is another cause of this pain. Thanks SO much, Cathy and Terry, for so kindly inviting me along on this trip. It's always so much fun to spend time with you guys, and you are both so knowledgable. Thanks for so many chances to take photos of such a variety of subjects! And now I'm back to all the frustrating problems of Flickr, including search problems and very definite Stats (views) problems. Ha, I'm away for just two days (didn't post any photos for just one of the days) and now things aren't working? Barely any new photos from My Contacts showing, either. What a mess!

There were several of these little Yellow-rumped Warblers some distance from where we were standing the other morning at Sikome, Fish Creek Park, on 29 September 2013. They were constantly on the move (and fast), but I was lucky to catch this one on a branch for a second or two. Not a good photo at all, but I so rarely get to photograph this species.

This is the only quick shot I managed to get of this little bird and I only took it because I thought it might be a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but I wanted to check. When I was asked if it was an eastern Myrtle Warbler (ssp coronata), or its western counterpart, Audubon's Warbler (ssp group auduboni), I said that the throat was white with a patch of yellow. In other words, it's a hybrid of the two. I don't really know anything about these birds, so I'm not even sure if this is a female or male. If anyone knows, I would really appreciate any info - thanks! Taken when seven of us spent the day two days ago, 28 June 2013, at Bow Valley Provincial Park, recording all species of flora and fauna that were seen. ID from flickr member, birder74: "Looks like an inter-grade 'Audubon' X 'Myrtle' Yellow-rumped Warbler female". Thank you! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-rumped_Warbler www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-rumped_warbler/id www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/9176172624

This is such a bad photo, but perhaps the sharpest one that I've taken. How I dislike branches - hey, Phil, here's a challenge for you, LOL! However, I am uploading this, in the hope that I will one day get a much better shot of one of these pretty little Yellow-rumped Warblers. This little one was flitting around at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

This image shows the side view of the wing pattern as well as the eye mask.

I'm not too likely to get a closer photo of this fast-moving little Yellow-rumped Warbler, so will use these two photos. I always smile when I see these, as they make me think of Zorro, wearing a "bandit" mask across the eyes! This belongs to the Myrtle race because of the white throat.