Just so y’all won’t think I’m a total curmudgeon about springtime, or that I hate nature or whatever, I thought I’d share this.
This inexplicable (to me) green bird visited our deck feeder this morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it in my yard. I’m used to the dull greys and browns of wrens and the like, occasionally relieved by a cardinal or bluejay.
But green?
Can anybody identify it?
I thought it was pretty nice. Regrettably, as I was texting it to my wife, who was out of the house, I missed a better shot when two dull grey-and-brown birds landed next to this one on the feeder. It really made the green pop out more. But I couldn’t get my phone into position to shoot it before the green one flew away.
But despite the limitations of my iPhone shooting through a window at several yards distance, I think you can tell that this is an unusual bird…
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You may have been visited by a female Indigo Bunting. If you are lucky you’ll see the m
ore colorful male.
As I said, I did my best I could with what I had at hand — my phone. But to get good bird pictures, you really need a nice camera.
I have a nice camera, but it’s a film camera, and I seldom get it out. And even if I did, I’d probably scare the birds away from the feeder as soon as I opened the back door and tried to approach.
Nevertheless, some people do an awesome job of meeting this challenge. About three years ago I made the acquaintance, via phone and email, with a guy named Jim Greene up in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was once a college professor and staff wildlife photographer with Florida Wildlife Magazine. But now he’s living in a senior community atop a hill near the Blue Ridge mountains, and he still works pretty hard at his photography. He goes out pretty much every morning about dawn, and sends out his better pictures of the day to a list of people that I was happy to join awhile back.
He sent this nice one of a bluebird out today. He said he took it 10 days ago:
I wrote to Jim Greene to ask what he shot that with. He replied:
Yeah, I guess tree swallows are cool.
My wife has always loved bluebirds, but she was shocked to see video on social media of some males getting into some real ultraviolence — to the death. She doesn’t feel quite the same about bluebirds now…
There are several warblers that are green, or greenish. One of them is actually called Green warbler (next Marvel superhero?). It may also be a female American goldfinch.
Thanks, Will!