Author Archives: birdsinmyviewfinder

I focus on birds but I don’t pass up a chance to photograph other wildlife. A group of us were heading north to the Connecticut Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The lakes in this area close to the border with Quebec form the headwaters of the Connecticut River that flows south to Long Island SoundContinue reading “Mammal Guest Post”

It is always nice to see some colorful birds return after a dreary, gray winter. Here’s a few recent sightings starting with a Barn Swallow. They have a blue back and head with a cinnamon colored forehead and throat. Their underside is tawny. They have long feathers on the outer edge of the tail. ThisContinue reading “Spring Color”

Most of our New England thrushes are fairly secretive in their behavior and we often have to identify and locate them by sound. They all have distinctive, melodic songs so it is easy to pick them out in the forest. This is a Hermit Thrush that happened to come out onto the trail to lookContinue reading “Thrushes”

My favorite summer warbler is the Common Yellowthroat. I am always on the lookout for a chance to catch them in the open for some photographs. They tend to stay deep in the low vegetation in wet areas and are in constant motion. Sometimes you only hear their “wichity-wichity-wichity” call and never get a clearContinue reading “Summer Resident – Common Yellowthroat”

Most wood warblers head into Canada for the summer but a few spend the summer in my area of New England. The brightly colored Yellow Warbler is one of them. You often hear their sweet whistled song before you see them. They flit around in the foliage in typical warbler style as they hunt forContinue reading “Summer Resident – Yellow Warbler”

The American Redstart is a sparrow-sized warbler that spends the summer breeding season in most of Canada (except prairies) and most of the US east of the Mississippi River. The exceptions are the Gulf Coast, Georgia and the coastal plains of the Carolinas. They migrate to Central America, the Caribbean and the northern part ofContinue reading “Summer Resident – American Redstart”

Palm Warblers migrate through our area in May as they head to their breeding grounds in Canada that stretch from Alberta to the Maritimes. They only breed in the northern portion of Maine and the southern shore of Lake Superior in the US. They winter along the US coast from North Carolina to Texas, theContinue reading “Migrant – Palm Warbler”

Is the bark on that tree moving? Brown Creepers can be hard to spot sometimes and only their motion can give them away. They are the only North American treecreeper and are year-round residents in the northeastern US, Canada and the western US Mountain States. Some do migrate into the central and southern US inContinue reading “Brown Creeper”

I just had my first sighting for the season of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at my feeder. It’s a female, so no ruby throat. I will try to catch a male in viewfinder. It is nice to have them staying with me for the summer again.

Migration is starting to pick up. One migrant that has been around for a few weeks is the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They winter in the southern US and breed in Canada, northern New England and the northern portion of the western US mountains. It is a tiny bird, just a bit over 4 inches (11 cm)Continue reading “Migrant – Ruby-crowned Kinglet”