Wildlife in Photography

Monday was a pleasant outing, without any major activity in Huntley Meadows.

The snakes from previous outings were nowhere to be found and the limited sightings were mostly dominated by birds.

A group of Mergansers with young in toe was milling about in the water, but never got closer than a hundred yards or so.

As I stood on the main outlook on the boardwalk, I watched the Osprey on the hunt and listened to the now familiar call of the Red-Winged Blackbird.

I’ve mentioned before that there are small birds that dart around near the water. For the past few visits I’ve made an effort to at least grab a frame or two of them. For the most part I’ve been unsuccessful, but I did manage to grab one shot on Monday’s visit.

This tiny bird has the greatest blue color on its back. There are also similar birds that are black, brown or gray with the same build. I was glad to have something as a record, but now I’ll keep trying to get something that shows more of the creature instead of just its back.

For a while I chatted with a photo friend I’ve seen the past few outings and we exchanged our sightings.

As I made my way to the end of the informal trail, I found one skink that was very hesitant to come out while I was nearby.

I spent some time with it, but didn’t want to waste all of my available light, so I moved on.

Back on the boardwalk I watched a few beavers through the reeds and listened to them moving around beneath the walkway, but no shots presented themselves.

Just as the sun was almost to the point of being unusable, a new friend came out nearby.

I love the colors of this Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas). Hopefully I will get the opportunity to see a few more soon.