Two new bird captures

Bam! The magic happened just like that. I sat down by the creek for lunch today. I saw some small birds flitting about. One I knew as a blue-gray gnatcatcher and the other unknown, but thought it may have been a yellow-rumped warbler. I had my camera with 600mm lens (both are heavy!).

The light was somewhat dark and ever changing. I decided to pull out my phone and open the Merlin app. I dialed into the gnatcatcher calls and repeated it every few minutes. The gnatcatcher kept flitting about me and landing for a moment, then taking off again. Holding the camera upward and trying to spot focus on a 3-4 inch bird is HARD – at least for me. Then he sat on a branch directly overhead and I snapped! A few minutes later I pre-focused on a stump nearby, then called again. Bam! He lit on the stump just long enough for me to get a snap.

The second bird is somewhat of a rare find for our area at least for breeding season, as I understand it. And, although not the best image, it’s a female chestnut sided warbler in breeding plumage.
All in all, I’d say a trip down to the creek for lunch paid off!