Next night, not as good

With memories of Wednesday night floating through my head, I headed up to Highbanks Metro Park last night (Thursday). First I checked my Bluebird boxes. Excitingly I have one box with babies in it that are just about ready to fledge. That should happen this next week. Another box has 5 Bluebird eggs in it with the proud parents standing guard. Tree Swallows are buzzing over the paired boxes every time I come out, but no nest yet. I would love to see an active Tree Swallow nest right next to an active Bluebird nest.

So on to taking pictures. With migration pretty much over with, I’m looking to the nesting birds. Easy to find as they are very active and vocal right now. Inspired by Wednesday night I had dreams of grandeur, Bluebirds, Common Yellowthroats, Orioles, Buntings and the like all dancing through my head. I did see an Orchard Oriole (first of the year and nice tick mark for the birding side of me) and a Baltimore made a brief appearance just outside of photo range. This was a sign of things to come as none of the birds I speak of had any interest in having their picture taken. As dusk seemed to be settling over the land I packed up and headed for the car. I should do this much earlier as this seems to be the time when things happen. The light is almost gone, but I’m shooting off a tripod, so I can go to a much lower shutter speed than when hand holding. I’m thinking, maybe I have a chance at something. Hearing Towhees I decide to see if I can sneak up on one. Yea I know, just a towhee, but hey sometimes you get what you can. That’s when I got the chance meeting with the bird that makes my favorite call, the Eastern Wood Pewee! He stops for just a moment, and I snap off a few shoots. Despite the high ISO and the really slow shutter speed, 2 pictures came out pretty nice! Pewees are somewhat plain, but a favorate bird none the less. What they lack in color, they make up in character.