And a lesson in paying attention to detail in my images.
Eight days ago in the mountains I took hundreds of photos of this male Yellow Warbler as he was preening after a recent bath. He wasn’t dripping wet but both his appearance and his behavior strongly suggested he’d bathed recently and there was water very close by.
Here he was rubbing his face on the branch he was perched on.
It was frustrating to take so many photos of interesting behavior and have most of them with his eye either closed, or hidden by feathers or his wing, or have no light in his eye. In this photo and the next one I just…
got lucky.
In some of the photos his remaining dampness was a little more evident than in others.
Here he’s attending to his… nether parts. Besides being a cute photo, it shows off his flexibility.
This is one of the best photos I’ve ever taken to document how birds ‘re-zip’ the hooks holding their barbs and barbules together after they’ve been separated by the rigors of being a bird. Here he’s drawing the length of one of his flight feathers through his bill, effectively re-zipping the microscopic hooks. The process has turned that part of that feather 90° compared to the other flight feathers.
Usually I pride myself on noticing detail in my own images but this time I failed completely, for eight long days. I took hundreds of photos of this bird preening but it wasn’t until last night, while I was choosing photos for this post, that I became curious about something. Why did none of my many photos show him preening his tail? Preening birds usually spend a lot of time working on their tails but I didn’t have a single photo showing him doing so.
It was only then that I noticed that his tail always appeared ‘thin’ and never spread out, even in some poor quality shots where he was taking off. But in most of my photos of him on this perch I didn’t have enough depth of field to get his tail sharp so I could have a good look at it and see good detail.
So I went looking for other photos of him on different perches that allowed a better look at his tail.
..
And I found one. Poor guy, he only had a single tail feather. He was molting, big time.
It was only then that I went back and looked at other photos that might show evidence of molt elsewhere that I had missed. That evidence was everywhere, including…
this tight crop of photo #4 above that clearly shows new wing feathers emerging from their shafts. These emerging feathers can be seen in most of the photos I’ve included in today’s post but I’d missed noticing them, probably partly because his feathers were fluffed up during preening so evidence of molt was a little harder to see.
But not that hard. I should have noticed earlier. Like eight days earlier.
Lesson learned, I hope.
Ron
My kind of gold….
Ron,
After following your blog for years I don’t know how you could criticize yourself for not paying attention to detail. You point out stuff I would NEVER notice! Thanks for pointing this detail out to us. Great as always.
Stephen
Much appreciated Steven, and you’re right. Usually I pride myself on my attention to detail in my photos but this time I just slipped up.
Amazing what a bird can do without much of a rudder! So glad you shared the photos and your observations with us!
Yup, his rudder is pretty much useless. Thanks, Marty.
Woo hoo. I am back. And delighted to be so – and delighted to see and learn more things of avian wonder.
Welcome back, EC. I missed you in your absence.
Thanks for this detailed observation. Seeing him in the midst of molt is very instructive.
Thanks, S.
Ah, Ron – this little magician misdirecting your eye! “Look at my busy little head so you don’t see my vulnerability, with no tail and incomplete wing feathers!” What a great post! Thank you.
Well…. SOMETHINNG misdirected my eye, Carolyn. Don’t know if I can blame it on him though. 🙂
I really liked this series. And, Ron, in many ways your commentary was an especially delightful addition!
Thanks very much for your kind comment about my commentary, Susan.
I see signs of heavy molt in several areas. Most of his flight feathers on his wings are new and still growing too. No wonder he is bathing and preening so much, needs to get the feather shaft off and get them into place.
Yup, the signs are definitely there. I just missed them at first.
I liked what appeared to be a shot of his ear in the 4th image. 😀
Thanks, Arwen.
Your little yellow bird just makes me smile😄 and him preening is a bonus❗️
Thank you, Diana.
A perfect example, Ron of the adage that the more one knows the more one realizes what one doesn’t know or didn’t see. Few of us without your background might have asked those questions. But we are very lucky that you did and chose to share your findings so thanks. That is another reason why I am so addicted to photography, (esp of the close up sort) and of the process of examining photos at 100 % or greater.
Pat, obviously we share the same addiction!
We have several kinds of birds, especially Goldfinches, Grosbeaks, and Towhees, bathing in the stream by our house. The disheveled look on a lot of them made me assume they were molting, but I saw nothing like the details afforded by your photos. Thanks for noticing and posting.
Thanks, Lyle. The magic of photography (with a high quality lens.)
It is an informative time watching a bird after a ‘bath’….twisting, turning, picking, prodding. Such a little body but so much to do. You are right about the eyes…most times they are nearly closed; they just seem to zone out with the task at hand. Great series of enjoyable photos.
“they just seem to zone out with the task at hand”
I’ve never seen it put that way Kathy, but I certainly wouldn’t argue the point.
Zoning out? Love that take on it!
Wonderful! It’s delightful to see close-up shots of these busy little birds.
Thanks, Kathryn.
Did you get to see him fly at all? With all that molting going on it seems he might have been a bit unstable in the air! With most of his rudder missing he would have to steer with his ailerons, which were also less than perfect. Amazing what good camera shots can show you that binoculars can’t. Thanks
Porcupine, he flew multiple times but just short hops and he was way too fast for me to notice anything like missing feathers, or even instability.
A wonderful series ! Made me wonder how long a “molt” lasts on average-
looks as if flight functionality might be hampered for part of the time-
ONE tail feather ? There’s such a distinction between “looking” and truly
“seeing” ; what an aid a camera seems to be in really SEEING—thanks
for all the observations…..
Kris, my lens does amazingly better at seeing detail than my (old) eyes. And the inherent stop action of still photography is a huge bonus.
Obviously you can learn much more about birds through photography than you can just being an observer. Did not see any of this eight days ago nor probably would have again had you not pointed these things out. Always outstanding photography with the added bonus of a lesson in ornithology. Thanks Ron.
“Obviously you can learn much more about birds through photography than you can just being an observer.”
That’s true, Everett. It’s one of the main reasons I enjoy bird photography as much as I do.
First, I was overjoyed at observing a “new” bird.
Then, I got a camera.
Next, I was overjoyed to take a photograph of a “new” bird. Then, I started actually looking at those photographs. That’s the moment when I actually began learning about birds.
The learning curve is no such thing. It’s a never-ending arc along which I have made so many wonderful discoveries.
My learning occurs when I least expect it. Such as an innocent visit with Ron and Mia via their blogs.
Thank you, Ron, for yet another lesson along “the curve”!
(Did I mention: Superb photographs!)
Interesting comment, Wally. Entertaining too. Thanks.
So well said, Wally.
Great series, Ron…… 🙂 Amazing what our eyes/brain “presume” about what we’re looking at that isn’t necessarily so….. 😉 Must be a bit of a challenge working with just one tail feather. At least you eventually did question and REALLY see. 🙂
.3″ rain last evening – enough to wet things down pretty well and give a few puddles. Won’t last long of course BUT we’ll certainly take it. Appears at least one of the fire areas near Neihart got more – sure hope so!
Judy, it’s amazing how they can adapt to having only one tail feather, or none at all.
Congrats on your rain. I got almost .6″ in the last 36 hours at my house but some places in the valley and on the benches got almost 3″. Yesterday the Jordan River was about as full as I’ve ever seen it. Nice, but it won’t last for long and it’s supposed to get hot again later this week.
Busy little guy and very thorough! Wonderful photos!
Thank you, Cindy.
Great shots!!
Thanks, Dick.
I agree, very interesting!
Thanks, Terri.