Flycatchers are SO cute. But I do wish it was a little easier to tell them apart! They all look so incredibly alike, with what seems like to me only very subtle coloring differences. I think the only way to be 100% sure of which one is which, is to have Merlin identifying by sound and being able to catch it at the time of photographing. I’m trusting their identification of these two different species however, because you can see a small difference in how they look. Warblers are tough for me to find, but I’ve had some great success this spring and summer. Blackpoll Warbler is a beautiful bird, and I would love to find a male sometime to get a photo of their striking black and white coloring.
Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Blackpoll Warbler
Seeing a Summer Tanager at Lake Bella really felt like pure luck. I thought it might have just been a Cardinal from afar, but I realized pretty quickly it wasn’t the right color. This cute little bird was happily eating bees from the boxes below, and it was such a treat. I also did not realize that this sparrow was a Grasshopper sparrow until I noticed the little patch of yellow by the eyes and beak. It was so tiny!
Summer Tanager, Grasshopper Sparrow
I’ll be honest, most of these shore birds all sort of start to look the same after a while. The Dunlin does have some really beautiful coloring on its back however, that does set it apart a little bit. The Semipalamated Plover though, I would have never guessed would be something new for my lifer list.
Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover
I’ve really enjoyed photographing swallows lately, and while I didn’t get a great shot of this Northern Rough-winged, I was still really happy to see a new species. The Cliff Swallow was sort of a tough one to get a clear shot of. If they aren’t speeding through the air (as swallows do) they were tucked in to their little mud huts under the bridge where I spotted them. I got lucky though with this one stretching its wings on a power line! The little white triangle on the face is an easy way to distinguish them from Barn Swallows, as they have very similar coloring.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow
Purple Martin is a swallow species I’ve been really wanting to photograph for a while. And though this is a juvenile and doesn’t have the signature dark purple and black coloring yet, it was still a treat. I have never even heard of a Swainson’s Hawk before this, and I’m always really excited to find a new hawk species. This one was beautiful, right up until he dropped a load right as I was shooting.
Purple Martin, Swainson’s Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk
Have you seen any of these birds while in the outdoors? Which one was your favorite? Let me know in the comments down below! And if you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe to see more posts like this one. It’s free!
