I apologize to my followers for such a long interruption.
These photos were all taken at Nescopeck State Park in Pennsylvania. There are many types of birds especially Warblers that nest here in the summer but unfortunately they migrate south at the end of summer/early fall and don’t return until spring. The best time to see them all is early to mid spring before they start nesting. Once they nest it is more difficult to find them. You can find them again after nesting is done and the babies have fledged but that is usually mid summer when ticks are at their highest. I try to avoid the wooded areas and fields during that time to avoid the ticks.
These are just some of the birds seen at the park. There are many more to be seen but I haven’t been able to get them all just yet. Hopefully next year I can photograph the ones I missed. Be sure to click the thumbnails to see the larger image file.
Be sure to visit my Flickr page for hi-res images. Thanks for visiting!
Terence-
OUTSTANDING! And absolutely worth the wait. You have taken first class photos of all the birds you observed. The one that especially melted my heart was the Eastern Bluebird. I am delighted that they are still to be found. I believe their numbers were (are?) in decline.
As a little girl, my father seemed to always know when they were scheduled to return and had us at is workbench, in advance, to build bluebird houses. I can still picture the ladder being placed against the tree for the ceremonial placement!
Thanks for super photos, and a jog back to one of my favorite childhood memories.
Jane
Thanks Jane! I am glad you enjoyed the photos. Bluebirds are around my area but I don’t know how well they are doing. I see them mostly in early to mid spring and haven’t seen any yet this summer. The American Goldfinches are plentiful but I haven’t gotten any photos of them as of yet. I was more interested in getting mostly Warblers this summer and got most of the ones I was looking for. A few were much harder to get and hopefully next year I can get them.
I love your photos and always look forward to viewing your posts. Thanks for sharing.
Terence.
hey! you’re back…great photographs!
Thanks Noir! Sorry I have neglected the blog lately.
Hello!
It’s wonderful to see a new post from you.
Thank you for sharing such wonderful photographs.
Hope all is well.
Thank you! It was a long delay in getting a new post. Hopefully I can keep posting regularly.
Hope all is well with you too.
Nice colors.
Thank you!
Amazing photography!!!!
Thank you!
Just stunning!!! What a truly fantastic series 🙂 The purple finch and tree swallow have stolen my heart!
Thank you! That was my first time seeing the Purple Finch.
Oh wow! I get so excited seeing and photographing new birds 🙂 He’s a very pretty finch! What kit did you use for these? The images are really crisp!
Thanks again! It’s always nice seeing one for the first time. A lot of the birds in the photos above were firsts for me besides the Purple Finch. My favorite being the Blackburnian Warbler.
I use a Nikon D7100 with a Sigma 120-400mm for wildlife images. I use a Sigma 18-250mm for landscape and macro images.
I’m hoping to photograph a number of our birds this weekend as we’re off to Shropshire 🙂 Funnily enough I’ve been looking at the Sigma 18-250! It looks like it would be a great lens to travel with.
I hope you have a great weekend and find some birds. The Sigma 18-250 is great for landscape and macro but falls a little short for wildlife unless they are close. You can get great butterfly and dragonfly macro shots if they sit still long enough. The 120-400mm is great for birds. Good luck and looking forward to seeing your photos.
Yes, it’s butterflies I’m most thinking of 🙂 A bit of an obsession of mine! I’ve got the Sigma 50-500 now for other wildlife so I can’t wait to give it a proper test this weekend!
Pingback: Nescopeck State Park, Part Two | twng32
Wonderful shots. Obvious bird/nature/photog lover. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! I am a nature lover and trying to learn better photography.
Great photos!!!! Some of my favorites are in this collection – the Cedar Waxwing, the Eastern Bluebird and the Baltimore Oriole.
Fantastic! Thanks!
Thank you!
wow!!! my eyes are blissfully blinded by these beauties! so very glad you came over
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed them.
This collection is even better ! Am I to understand you right that these were taken over time primarily in springtime? I would love to be able to get this variety on a birding outing and it may be worth a trip.
Thanks again!
These photos were all taken in different areas of the park from mid May to mid June. The birds arrive at different times during spring migration so if you go early you will only see one or two. The later you go you will start to see a much wider variety but the later you go, they start to nest and some are hard to get while nesting. It’s all luck really. Some took me a good three hours or more just to get one photo. I would sit in one spot quietly for hours hoping one would come by. There were a lot more birds that I didn’t get. There were some other Warblers, Sparrows, Flycatchers, Thrushes and others which I didn’t get and hoping next year I can get them.
There are a few things to watch out for though, there are black bears roaming around and the ticks are horrible. I got ticks on me every time I visited the park. I found them before the dug into me. I saw a couple of black bears but unfortunately didn’t get any pics.
If you go, the Blackburnian Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler likes pine/coniferous trees and the Indigo Bunting and Yellow Warbler prefers deciduous trees. Hope that helps.
It really does help – ahh..the ticks – what a problem that is for me. Got enough tick diseases to last me a lifetime now.
Sorry to hear about you getting sick from ticks. Ticks are horrible in both PA and NJ. I can’t tell you how many ticks I have pulled off me. Luckily, I have only been bitten once and it wasn’t a lyme’s disease tick. Be careful out there.
Beautiful!!
Thank you!
What a beautiful group of birds!
Thanks! They sure are beautiful!
Fabulous pictures
Thank you!
Some beautiful photos here, awesome work!
Thanks again!
I really enjoyed looking at these bird photos. And I thought Central Park had variety! Well done!
beautifully clear images. My dad would have loved this (he was an avid bird watcher).
Wonderful photos! Each bird has its own identity. I must bring my binoculars and a good camera the next time I visit a park.