Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Forest bird



While walking with Cali yesterday evening, I saw a brilliant flash of yellow in the trees. Then I saw another. Two male Western Tanagers were chasing each other high up in the canopy. In my opinion, these are the prettiest birds in our forest and regular summer visitors. I didn't have my camera, so I ran back to the house and grabbed it. Of course, when I got back outside they were gone. I tried to hear their calls, but they had been chirping to each other in a very quiet warble unlike the regular tanager call I'm used to and they had moved far enough away that I couldn't locate them by it.  Then I saw another flash of yellow and I was back in business. They were behind the house, pretty high up in the trees. I ran back there through all the brush (I had to do a tick check later) and spent the next 20 minutes trying to get a good picture of them.

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