A-6 • AUGUST 13, 2011 • UNION COUNTY SHOPPER-NEWS
Photographing birds doesn’t require braving the elements NATURE NOTES | Dr. Bob Collier
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ometimes I carry my camera on birding outings, and someone will ask, “Do you photograph birds?” as if that were my main focus, so to speak. Actually, I have my camera along in hopes of firing off a lucky shot, but the target is as likely to be a bug, a dragonfly or a flower. Professional bird photographers, as well as serious amateurs, are a different sort of person from the rest of us. For one thing, there is absolutely no limit to their patience. Their endurance of the elements would make the hardiest duck hunter look like a sissy. They sit in blinds for days, perch in precarious platforms in treetops, muck through bug-infested swamps and go wherever a challenging shot might possibly happen. And their results can be spectacular. They come home with photographs of birds we mortals seldom see. They show us both parent birds at a hidden nest, feeding their open-mouthed babies. Or an owl plunging through the snow for a mouse in sub-zero weather. Or a hawk swooping down after a panic-stricken rabbit dashes for cover. I greatly admire such patience and persistence, and the results, and I’m glad such people do what they do. I once spent more than a day in a blind in south Texas waiting for a glimpse of a blue bunting, first cousin of our indigo buntings and rare as hen’s teeth
here in the U.S. I determined then that there was a long list of activities I would be doing before I ever spent eight or 10 hours, again, sitting in a small hot blind. But it helped me to appreciate the time and effort behind some of those amazing bird photos we enjoy on TV or in the outdoor magazines. But one of the joys we regular people have in keeping feeders and having birds around the yard, in addition to watching them and getting to know them, is the chance to photograph them from time to time. Photographing birds through the living room windows has many advantages over hunkering down in a hot, bug-filled hut for endless hours. Cardinals in an evergreen tree on a snowy day, a dozen bluebirds splashing together in the birdbath, a red-shouldered hawk standing on the roof of the feeder with that air about her that only comes from being the top of the food chain … you never know what will be out there next. Backyard birdwatchers who keep their cameras handy can produce some neat bird photos, too, sometimes as good as the pros. It’s not just every day that you can go to the dentist for an appointment and be treated to some outstanding bird photos. But at my latest visit a couple of weeks ago, my dentist’s chipper, always-busy, always-cheerful receptionist,
Yellow-throated warbler Lisa, was lying in wait for me with some really neat photos. While the previous customer waited patiently to pay her bill and the crew in the back waited to de-plaque my choppers, Lisa switched the office computer screen to bird mode, and we admired her latest backyard bird pictures. Lisa and husband Don live in Norris, a pleasant town whose trees and woods haven’t all been replaced with big-box malls, abandoned big-box malls and hundreds of acres of soccer fields. Various of my friends from Norris consistently report having birds in their yards, at their feeders and nesting nearby that would make many a state park proud. Two of Lisa’s Norris yard birds are seen here, a big one and a little one. The big one is really big. Large, loud and flashy, pileated woodpeckers are attention-getters. They’re always a treat to see when you’re out and about, particularly when they swoop into the scene after you’ve spent the morning straining for a glimpse of some little brown bird the size of a thimble. Pileateds are usually seen up in the trees, hammering big chips of wood
Morning Show
Pileated woodpecker feeding on suet Photos by Lisa Barger.
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away with their big bills. But they will sometimes be seen on the ground, excavating a rotten log. And sometimes they will resort to some acrobatics. I stood and watched a pileated woodpecker along the Cades Cove loop road late one autumn, hanging from a poison ivy vine, harvesting poison ivy berries (which happen to be a good wildlife food, by the way). Lisa caught this one doing the same thing, hanging upside down from her suet feeder. We have lots of downy and red-bellied woodpeckers at our feeders in Halls and Powell, but a pileated visitor would have one running for one’s camera. I didn’t ask Lisa how often she has to refill her feeder. Lisa’s little bird? By golly, it’s a yellow-throated warbler! These little guys are among our very first warblers to arrive in the spring. We listen for their song high up in the nearly-leafless spring treetops, excited to be hearing it.
And the Norris area is always a good place to find them. But they are notoriously difficult to see, even when they sit up there and sing. And yet, here is one inches away, pecking on the glass door. And Lisa alertly nailed him with the Nikon. This is a male bird, spring hormones out of control, trying to rid the neighborhood of that other male yellow-throated warbler he sees in the window. We’ve had robins, towhees and cardinals pecking windows for days but certainly never a wood-warbler. If there were a way to entice them to do it, I surely would. Keeping your binoculars handy to check out something interesting or different at the feeder gets to be a part of the game. But keeping the camera handy for a photo op can be very addictive also. It’s a great way to share some of your sightings with your friends. And sometime you may come up with a real zinger – maybe the cover for Audubon magazine. Keep watching.
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Commodities will be given out Tuesday, Sept. 13, at the Paulette Building on Highway 33, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. while supplies last. Do not come to the building before 8:30 a.m. because of school traffic congestion. The USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program is available for all eligible recipients regardless of race, color, national origin, age, sex or handicap. Bring your commodity cards or sign up at the distribution. This is a one-day distribution funded under an agreement with the Department of Agriculture. Info: Union County ETHRA office, 992-8816.
Union County Youth Football updated 2011 schedule Union County Youth Football has released its 2011 schedule. Home games will be played on the Union County High School football field, except the Aug. 27 game, which will be held at Horace Maynard Middle School. Game times are: ages 5-6, 4 p.m.; 7-8, 5 p.m.; 9-10, 6 p.m.; and 11-12, 7 p.m. The Sept. 17 games will start at 10 a.m. Game times are subject to change. ■ Aug 13, vs. NAGAF, away ■ Aug. 20, vs. Campbell County, away ■ Aug. 27, vs. Claxton, home ■ Sept. 3, vs. Clinton, away ■ Sept. 10, vs. S. Clinton, home ■ Sept. 17, vs. Clinton, home ■ Sept. 24, vs. Claxton, away ■ Oct. 1, vs. S. Clinton, away ■ Oct. 8, vs. Lake City, home ■ Oct. 15, vs. Scott County, home
TENNderCare available for children The TENNderCare program wants babies, children, teens and young adults to get the health care they need. Good health begins at birth, so it’s important to “Check In, Check Up and Check Back” with your doctor every year. The program continues to increase the rate of children receiving health care services every year. Call today to set up a TENNderCare visit with your doctor or go to the Union County Health Department. Your health plan will help. Info: 1-866-3114287 or www.tennessee.gov/ tenncare/tenndercare.
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