Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to observed Golden-crowned Kinglets at eye-level. Their constant and erratic movement, accompanied by high-pitched calls drew me in closer to a group of 4 or 5 red pine trees. Multiple birds appeared to be feeding frantically (as they often do) but I was shocked to be able to practically walk right up to some of them on the outer edges of the trees. I typically see them higher up, 15 - 20 feet or more, and often in more dense conifers such as spruce trees, making them pretty difficult to see or photograph. These birds are tiny –not much larger than the pine cones– and move approximately every half second, so photographing them was still an enormous challenge despite the better than average setting in which I found them. They seemed most interested in areas of the tree where small branches met, but they had to contend with and navigate the long, green needles. Multiple times I noticed they could actually clutch as few as two single needles in order to perch long enough to inspect the crevices, and you can see that in some of these images. I even caught one bird holding a small, winged insect it had found, confirming that they were indeed foraging for insects during their southbound fall migration. William O'Brien State Park, Washington County, MN 10/12/23
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Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to observed Golden-crowned Kinglets at eye-level. Their constant and erratic movement, accompanied by high-pitched calls drew me in closer to a group of 4 or 5 red pine trees. Multiple birds appeared to be feeding frantically (as they often do) but I was shocked to be able to practically walk right up to some of them on the outer edges of the trees. I typically see them higher up, 15 - 20 feet or more, and often in more dense conifers such as spruce trees, making them pretty difficult to see or photograph. These birds are tiny –not much larger than the pine cones– and move approximately every half second, so photographing them was still an enormous challenge despite the better than average setting in which I found them. They seemed most interested in areas of the tree where small branches met, but they had to contend with and navigate the long, green needles. Multiple times I noticed they could actually clutch as few as two single needles in order to perch long enough to inspect the crevices, and you can see that in some of these images. I even caught one bird holding a small, winged insect it had found, confirming that they were indeed foraging for insects during their southbound fall migration. William O'Brien State Park, Washington County, MN 10/12/23
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to observed Golden-crowned Kinglets at eye-level. Their constant and erratic movement, accompanied by high-pitched calls drew me in closer to a group of 4 or 5 red pine trees. Multiple birds appeared to be feeding frantically (as they often do) but I was shocked to be able to practically walk right up to some of them on the outer edges of the trees. I typically see them higher up, 15 - 20 feet or more, and often in more dense conifers such as spruce trees, making them pretty difficult to see or photograph. These birds are tiny –not much larger than the pine cones– and move approximately every half second, so photographing them was still an enormous challenge despite the better than average setting in which I found them. They seemed most interested in areas of the tree where small branches met, but they had to contend with and navigate the long, green needles. Multiple times I noticed they could actually clutch as few as two single needles in order to perch long enough to inspect the crevices, and you can see that in some of these images. I even caught one bird holding a small, winged insect it had found, confirming that they were indeed foraging for insects during their southbound fall migration. William O'Brien State Park, Washington County, MN 10/12/23
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to observed Golden-crowned Kinglets at eye-level. Their constant and erratic movement, accompanied by high-pitched calls drew me in closer to a group of 4 or 5 red pine trees. Multiple birds appeared to be feeding frantically (as they often do) but I was shocked to be able to practically walk right up to some of them on the outer edges of the trees. I typically see them higher up, 15 - 20 feet or more, and often in more dense conifers such as spruce trees, making them pretty difficult to see or photograph. These birds are tiny –not much larger than the pine cones– and move approximately every half second, so photographing them was still an enormous challenge despite the better than average setting in which I found them. They seemed most interested in areas of the tree where small branches met, but they had to contend with and navigate the long, green needles. Multiple times I noticed they could actually clutch as few as two single needles in order to perch long enough to inspect the crevices, and you can see that in some of these images. I even caught one bird holding a small, winged insect it had found, confirming that they were indeed foraging for insects during their southbound fall migration. William O'Brien State Park, Washington County, MN 10/12/23
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to observed Golden-crowned Kinglets at eye-level. Their constant and erratic movement, accompanied by high-pitched calls drew me in closer to a group of 4 or 5 red pine trees. Multiple birds appeared to be feeding frantically (as they often do) but I was shocked to be able to practically walk right up to some of them on the outer edges of the trees. I typically see them higher up, 15 - 20 feet or more, and often in more dense conifers such as spruce trees, making them pretty difficult to see or photograph. These birds are tiny –not much larger than the pine cones– and move approximately every half second, so photographing them was still an enormous challenge despite the better than average setting in which I found them. They seemed most interested in areas of the tree where small branches met, but they had to contend with and navigate the long, green needles. Multiple times I noticed they could actually clutch as few as two single needles in order to perch long enough to inspect the crevices, and you can see that in some of these images. I even caught one bird holding a small, winged insect it had found, confirming that they were indeed foraging for insects during their southbound fall migration. William O'Brien State Park, Washington County, MN 10/12/23
© All Rights Reserved