I was slowly driving one of my favorite winding dirt roads one afternoon. The light was getting good and I rounded a bend and saw yellow flowers surrounded by some natural perches along the side of the road overlooking the downward side of the slope. I said to myself, "What a great studio"! Most times I am listening first and if I like what I hear I next determine if it is a suitable location to do a shoot. This went in reverse. I stopped to listen more carefully and almost immediately heard this Hooded Warbler singing down below. The only downside was when he sang from the intended perch he was looking away from me. I thought about that and it made a lot of sense. He chose to sing towards his territory which was most likely mostly below him and not towards me and the uphill side. While I was working with him I heard another warbler singing quietly within reasonable proximity...

Tags:   WarblerWhisperer LLC Warbler photography workshop bird photography workshop Hooded Warbler yellow flowers North Carolina Appalachia

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Lots of Hoodeds, B1ack-thr0ated Greens, Ovenbirds, W0rm-eat1ngs, Ceru1eans, and B1ack-and-whites were singing seemingly on territory at the southern KY locations we visited even though migration was largely shut down due to the cold front. Also at one stop we had some nice migrants held up on their way further north including a bright Cape May, a singing B1ackpo11, and a Magno1ia.

Tags:   Kentucky Hooded Warbler Spring singing evening light light

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Western North Carolina mountains. Even at this late date in mid September this individual was singing in breeding type habitat as if he wanted to make another go at it even with colder temperatures nipping at his heels.

Tags:   Hooded warbler fall migration North Carolina mountains Blue Ridge Parkway

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Blue Ridge Parkway/North Carolina Mountains WW workshop.
We found this guy mid afternoon when the light was challenging. It is not that there are not quite a few of this species that we encounter but the location was perfect as I was fairly confident I could perch him on one of a series of snags popping up from a very large downed tree. The bird was singing uphill and the snags were on the downhill side of the road putting them at mid canopy level. Hooded warblers tend to often respond rather silently to playback. He was singing persistently uphill so when I played a single song and he stopped I knew he heard it. So you wait and resist the urge to use more playback. Then I heard him singing partial songs very softly on the downhill side not even noticing prior to that that he had crossed the road. It was barely audible and my client didn't hear him. A few gentle chip notes and he perched right where I anticipated he would bursting into song. When a bird responds like that rather than being jumpy back and forth you've done well and are much more apt to get better images and you've most probably minimized any impact on the bird.

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Georgia

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