Hooded Warbler Photos Hoot

A cooperative HOWA from the tip of Pelee one afternoon in early May... My collection was sorely lacking any decent HOWA shots, and I ended up only hosting photos of this bird now!



I really enjoy photographing birds alone... This is tough at Pelee... I try to spend my time learning a birds behaviour, patterns, actions etc and get into the right place before the bird arrives. This allows me to be totally ready (usually) for a shot! But when people are constantly walking by, they're constantly changing the birds behaviour and emotions with every distraction. Sometimes it drives me crazy.

Heck, 80% of the time - if people would just BACK AWAY from the bird they're struggling to see inside a thicket - the darn bird would probably come back into the open...


But I digress..



I FINALLY had the bird to myself later in the evening and it moved right into the open. I couldn't get the shots, as it landed right beside me! Then proceeded to hop right down the rocks and into Lake Erie for a bath!!!

It was kinda fun watching a HOWA bathe in the waves of Lake Erie, without a sole around... There was just one problem with the ordeal... Once the bath was complete, the bird was all sopping wet, and:

UGLY AS SIN

I have all these "up close" photos where the bird just looks terrible (actually, I deleted them)..  Over time though, with the light still pretty decent, I managed some as the hoodie started to dry off..

There we go! Could be better, but WAY better than anything I had ever taken before..

Ok that's not too shabby.. :)

A great bird to watch and photograph !

http://peregrineprints.com/zz_HOWA.htm