Yellow

I use the Merlin Bird ID app to identify bird songs when I’m out and about the property with my camera. I typically engage the app when I hear an unfamiliar bird sound. It is a great way to learn that, first, there are species around that I may have never known existed. And, two, it’s a way to begin to distinguish the various species’ vocalizations.

I have a short list of species that Merlin identifies quite regularly, but which I’ve never seen.

Back in June 2021, before I had the Merlin app, I recorded an unknown vocalization. I was able to review using an earlier bird song ID app, and then used that information to confirm the sound against vocalizations I found on the Internet at other bird species sites. The bird was a Yellow-Breasted Chat.

Since that time, I’ve heard Yellow-breasted Chat vocalizations many times. And, since I began using the Merlin app, I know that this is a species that not only visits here, but probably breeds on our property during the summer season. Still, I’ve never been able to capture an image of the species. It’s been at the top of my Wish List to see a Yellow-breasted Chat. It would be even better if I could capture a decent image of one.

Yesterday I went out and settled by a bird house that, the day prior, I had seen some suspicious activity between a House Wren and the Bluebirds that raising chicks in the house. Then, I heard it. A bird vocalization that was categorized in my brain, but that I couldn’t identify. So, I clicked on the Merlin app.

Yellow-breasted Chat! The song was coming from across the very north end of the pond, about 100 feet from where I was sitting. I scanned the area. Then, I saw a small yellow bird flit from the top of one small scrubby tree to a stand of exceedingly tall, wild Elderberry bushes. I panned with the lens to see if I could focus upon the bird, but it took off before I was able to accomplish the mission. It headed across the narrow, north end of the pond – actually flying closer to me – and landed in a tree about 30 feet up.

The stand of trees where the bird settled is part of a place I call the Canopy. It is comprised of a fifty (maybe even seventy) foot long stretch of Osage Orange trees, that bend over an area that Robert mows to keep the underbrush clear. It’s just tall enough for my golf cart to fit through it. Standing where this photo was taken; to your back, the growth is far more dense. It’s a prime space to see lots of little birds that don’t usually show themselves in broad daylight. That also means that good lighting is hard to come by, and I’m a “set it on auto” kind of amateur photographer. For that reason, I don’t usually hang out in the Canopy if I’m hoping to film wildlife.

To move through the canopy, it’s a bit like how I think it might feel walking through the forest in a Harry Potty movie.

Back to the Yellow-breasted Chat! I was certain that I spotted it at the top of a tall tree, so I aimed my camera and let that shutter fly. But, the bird didn’t. It didn’t fly. It didn’t move. Not even a little bit.

It wasn’t a bird, after all.

That was definitely not the first time that I took dozens of photos of a subject that wasn’t a bird. Still, I heard the calls of the Yellow-breasted chat. It was deep inside the Canopy, so I enter that seemingly sacred space.

When I want to quickly record a bird’s song, I use the video setting on my camera. It’s faster, and I suspect better quality, than picking up and negotiating through the apps on my cell phone. On the next video, you aren’t going to see the bird because I didn’t ever get a fix on it. However, you will hear it ‘chatting’ as well as our colony of Purple Martins whose houses are about 100 feet from where I was filming. And, you may get a sense of what I experienced when looking for that elusive, yellow bird.

At one point, I heard chattering over my shoulder. I turned to catch a glimpse of the Yellow-breasted chat before it flew deeper into the thickness of the canopy. After some time (which I found to be quite exceptional – regardless that I didn’t ever get an image of my subject), I decided that the vocal recordings were good enough. The fact that I actually saw a Yellow-breasted chat flit from one branch to another was more than I expected when I went out for the afternoon.

I moved on. It was a very hazy day and lighting was not optimal. However, I spotted some recently fledged Common Grackles trying out their new wings at the edge of the pond along with their doting parents and took a moment to try to get a decent shot.

As I was exiting the pond area through an old gate opening (sans the original gate), I came upon a Northern Bobwhite that permitted me to get within perhaps ten feet of it. I suppose it felt quite well concealed in the cover of a thick hedge row. Perhaps, it never actually saw me as a threat. It was dark and I decided that a video might actually produce a better image. The few photos were not worth sharing. I suppose most folks wouldn’t upload the following video. But, I think it’s worth sharing.

It’s amazing how far the Bobwhite’s song carries. And yet, it looks like such a subtle gesture when captured up close to the action.

Finally, I set out to see the status of the Tree Swallows that I had seen in house “A” at the far southwest corner of the property. I figured their chicks were close to hatching, so I took a quick look.

Could they be any cuter? Well, yeah, I know they could. But, perhaps “precious” is the better word to describe them. I love how Tree Swallows line their nests with feather in order to provide a comfy place for their brood to develop.

When the already hazy day became even less vibrant, I decided to go home. I will share the images I captured of the Tree Swallows in a future post.

The fastest route home would be by road, as I was sitting just feet from the entrance of the property. But, I had an idea. The “inland” route would put me just on the other (west) side of the canopy where I had spotted the Yellow-breasted Chat. Could I be so lucky as to spot it on my way back to the house? It would put me with my back to the west (sun) and just maybe I could get a photo. Just one? Maybe?

As I drove along, I scanned for yellow. Any sign of yellow would do. Then, I saw it. Up, nearly 25 feet in the Osage Orange trees on the west side of the Canopy. Was it just a leaf? “Aim the lens and shoot. If it’s a leaf, it’s a leaf,” I said to myself.

Then, it moved.

Let’s be honest. It’s not the best photo ever taken of a Yellow-breasted Chat. But, it was the best one I had ever taken!