Blue-headed Vireo, home
All modesty aside, I am not a world-class birder. Nor, as viewers will certainly attest, am I a world-class photographer. I do, however, aspire to both, and while I'm now too old to get there, I'm not going to stop trying to improve with age. Today, alas, my aspirations were done no favors by the fact that, in what I hope is world-class good-neighbordom, I was walking my friend's dog in their absence and spotted a small flock of rapidly-flitting-about small birds. I had my camera with me, the medium 55-200mm telephoto attached, and the birds, most likely migrants, were not that far away. The dog, for her part, was not all that interested in standing still, so this shot, taken into the shadows with one hand while trying to keep man's-not-quite-best-friend-at-the-time in place was the best I could do. When I got home and examined what I'd managed to capture, I was really uncertain about the bird's identity. The main field mark is that ridiculously bright white eye-ring, and after combing through my field guides and checking out pictures on the web, I'm leaning towards a Blue-headed Vireo. With any luck, maybe I'll get another photo op... without the dog in tow.