Today’s featured bird was a bit of a surprise to me. Linda and I were up in Baraboo, Wisconsin checking out the International Crane Institute and decided to tear ourselves away from the Cranes and take a little walk out on their trails. Birders will never pass up the opportunity to check out the locals. We quickly came to a marshy field with an abundance of cattails. There were a few Red-Winged Blackbirds meandering about on the edges of the treeline, but not a whole lot of activity in the field itself. At the time I thought this was a little strange thinking this would be a great spot to hang out if I had wings. About that time I noticed what looked like a dark spot in the middle of the marsh. Time to bring out The Beast.
Sure enough, it was a bird! Without a lot of other options I decided to make the best of the situation. This meant hand-holding an 8 pound glass on a bird that didn’t even fill up one focus point. The fact that you can actually tell it was a bird is a miracle in itself. I had to bring the subject in a little closer in the digital darkroom.
While processing the pictures it began to dawn on me this little excursion into the field may have yielded a new check on the ol’ birding list. To the reference books! Well, after going through a number of different options I landed on an Eastern Kingbird which .. wait for it… is indeed a new bird – yeah! (assuming it was classified correctly – feel free to weigh in with comments).
Hit the jump to continue reading about this interesting bird
Life Intrigued 