First View of a Yellow-breasted Chat /  by Todd Henson

Yellow-breasted Chat perched on a thorny branch.

During the spring and summer I often hear Yellow-breasted Chat singing in the fields of a local wildlife refuge, but I rarely see them. They usually stay hidden down in the brush, only rarely surfacing.

I was fortunate one day to be positioned in the right place at the right time with my camera set up on a tripod and aimed out into the field where a chat would periodically sing. It isn’t a song like other song birds, but more a series of different sounds and easy to pick out as uniquely that of a chat.

It popped up out of the brush and landed on a thorny branch. I saw the movement and quickly turned the camera towards the motion. I managed to find the chat and lock on focus before it disappeared. I only captured one or two images before it flew back down into the brush. I was excited as this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to photograph a chat, and thankfully I captured a decent image of it.

As you can see, the Yellow-breasted Chat is a beautiful bird. It is one of the many species of warbler that migrate through this area each year, and according to the Peterson guides it is the largest in North America. Peterson’s A Field Guide to Warblers of North America indicates it is also a somewhat unusual warbler, being far more secretive that other warblers. Its song is distinct and unlike any other warbler, and it has a large and thick bill compared to the others.

Resources

The links below are affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. This is at no extra cost to you.

If you’d like to learn more about Yellow-breasted Chat, or any other warbler species, check out A Field Guide to Warblers of North America, one of the Peterson Field Guides. It’s over 650 pages, all devoted to warblers.

Or, if you’d like a more general field guide to birds look at the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America. This is my favorite birding field guide. Another great one is the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. See my Resources page for more info on the field guides I use.

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Luray Fireworks from Skyline Drive /  by Todd Henson

First grouping of multiple fireworks images.

Luray, Virginia, home to Luray Caverns, sits in a valley visible from Skyline Drive, the road that stretches from one end to the other of Shenandoah National Park atop the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had always been curious what Luray’s Fourth of July fireworks would look like from Skyline Drive, so one year my brother and I decided to find out.

Skyline Drive and Luray are actually pretty far apart, probably 6 to 8 miles. Being able to see Luray from the road makes it seem much closer than it is. And as large as fireworks seem when they burst, you have to be close for them to have any real impact. So the fireworks were far smaller than I’d imagined.

Second grouping of multiple fireworks images.

Third grouping of multiple fireworks images.

We weren’t the only ones curious about the view, though, as the overlook quickly filled with cars and people. I imagine many were camping in the park and these overlooks were the closest they could come to viewing the fireworks without leaving the park.

As small as the show was from this distance I still enjoyed watching and photographing it. I debated not posting anything from this trip as the photos are not very good fireworks photos. But I enjoyed the trip and thought you might enjoy seeing what fireworks in a valley look like when viewed from atop a nearby mountain.

First set of fireworks, groups from earlier in the show.

To create these images I imported them all into Photoshop and merged together multiple shots, combining individual fireworks into groups. The horizontal images were composed of fireworks set off in sequence. For the vertical images I selected whichever displays I thought went well together, creating my own groupings. You’ll see some of the same displays in multiple images.

Second set of fireworks, groups from midway through the show.

So far these are the only fireworks I’ve attempted to photograph, though I’m sure I’ll make more attempts in the future. I hope this encourages you to give it a try. Find a local fireworks display, pick a decent location, set up your camera on a tripod, and experiment with different shutter speeds, see what works for you.

This image is a single photograph towards the end of the fireworks show.

All these images were shot at ISO 200, which was the base ISO of my camera. Using the base ISO would force longer shutter speeds after dark, which would allow nice streaks of light as the fireworks burst. I had the camera in manual mode to allow me to choose the aperture and shutter speed. This allowed me to keep the scene dark since it was at night. In an auto mode the camera would have attempted to lighten the scene. I set the aperture between f/16 and f/25, though I could have used other apertures. My shutter speed was between 8 seconds and 30 seconds. Looking back, I should have put the camera in bulb mode, where the shutter would remain open as long as I held the shutter button (or remote release, which I would recommend). Then I might have captured more bursts in a single image.

All the photos were shot at 200mm, which was the longest lens I had at the time. As you can see in the uncropped image, this left a lot of blank space in the frame, so I cropped the rest of the images on the computer. If you’re closer to the fireworks this shouldn’t be as much of a problem.

Uncropped version of the final image, showing how far away Luray was from Skyline Drive.

Now it’s your turn. Next time there will be fireworks in your area grab your camera, tripod, and remote shutter release, and head out to find an interesting location. Try to find something of interest in the foreground that will be lit by the fireworks, maybe a building or a bridge. Having something interesting in the frame can make a much stronger fireworks image than just photographing the fireworks themselves, which is what I’ve done here.

Give it a try. See what you can create. And don’t forget to enjoy the show!

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Remember to Look Down /  by Todd Henson

Eastern Box Turtle in the grass.

In a previous post I talked about keeping your eyes open while hiking, about staying aware of your surroundings. It’s easy to overlook opportunities if you’re too focused on looking straight ahead.

This post follows a similar theme. I encourage you to look down once in a while while you’re hiking. Often there won’t be anything down there that catches your eye, but if you don’t get into the habit of looking down you may miss golden opportunities.

If we hadn’t looked down we wouldn’t have seen this Eastern Box Turtle making its way across the trail. It was almost across the trail when we found it. But it saw us and froze, as turtles often due, retracting into its shell. We kept a little distance and stayed still, allowing the box turtle to become a little more comfortable with us, at least enough to pop its head back out far enough for a couple portraits.

Closeup of Eastern Box Turtle in the grass.

After making a few photos we went on our way and allowed the box turtle to continue its trip across the path. I didn’t want to draw too much attention to it and risk it getting injured. Box turtles are thought to be on the decline due to things like habitat loss, death on roadways, and people taking them home as pets, so we need to do what we can to help them survive.