Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hidden Treasure!

This little Philadelphia Vireo almost slipped past me as I walked along the trails at a local park. It's that quick little movement you see out of the corner of your eye...and then you stop and stare and stare..knowing you saw something move in that tree..it's the thrill of the hunt that keeps me coming back!

This little bird is a welcomed, but rare, visitor in our area. He certainly is a sweet looking bird. The first Philadelphia Vireo was discovered near Philadelphia in 1842. Finding this little guy was definitely a WOW discovery for me..a lifer I suppose. At first glance he was hidden by all the leaves and I believed he was a warbler but when I, finally, saw the white-bordered black eye-line.. I thought different!!
He certainly was patient with me...as he sat for several seconds which allowed me to capture some better views of those eye markings, plus I was able to get several shots of those olive green to yellow underparts. I have since read that he is probably a fall juvenile due to his yellow belly color being rather bright. Apparently older Phil. Vireos are much duller at this time of the year, which is pretty much the opposite of what I would have expected!



His little gray cap kind of sealed the deal... Yep, I had found a nice hidden treasure on a beautiful fall day among all those ever-changing leaves. The hunt, the find..life is good! ;-0

14 comments:

NCmountainwoman said...

Amazing photographs of this skittish little beauty. A hidden treasure for certain.

FAB said...

A very nice find Tina. FAB.

Chris Petrak said...

Wonderful captures of the PHVI - rare and elusive on migration, at least in the East.

George said...

What a great find. It was made even nicer (for us) by the wonderful pictures you got.

Wendy said...

What a sweet little bird. The last picture is so adorable :) Thanks for sharing your treasure!

Janice K said...

Precious pictures.....Definitely like finding gold!

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Way to go.This is a cute bird,but then I think most birds are cute.
Blessings,Ruth

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Tina: Great capture of the little bird, sometimes they are so hard to capture in the viewfinder.

Neal said...

Oh, they are so cute! They're just adorable.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

The Vireo is such a beautiful little bird, Tina. Glad you got to see him.

I have seen a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak at my feeders the past couple of days. They migrate through here. I last saw them in May I think... Glad they are back. Hope I see more than just one...

Hugs,
Betsy

Eve said...

Great job Tina! I wonder if this is who I saw yesterday??? If only I could get a picture like you. I'm getting a lot of warblers, but they are high, and under the leaves. After reading your post I'm motivated to keep trying. Today will be a beautiful day for birds!
Thanks!

jalynn01 said...

What a nice find Tina! Glad you saw him and was able to get the picture. I know how hard it can be!

Chris said...

Hi Tina,
This is a beauty. I've seen vireo in Chile in 2008 and there is one red-eye vireo in Iceland right now!! It is because of the depression it is here. Not so far from Reyjavik, and I tried to see it, but no success!!
But you got a nice encounter there and I guess you enjoyed it cause you also got nice shots. Well done!

Dawn Fine said...

I am getting jealous of your small flitting bird captures...
Great job..
beautiful bird!

would like to hear your thoughts..