Red-heads

A few miles from home there’s a small area of woodland, part of which was once cleared that became a stand of white ash, now dead from the feeding of the introduced emerald ash borer. The rest of the woodland is comprised of very large, very tall red oak and sugar maple with hardly any understory of shrubs and small trees. A small stream runs through the woodland adding another habitat type to the area.

One mild winter day when the ice and snow had almost completely melted, I returned to the woodland where we had spent many pleasant days. As I walked a path among the impressively large trees, there was a flash of white from a medium-sized bird in flight. Most birds that size don’t show much white as they fly, especially large areas of white. So I slowly and quietly walked toward the spot where it landed and saw a woodpecker on the trunk of a small shagbark hickory tree – a red-headed woodpecker.

In recent years the only red-headed woodpeckers I’ve seen have been in and near the Gettysburg battlefield about two and a half hour drive to the south. So it was a treat to see this bird so much closer to home. This called for a slow and careful approach: I wanted more photos of the red-head. The woodpecker flew to the ground and then back to the tree –

The brownish face on the bird indicated it was a juvenile red-headed woodpecker.

After spending a few minutes on the tree the bird flew to parts unknown –

With the bird gone, I kept walking. Surprise! There was another flash of white as a second red-headed woodpecker flew from one tree to another. The bird inspected some of the numerous holes in several of the large trees –

This bird was an adult red-headed woodpecker, indicated by its solid red head. It flew to another tree –

And then flew off and out of sight. With that I too left – but I’ll be back.

Harrier in the Morning

There’s an extensive grassland in northcentral Pennsylvania that probably had its origin in Native American agriculture. The first European settlers would have found those clearings convenient places to begin farming. Farming continued on the area until it passed into public ownership and was planted to grasses and forbs native to North America.

Adjacent to the grassland is a wetland: partially open water, partially a cattail marsh. It has a few scattered trees, some water-filled potholes and a languid stream. The entire area, grassland and wetland, is superb wildlife habitat and so it’s a place I visit often.

One morning, as I walked the border between wetland and grassland, a flock of small birds flushed from the cattails in the wetland; they came right past me as they fled whatever flushed them.

It was only a moment until the answer presented itself – a female northern harrier –

The harrier landed on a nest box erected for kestrels and stayed there for a while as it searched for prey –

When the harrier took off she too flew past me to land on a limb that had fallen from an old black willow –

After spending some time on the fallen limb surveying the area for a meal, she again took flight and flew less than 100 yards to land on the stub of a fallen willow –

The harrier spent time on that perch slowly surveying her surroundings. Because she was relaxed and seemed comfortable with my presence, I slowly moved closer and then even closer, taking a photo every few steps. Still she looked for prey –

Eventually she took off to fly across the grassland and I lost sight of her against the distant woodland –

What a morning! The closest I’ve ever been to a harrier and a cooperative one at that.

Hawk Watch

We’re traveling a few months back in time to mid-September when I spent a morning at an overlook that’s a good spot to watch migrating hawks. In mid-September broad-winged hawks are the most abundant migrants and that morning was no exception. The first birds that passed were some juvenile broad-wings, easily told from adults by the narrow bars on their tails –

More birds came by, most were juveniles, along with the first adults with wide black and white bands on their tails –

A red-tailed hawk, with its longer wings and “belly band” of brown streaks, sailed along the ridge –

All of these birds were utilizing bubbles if warm rising air called “thermals” to gain elevation. As the rising air cools and stops rising the birds can no longer gain elevation, then they glide to the next rising thermal on the route south.

Later in the morning more thermals developed and the hawks were higher in the sky. It was time to photograph groups of migrants riding thermals –

While editing these two photos I noticed some small spots in parts of both photos. Enlarging a portion of the second photo, it became apparent that these were also hawks even higher in the sky –

That made me curious about the other photos of soaring broad-wings from that morning. So I enlarged them all and one was quite amazing. The photo in question obviously showed six broad-winged hawks –

But zooming in showed there were more hawks higher in the sky; each was circled in red and showed an amazing 53 additional hawks soaring on that thermal –

Were there even more hawks so high in the sky that the camera and its telephoto lens (roughly equivalent to 16 power binoculars) couldn’t pick them out? Quite possibly, so there’s no way to determine how many birds passed that morning.

Favorites from 2025

Never have I kept track of how many photographs I take in a year. Some days when the subject is cooperative or there’s a lot of action there may be well over 1000 photographs on the camera’s memory card. Editing and sorting often reduces the number of photos worth keeping to under 25.

In December or early January I usually select my favorites from the year before. They’re being posted here in alphabetical order with a bit of commentary on each image –

Black (cinnamon) Bear – A reddish-brown morph of the common black bear appeared in our yard one afternoon, the only live cinnamon bear I’ve ever seen. In the time it took to grab a camera and get out the door the bear was moving on, so the only photo is the east end of a west bound bear. A poor photo, but a trophy nonetheless. It was an 18 month old male that was newly on his own, looking for food and his own territory. 

Black-throated Green Warbler – These warblers breed in northeastern forests that have a large component of hemlock trees. They’re quite common in our area of Pennsylvania, both as breeding birds and during migration. This bird was headed south in the fall, headed for South America.

Common Green Darner Dragonfly – This, our largest dragonfly often migrates south in the fall and another generation comes north with the spring. Because of the speed at which they fly I was seldom able to photograph them in flight – until I bought a camera with subject recognition that would focus on the eye of a mammal, bird or large insect.

Common Loon – We took a ride to the lake to see what we could see – and wow! This loon wasn’t far from the road and was very cooperative which made it easy to get quite a few images. Loons don’t breed in Pennsylvania but migrants often stop at local lakes to rest and feed. One day many years ago, a friend and I found over 100 migrating loons on this same lake.

Eastern Chipmunk – Chipmunks are common in woodland and suburban gardens. They live in underground burrows where they also spend the winter. They don’t hibernate in winter, but do sleep a lot and wake to feed on nuts and fruits that they stored in the fall. One day this chipmunk was repeatedly running down our garden wall carrying leaves to line the chambers in its burrow. 

Honey Bee – Honey bees aren’t native to the Americas, they were introduced by early European colonists and have naturalized well. Honey bees become active early in the spring – this worker bee was gathering pollen from our early-blooming crocus flowers. This photo was made with the older version of my longest telephoto lens.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth – Day-flying moths that feed from tubular flowers, especially the various species of monarda. They feed much like hummingbirds: hovering in front of a flower and inserting their long mouthparts to feed on the flower's nectar. Find a patch of monarda in bloom and you’ll often find several of these moths, I photograph them with my longest telephoto lens which will focus to a little over four feet.

Northern Harrier (female) – Formerly called marsh hawks, harriers fly low over old fields and wetlands searching for voles, mice and small birds. This bird was very cooperative and allowed a close approach as it hunted and flew from perch to perch over a span of about 45 minutes.

Ovenbird – This well camouflaged warbler is a common breeder in local woodlands but it spends the winter far to the south. The bird builds a dome-shaped nest on the ground. One day I looked out the kitchen window to see an ovenbird near our little pond; it stayed long enough for me to get quite a few photos.

Pearl Crescent – Pearl crescents are a common small butterfly in our area, with more than one generation a year. The larvae feed on the leaves of various species of aster. Whenever I walk in an old field where flowers are in bloom (here birdsfoot trefoil) it’s almost certain that pearl crescents will be found.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird – This male spent much of the summer defending one of our feeders from all interlopers. He was caught on camera huddling on a twig waiting out a summer rainstorm – I was dry in the garage which I often use as a photographic blind. At summer's end he headed south, flying across the Gulf of Mexico to winter in South America.

Short-eared Owl – The camera has subject recognition which enabled me to get an abundance of photos of these migratory owls. Although a few may breed in Pennsylvania, most nest in wetlands and treeless areas far to the north. Some spent the winter of 2024-25 in an area of old fields not too far from our house. They may be common one winter and totally absent the next if the vole population collapses as it does periodically . 

Split Gill Fungus – One of the most abundant fungi found on fallen dead branches, split gill fungus lives up to its common name. The underside of this colony produced a bit of abstract art for the camera. A macro lens is a great help in getting photos like this.

Trout-lily – Trout lily blooms about the same time as trout season opens, hence the name. In the Big Woods there are always thousands of the plant’s mottled leaves but very few flowers. In another area I usually find hundreds and hundreds of flowers and few leaves without flowers.

Winter Wren – I was sitting next to a small stream in the Big Woods dressed in full camo when this winter wren came along looking for food beneath the undercut bank. Then it flew to a moss-covered old root that was in a patch of sun, giving me a couple of seconds to get this photo.

These may or may not be my "best" photographs from 2025, but they're my favorites. Hopefully you've enjoyed them, I certainly enjoyed taking them.

All of these photos were taken with Olympus (now OM Systems) cameras, the E-M1 ii or OM-1, and various Olympus (OM System) lenses: the 75-300mm, 100-400 mm (or its successor the 100-400mm ii) or 60mm macro.