A Bog in Bloom
The Virtues of Not Finding Hessel's Hairstreak
Over the course of three hours on an Atlantic White Cedar bog in Maine yesterday, I did not find Hessel’s Hairstreak. But that’s okay. (After all, there’s no whining or complaining on a bog — ever — no matter how ferocious the biting insects.) So during breaks in my unsuccessful searching for the tiny green, rare butterfly, I turned my lens instead toward plants (like that Rhodora above). Click any image below for a bigger, better view or for your slideshow. Or scroll down to find a few warblers and a preview of things to come.
Coming this weekend to the blog
Tired Warblers at Our Feet
A classic songbird fallout and my best birding ever on Monhegan Island, Maine.
24 comments
The images are beautiful, so nice to see after a rainy weekend in Maine!
Thanks, Patricia. I do love the elegance of flowers on bogs, especially in Maine. I hope you get to see some of them as well.
It’s always a treat to receive your blog posts! You make the idea of a slog in a bog for a blog really interesting. :~)
I’ll take a “slog in a bog” anytime! 🙂
Hi Bryan:
Great photos and quite different photos of the warblers that are on the ground instead of trees as they were so tired. Was this because of the unusual number of intense storms along the mid Atlantic that the warblers had to come through this spring?
It certainly has been a spring for the record books.
Since many of us can’t get to Maine, we appreciate all the excellent colorful photos that you are treating us to, Bryan. Thank you so much.
Hi Ann,
So nice to hear from you. Well, it might not have been storms. Just some strong winds that blew them out into the Gulf of Maine. That’s sometimes enough to tire them out. At dawn they often need to keep flying (when they would otherwise touch down to feed) in order to reach the island or back to the mainland. Yeah, we had lots of birds coming across the Northeast that same weekend. By the way, I was at Knoll Farm last weekend. Things are amazing there! Hope to see you this summer!
And the wave extended west into Upstate New York, where N. Parulas, Palm Warblers, and Prairie Warblers have been especially abundant.
Still getting Palms. Great!
Warbling bogs, beautiful. Thanks.
Yes, and the Nashville Warblers were warbling with that bog! 🙂
Are those cones really so purple? Beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing.
Yep — they’re crazy magenta like that. Really stunning!
Beautiful pictures
Thanks, Mike. Yeah, bogs make for nice photos.:-)
Thank you for that lovely “tour” of the bog, Bryan. Such beautiful plants! Nice warblers, too.
Thanks, Ann. More warblers coming!
We have had amazing warblers here in Barre. However, no bogs here. Beautiful photos!
Yet another thing I love about migration is that these incredible birds can show up anywhere. No reason they’d want to avoid Barre! Thanks, Dru!
So THAT’S where they all are!
They passed you by, Marion?
Beautiful Photos !!!!
Those flowers do make it easier. 🙂
Warblers have been phenomenal here in Brandon and around the state.
Sue Wetmore
Yes, that same wave we got on Monhegan covered New England, I believe.