This small boldly marked bird is a black-and-white warbler – my first ever sighting of one.
If my friend had not shown it to me I would have missed it – even with it’s bright markings.
It is a busy bird and likes to stay in the shadows.
Mattamuskeet Refuge
Tagimpossibly fast
Merlins can accelerate in flight at tremendous speeds.
I watched this one leave its perch in a tree and impossibly quick it was past me and down the canal line.
poised merlin
The sharply swept back, long tapered wings say “falcon”. This is the falcon known as a merlin.
They sometimes visit Mattamuskeet Refuge for the winter.
sun ghost, sun rise
Sometimes, with my face to the camera, I don’t see the surprises that are waiting for me when I get home and upload the day’s work –
like this subtle ghost of the sun watching itself rise so brilliantly a few degrees to the east.
doc ellen's journey 