Better Friday Evening - 02 Sep 2022

After a somewhat rough Friday morning I took a look at the cameras and noticed several needs for change. My Sony a1 was set to Manual and continuous shooting set to Medium (15 fps). That needed to be changed back to Hi+ and AF-C. The Sony a9 was also set to Manual with settings specified for Digiscoping. With the 100-400 mm lens I needed to change back to regular sport shooting. Also, both lenses have Fn buttons on the lens that swap between M/AF that I changed to Focus Tracking; I have a tendency to hit the button and that forces Manual focus.

A late afternoon run to the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge yielded few birds, but I did find this apparent Cuckoo Wasp (family Chrysididae) in the path ahead of me. It was immediately followed by an Eastern Comma Butterfly.

Just before leaving I did find an Eastern Wood-Pewee calling and flycatching next to the trail. Lighting was bad so it took some overexposing to make out its faint wingbars and slight eye-ring.

I then caught glimpse of a Blackpoll Warbler in better lighting.

I then headed over to Lake Erie Metropark and walked the Marshland Museum Trail. Near the SW corner of the loop I got into a flock of American Redstarts moving quickly through the trees. They were high up and provided few opportunities for pics.

A severely backlit Black-throated Green Warbler appeared ahead in the trees overhead. Luckily it moved across the trail and allowed a firm identification.

Red-eyed Vireos were moving with the redstarts and appeared briefly from different locations. 

I turned down the Hawthorn Trail back toward the east side of the loop and came upon a pair of Black-throated Blue Warblers; the contrast between the brightly-colored male and the tan-colored female was stark. I tried to get pics of the male, but lighting was dark and all I could muster was 1/125 sec at ISO 4000. 

A Magnolia Warbler flashing its diagnostic black and white tail.

An Eastern Wood-Pewee posing in the evening light.

And in worse light...

Near the NE boardwalk a House Wren appeared and scolded me for encroaching on its territory.

Both cameras performed much more admirably with correct settings, and it was nice to have binoculars in hand. A good evening.

Detroit River IWR--Refuge Gateway (Humbug Marsh), Wayne, Michigan, US
Sep 2, 2022 5:30 PM - 6:10 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
8 species

Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)  1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  2
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  1
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)  5
Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia)  1
Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata)  1
Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens)  2
Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S159194404

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)