This amazingly cooperative Northern Wheatear appeared conveniently on a Saturday, stayed into the following Sunday, and on the property of a gracious landowner. By the time I made my way to the scene in the afternoon of the Sunday (Sept. 13), just over 24 hours after the original report, it had already been viewed by a hundred observers. Seemingly determined not to let any observers leave unsatisfied, the bird remained in view for hours on end, and showed no fear of humans whatsoever. In fact at one point, the bird bounded fearlessly down the driveway toward a crowd of a dozen birders and proceeded to hawk insects just 15 feet from the gawking onlookers. What a memorable bird!

 

Unfortunately for me, lighting for photography was about as adverse as it could get, with the bird almost directly backlit by the sun which was also near its highest point in the sky. The effort became a game of waiting for a stray cloud to block out the sun, then firing away like crazy in the lower contrast conditions. Of course the resulting images, taken in shaded sunlight, are not as satisfying as ones more front-lit would have been (they are of much lower contrast and saturation), but I am not complaining!

 

The first image below was taken as the bird made its closest approach to us, probably no more than 20 feet from the camera. I understand that lighting at the site is better in the morning and I look forward to seeing some images made at that time.