![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/PROTONOTARY-WARBLER.jpg\" "\\"PROTONOTARY")
<\/a><\/p>\nPROTHONOTARY WARBLER<\/p>\n
The Prothonotary is a forested wetland specialist, ie. they like the swamps of north eastern US and south western Ontario for their summer breeding grounds before returning to Central and South America for the winter. Indeed, many people call the bird a \u201cswamp warbler.\u201d Just as a cardinal gets its name from the red worn by Roman Catholic cardinals, the Prothonotary warbler gets its name from a church office whose members, prothonotari<\/em>, are known for their yellow garments.<\/p>\n It’s a bit of a rarity not only here in Ontario, but also around Washington, DC where Alger Hiss and his wife Priscilla were known to be avid bird watchers. Former Soviet mole Whittaker Chambers outed Hiss before the House\u00a0 Un-American Activities Committe (HUAC) as a Russian spy. Hiss denied any knowledge of Chambers and pleaded innocence. In separate testimony, Chambers told the committee that Hiss had once bragged to him in private of his Prothonotary sighting. Dick Nixon used this information in cross examination\u00a0 to catch Hiss out before the HUAC, where an unsuspecting Hiss unwittingly bragged once again of his Prothonotary encounter. Oh the hubris of birders!!!<\/p>\n PROTHONOTARY WARBLER WITH NESTING MATERIAL<\/p>\n So I’ve got all this history rattling around in my head on this Mother’s Day as I sit alone at this very early hour of the morning on a wooden bench on the Woodlands Trail in Point Pelee National Park where a nesting pair of\u00a0 Prothonotary warblers have been previously spotted. It was an 04:30 start after a midnight check-in from our motel back in Chatham so that we could get here for the first gate opening so I’m a bit out of sorts. It’s overcast with a morning mist and there’s a cool north wind so I don’t hold out much hope for the day’s productivity as the birds remain hunkered down on the USA shore or out on the chain of islands between the two countries across Lake Erie. Surely our luck has to change, it just has to!<\/p>\n In the midst of all this contemplation, a brief flickering flash cuts across my field of view. A small bird lands in a shrub just across the footpath. Oh my gosh, its the Prothonotary!!!<\/p>\n I don’t dare move. Foolishly, I had placed the camera on the bench beside me, just out of reach. The bird jumps down to the ground and starts hopping towards me, stopping just one foot from the toe of my boot and looks me straight in the eye! Incredible! We gaze at each other in complete stupefaction.<\/p>\n She breaks off the stare and moves down the trail in search of nesting material. Finally I can slowly reach for the camera and roll silently off the bench to my knees. Pretty soon I’m shooting this bird from ground level as she nonchalantly\u00a0 goes about her business without a care in the world. And to think I dragged a 600 mm telephoto lens in the hope of seeing this bird at 80 metres!! Often she is within minimum focus distance of four feet and I just have to wait for her to retreat.<\/p>\n The new Nikon D4 performs flawlessly and I shoot my fill. What a little performer.<\/p>\n In an instant she flies back to her nest and the spell is broken. So long little Cold War buddy. Go forth and multiply!!<\/p>\n (But please don’t tell anyone I saw you!! Mum’s the word!!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Conservatives are generally known to be hawkish on foreign policy, but if there were ever to be a bird to represent their cause, surely it would have to be the Prothonotary Warbler. It’s the only one to trap a Cold … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n