Birds, Foliage, and Birds in Foliage

This time of year the birds have molted to mostly drab colors, but the trees are presenting their colorful fall spectacular. Earlier in the season the birds were plentiful but hard to see in the lush green leaves. Soon the trees will be bare and the birds will be easier to see, but there will be many fewer of them. This transitional season provides a unique opportunity to see and photograph birds in colorful foliage like the Ruby-crowned Kinglets above at Mill Pond in Etna on October 7 and below in our yard on October 14.

Birds

Blue-headed Vireo

Along the Mascoma River Greenway in Lebanon, NH in late September, I found a Blue-headed Vireo. It stayed in view only briefly.

Gray Catbird

Two days later at almost the same spot I photographed a Gray Catbird.

Carolina Wren

While taking the catbird photo above, I heard loud singing by an easy-to-recognize — even by me — Carolina Wren. It repeatedly advertised its presence and was relatively easy to photograph as it moved through the shrubs along the Greenway.

Blue Jay

I am suddenly seeing Blue Jays in our yard and many other places. The two photos below were taken across the river in Vermont at Kilowatt South in Wilder and Campbell Flat in Norwich.

Northern Mockingbird

Kilowatt South is THE spot for Northern Mockingbirds. These photos were taken October 3 and 13.

Eastern Bluebird

While photographing a very mixed flock of birds in Lyme late one afternoon, I captured these photos of an Eastern Bluebird.

Brown Creeper

After going over a year not photographing any Brown Creepers, I found two 90 minutes apart in two different states: at Kilowatt South in VT and Mill Pond in NH.

Eastern Phoebe

From our yard and Mill Pond in Etna and Quincy Bog in Rumney, here are a half dozen Eastern Phoebe.

American Goldfinch

Bedell Bridge State Park in Haverhill was the site of these photos of American Goldfinch.

Pine Siskin

I found early Pine Siskin at Quincy Bog in Rumney on October 10 during an excursion mostly in search of colorful foliage.

House Finch

The female House Finch looks very similar to a Pine Siskin. The two females below were from Grafton, Vermont and the more colorful male from Wilder, Vermont.

Black-capped Chickadee

The Black-capped Chickadee gets little respect from birders. “It’s just a chickadee” is heard often. But photos of them feeding make interesting images. These are from, respectively, Campbell Flat in Norwich, VT, Mill Pond in Etna, and our yard.

Canada Goose

Another species that gets little respect is the Canada Goose. These were landing in Lake Runnemede in Windsor, VT.

Northern Cardinal

Another common bird, but one that is harder to photograph, is the Northern Cardinal. This one is from the Mascoma River Greenway in Lebanon, NH.

Rusty Blackbird

This Rusty Blackbird was in a flock of a eight at Campbell Flat.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

At Mill Pond.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I started this post with Ruby-crowned Kinglets in colorful foliage. Here is a slide show of a half-dozen more from Mill Pond and our yard in Etna. The bird is showing its ruby crown in one photo.

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrows from, respectively, Etna, Lyme (2), and the Co-op Community Garden in Norwich (2).

Dark-eyed Junco

From our yard in Etna.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

These Lincoln’s Sparrows are from Boston Lot and the Mascoma River Greenway in Lebanon, Campbell Flat in Norwich, and Mill Pond in Etna, two from each spot.

Savannah Sparrow

From Campbell Flat.

Song Sparrow

Our most common sparrow is most likely the Song Sparrow. I found one taking a bath in the Saxtons River in Grafton, Vermont, and another one bathing in an upland part of Mink Brook in Etna.

Here are more photos of Song Sparrows from both NH and VT.

Swamp Sparrow

In the corn fields at Campbell Flat, a Swamp Sparrow posed very nicely for me.

I also photographed one at Mill Pond on Moose Mountain.

White-crowned Sparrow

A White-crowned Sparrow was hidden deep in the brush at Bedell Bridge State Park.

Another was out in the open at Kilowatt South in Wilder, VT.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrows made their appearance this fall. I photographed one seemingly gathering nest material (this time of year?) at Campbell Flat. Due to operator error, these photos were taken handheld at 1/8 sec (!) with a 1400 mm (eq) focal-length lens.

Here are a bakers dozen White-throated Sparrow photos from Lebanon, Etna, Enfield, and Norwich.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Mill Pond on Moose Mountain in Etna was the spot for Black-throated Green Warblers this fall. Here are a half-dozen photos.

Magnolia Warbler

I also found Magnolia Warblers at Mill Pond.

Pine Warbler

I was shooting fast and furiously at the fast-moving Yellow-rumped Warblers in our yard and was surprised to find one photo of a Pine Warbler among the images.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

This was the peak time for Yellow-rumped Warbler migration through our area. I photographed them in several locations.

These from Bedell Bridge State Park at the end of a foliage trip to Peacham and Groton.

While hoping to find nice foliage, I found a very mixed flock of birds along Hardscrabble Road in Lyme. It included this Yellow-rumped Warbler.

These four photos were taken at Mill Pond.

A found this Yellow-rumped Warbler at Kilowatt South in Wilder, VT on October 3.

THE place for Yellow-rumped Warblers this fall was our yard, perhaps because I am there more often than other places. I see movement out the windows, grab a camera, and hurry outside. Sometimes they have already moved on and sometimes I can approach closely while they rapidly feed hopping from spot to spot. Here are 18 photos.

FW150B-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-in-Etna-yard

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FW150R-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-in-Etna-yard

FW150P-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-in-Etna-yard

FW150U-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-in-Etna-yard

FW151F-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-in-Etna-yard

FW306B-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-with-red-foliage

FW306J-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-with-red-foliage

FW306T-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-with-red-foliage

FW306U-Yellow-rumped-Warbler-with-red-foliage

A Surprise Trio

We rarely see birds perching on the railing of our back deck, since there is nothing there that might interest them. But one noon while Jann and I were eating lunch, three birds arrived, one after the other, within less than a minute. Fortunately I had a camera nearby and took these photos through the glass window of our door to the deck.

If you missed my “Birds of the Second Half of Summer 2025″ blog, you can CLICK HERE to open it in a new tab.

Atmospherics

A catch-all category for sunrise, sunset, fog, and things in the sky that are not flying.

Harvest Super Moon

We had a Harvest Super Moon October 6-7. It basically looked like any other full moon, but folks get excited when it is a super moon — just a bit closer to the earth.

I like photographing the moon early morning just after it is full. That way the sky is not black but can have nice color. Here are two from Lebanon a few miles from our home.

Sunrise

My favorite spot for sunrise in fall is Mascoma Lakeside Park in Enfield when there are still sailboats for foreground interest. Here are photos taken when the color in the sky peaked and a bit later after it faded.

While heading to a favorite spot for early fog, I passed this view of the Mascoma River in Enfield and stopped for some photos. This image was a five-shot panorama that I cropped somewhat.

Sunset

I missed a glorious sunset when I was exhausted from a foliage trip to the Northeast Kingdom. But I did get this one over the Vermont mountains. The peak near the center of the second photo is Ludlow Mountain which is sometimes called Okemo after the ski area.

Fog

While searching for our somewhat illusive foliage this fall, I photographed many scenes enhanced by morning fog.

Mount Ascutney from Etna before sunrise

Mascoma Lakeside Park, Enfield

Little Goose Pond, Canaan

View of Moose Mountain from Enfield

Thirty minutes before dawn in Windsor, VT

Windsor Grasslands Wildlife Management Area

Windsor, VT

Perkinsville, VT

Hanover Reservoir from Ferson Road

Grant Brook, Lyme

Breck Hill Road, Lyme

Clough Brook, Orfordville

Shrewsbury Peak and Killington Peak from Etna before sunrise

Foliage

We finally get to foliage. It was spotty this year. Some trees lost their leaves early while some have yet to turn. Beautiful foliage can still be found with some searching.

I found nice color in Lebanon near Mascoma Lake two days ago.