A familiar sight to many, the Red-winged Black Bird is found over most of the continental United States year round and extends its range into a big swath of Canada for the summer.

The males are always vying for attention with a flash of their shoulder patches and constant singing. This one’s tail feathers flared out every time he called, something I hadn’t noticed before.

On this rather dull day his eyes appeared as black as his feathers.

This warbler was busy collecting little worms from the undersides of leaves and kept darting out of a clear view.

I didn’t know what it was, but the yellow chest was quite pretty when he did pop into the sun, so I kept trying to get a shot.

All About Birds used the words “furtive” and “skulking” to describe the Common Yellowthroat’s behavior. I was fortunate to get a few shots with him in place.

Northern Cardinals have a wide range across much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and down into Mexico and northern Central America. I frequently see them but rarely get a good shot.

This male Northern Cardinal was singing loud and clear in a tree above me but I just couldn’t spot him. I expected him to fly away as two people approached from the opposite direction. They could hear, and see, him, and seeing my dilemma kindly pointed him out.