Fire in the Sky

The Scarlet Tanager is one of my favorite Spring Migrators— in part because it perfectly captures how easy/hard finding birds can be. As the name suggests, these birds aren’t just red— they’ve an violent shade of scarlet that sticks out like a gaping wound while complimenting the rich greens of the canopy around them. Every so often, they will come in low to snatch insects amongst the buds, particularly a little later in migration. But for now, get your neck warmed up. You’ll need to scan the treetops to catch a glimpse of these beauties.

This bird was easily 200 feet away from me, and thanks to all the small branches and buds in the way, my Canon 200-800mm lens struggled a bit with the auto-focus. This was a complaint I’d seen about the lens online, but I usually attribute things like that to user error. It’s still a very good lens at its price point, and I definitely have had more joy that trouble from it— but at the maximum focal length in challenging conditions, good gear only carries you as far as your technique.