Kinglet eyelashes

As photographic subjects, kinglets present few challenges. They forage in low bushes and scrub much of the time and are not at all skittish. Yes, they flick their wings and rapidly flit from branch to branch, but with a fast shutter speed, their quick movements can be captured quite easily. I’ve taken many, many shots of kinglets, and have vaguely wondered why I usually see some blurriness around their eyes, especially those of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, even when the rest of their feathers appear reasonably sharp.

Last week, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet graced me with its presence at eye level in good light for 30 seconds or so. I managed a few decent shots. When I magnified one of them, I saw what appeared to be..... eyelashes! I didn’t know kinglets have eyelashes. Or do they? But, I could count them, for heaven's sake.


Kinglets’ eye areas are described as having a “grayish-white eye ring broken at the top,” or a “white, broken eye ring.” But what about these Hollywood-style, curly eyelashes?

So, I goggled for quite a while and finally found this: “Several bird species, such as ostriches, hornbills, rheas, cuckoos, and some owls in the genus Bubo, which includes the Great Horned Owl, are known to have eyelashes. These eyelashes actually consist of bristles resembling mammalian eyelashes, and possibly serve to protect the eye against dust and other debris. Bristles are simplified feathers that consist only of a stiff, tapered rachis with a few basal barbs. The feathers have both sensory and protective functions.” Claudia Zan, research assistant, Home Study Course in Bird Biology Cornell Lab of O

That’s right. I remember seeing beautiful, long eyelashes on ostriches and rheas in zoos. At Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo, I photographed this Greater Rhea whose eyelashes were hard to miss.


But kinglets are not mentioned as being among the birds with eyelashes, and so the question remains. Do kinglets have eyelashes, or are they, like those of Hollywood starlets, faux?

Ice on the Potomac

Inauguration morning didn’t look any different than any other along the George Washington Parkway, except that the traffic was much lighter and there was a Coast Guard ship sitting at anchor in the mostly frozen river.

Having spent some time along the parkway over the last couple of weeks, I recognized a perched Red-shouldered Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk that flashed by as likely regulars. A few Killdeer passed overhead, headed for some mud alongside open water.

Hoping to find the four warblers I saw a few days ago, I managed to locate only the previously camera-shy Common Yellowthroat. Chipping vigorously and foraging in low vegetation, he let me snap a couple of photos. He looked like a first fall male to me, with some mottling on his cheeks, suggesting the black mask he will acquire.



Both kinglet species know how to handle winter and a small flock of Golden-crowned and a Ruby-crowned were working the understory for nourishment to handle their energy requirements for another cold night.



No, not frozen swallows, they're only milkweed pods, possibly coated with a fungus of some kind.


Startled to come upon this fox, I drew back to a safe distance, not knowing if it was asleep or dead. It quickly became apparent it was dead. Its healthy appearance and beautiful, thick and lustrous coat gave no clue as to what might have taken it. Too bad.


Crossing over the stone bridge which spans Hunting Creek, I noticed a Pied-billed Grebe.


and nearby, two female ducks, a Lesser Scaup and Common Goldeneye.



The sewage treatment plant of the Alexandria Sanitation Authority discharges reclaimed water into Hunting Creek just upstream, so the creek is open and unfrozen. Many hundreds of geese and gulls were resting and cavorting on the creek.


Leaving in time to watch the swearing-in ceremony of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, I felt a bit like this Golden-crowned Kinglet who appeared to be jumping with joy.

Dyke Marsh in early December

When you see a raft of a couple thousand or more American Coots a few hundred yards out in the middle of the river, you have to wonder why one lone individual chooses to hang out with a few Mallards just feet from the shore. Is this bird a shunned outcast, a free thinker, or just a loner? Pondering that heavy question while shooting a few frames of the backside of this preening bird tested my multi-tasking skills. Fortunately, it stopped to glance in my direction occasionally.


It's not often that I see a coot head on and relatively close up, so I was struck by the knob called a callus at the base of its bill, a curious feature, indeed.


Ducks were plentiful on the river. More than 1,000 mostly sleeping Ruddies, but also Ring-necked, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, and yes, even a few Redhead ducks, joined the hundreds of Mallards. Did we miss a few species? Probably. Until the Christmas Bird Count to be conducted here on Dec. 20 requires it, scrutinizing every square yard of watery real estate to record the number of every last bird is just too much work on a relaxing day of birding. At least, for me it is.

A walk down Haul Road and a scan of the river at the Belle Haven picnic area on a pleasant, sunny, December day was made more enjoyable by the presence of three fine friends. We didn’t find the over 400 Horned Grebes that were reported just a few days previously, but we did spot a Tree Sparrow in the middle of the trail. This species, seen only in winter in our area, and then only irregularly, is always a kick to find. As distinctive as this species is, with its clear breast marked by a central spot, chestnut crown, strong white wing bars, and two-toned bill, I admit with appropriate humility that we called the bird a Swamp and then a Chipping Sparrow before settling on the correct ID. Below is an inferior digiscoped photo, a “placeholder” until, hopefully, a better one is produced later in the season.


Nothing is more fun than serendipity on such excursions, and a Common Yellowthroat filled the bill this day by chipping first and then providing a few brief glimpses as we peered from the boardwalk into the dried cattails. Late, but hardly a record-setting date for this species, Common Yellowthroats are usually seen on CBCs in the coastal plain.

Otherwise, it was the usual early winter fare, with this active Ruby-crowned Kinglet entertaining from low branches along the trail on the stretch through the forested area.