Here are some birds photographed May 26,

2007 at the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary,

Easthampton, Massachusetts.  The sanctuary

is just west of the Connecticut River, a sprawling mix of woods, fields, wetlands, and river backwaters.    I met

early in the morning with a photographer friend who is familiar with the trails of Arcadia.  We slathered bug

repellent over exposed skin surfaces to help fight swarms of murderous mosquitos, and stopped to photograph

some Eastern bluebirds and tree swallows in the nesting boxes near the parking area.   We then set off on a trail

through the woods.  We climbed up an observation tower in the woods, an elevated blind with a great view of a

wetlands area.  We soon saw a Baltimore oriole and a tufted titmouse in the crown of a nearby ash tree, then a

pair of great blue herons and a family of mallards.  Farther down the trail she heard and spotted a beautiful male

scarlet tanager far above our heads,  the first I had seen in several years.   He was singing his mating call with

enthusiasm.  In the fields I photographed a white-throated sparrow and a song sparrow. 

All of these photos were shot with a Canon EOS 5D digital SLR, a 500 mm telephoto lens with a 1.4X teleconverter

and a Gitzo 1325 tripod.