Redstart Singing

This is a male American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla), on a sunny day but entirely in the shade. It's on Mt. Holyoke near us; other notable warbler sightings were a Black-throated Blue and a Cerulean (which is nesting as they regularly do in this location--follow the link for a fuller comment). We're in Skinner State Park, and one can drive to near the summit--I've designated the exact location on the map--such a marvelous new feature! For blippers across the pond, these are so-called "New World warblers"--they tend to be more colorful than the warblers in the old world (aka Europe :)

Edit: My ornithologist email commentator observed that the bird is banded (ringed for Brits), and also noted: " [The] image nicely shows the well-developed rictal bristles around the mouth. They are the thin vane-less feathers seen through the open bill. Bird species that catch insects in the air typically have more prominent rictal bristles than do other birds, and the American Redstart does more aerial flycatching than do most wood-warblers." (I was in fact fortunate that it stayed on its perch for at least 30 shots.)

The technically-minded may note the noise--1600 ISO is clearly not ideal in such poor light with this body (I wasn't paying proper attention). The metadata combines the 400 mm and the 2x extender used with it to show 800 mm.