Perfectly Timed Photo Shows Singing Blackbird Creating Vortex Rings with His Breath

[demmiblue]

This year, amateur bird photographer Kathrin Swoboda achieved a career-changing shot. Like many photographs of birds, her portrait of a blackbird stars a perched, singing subject. What sets this photograph apart from others, however, is that viewers can actually see his song—an element expertly captured by the strategic photographer.

Early on March 17, 2019, Swoboda set out toward Huntley Meadows Park, an island in Virginia favored by nature photographers for its wildlife-friendly wetlands. Here, she hoped to photograph the male red-wing blackbird, a robin-sized species of bird known for its crimson shoulder markings and distinctive throaty song. “Specifically,” Swoboda tells My Modern Met, “I wanted to photograph their breath, which when expelled would condense in the cold air.”

Fortunately, Swoboda found a suitable subject: a “quite vociferous” blackbird. As he vigorously called out for a potential mate, the bird began “forming smoke rings with his spring song.” Due to both the chilly early morning temperatures and her strategic use of the morning sun as backlighting, Swoboda was able to capture this phenomenon in a pair of stunning photographs, with one even earning Swoboda the grand prize of this year’s Audubon Photography Awards.

While Swoboda’s portraits of the red-wing blackbird are now her most well-known works, this species is not the only bird she enjoys photographing. You can explore an aviary of exceptional photographs on her website.

https://mymodernmet.com/red-winged-blackbird-kathrin-swoboda/

[True Dough]

1. Cool, but I believe that bird

is actually vaping.

[Beartracks]

21. "Blackbird vaping in the dead of night..."

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[Scarsdale]

2. Beautiful photo.

This lady timed everything perfectly. Certainly deserved the award she received.

[Roy Rolling]

3. Stunning

I’ve worked in motion pictures and television at the highest levels for most of my adult life. When we see the extraordinary lighting of this picture, it makes me better understand how perfect it is.

Seeing a dark subject with enough backlight to provide definition is a modern art. It’s why genuinely portraying African-Americans on film has been a challenge for some filmmakers for decades.

Photographing dark subjects like a blackbird requires a similar, special level of skill.

[japple]

4. Thank you for posting this. We have many, many red-winged blackbirds

at our back yard feeders, but I have never witnessed anything this beautiful. What a talented, patient photographer!

[work_together]

5. WOW, Nice

[wendyb-NC]

6. Oh Wow, so beautiful

and unlike any other bird photo I've seen before. Thank you for sharing.

[NJCher]

7. please tell me, little birdie

If this is what a song looks like, what does an earworm look like?

[flamin lib]

13. Much longer and like a donut . . .

[Kittycow]

8. Wow, such a thing to see...

[gademocrat7]

9. Amazing photo!

[berksdem]

10. Very cool!!

[Fla Dem]

11. Wonderful!

[tymorial]

12. Blackbird creating vortex rings in the dead of night.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

16. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night . . .

Take these broken wings and learn to fly."

[tymorial]

22. Right first time.

[PatrickforO]

14. What a fantastic photo!

It makes you want to be still inside and just listen to the song.

[flamin lib]

15. Like astronomy wildlife photography is the domain of dedicated ameteurs.

Both take a lot of time, experience and expensive equipment and once in a lifetime will yield the gift of a moment of attention.

[Codeine]

17. What a gorgeous bird. nt

[Princetonian]

18. Magical.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. I have always loved red-winged blackbirds, we see them in my neck-of-the-woods

[Beartracks]

20. Did the little guy find a mate?

Enquiring minds want to know!


The photo is absolutely stunning.

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[Stuart G]

23. Beautiful Photo, Thank You for posting..K and R