Tufted Titmouse, Birdbath, Water Droplets, And A Yellowjacket

Today I’m sharing two images of an adult Tufted Titmouse, taken yesterday while the titmouse was at the birdbath, enjoying a nice cool drink of water.

It was warm again yesterday, right around 90°F, which is pretty hot for nearly the middle of October. I’m not at all surprised that so many birds visited the birdbath for a drink.

Tufted Titmouse at the birdbath with flying water droplets – Canon R7, f8, 1/800, ISO 1250, +0.3 EV, Canon 100-400mm at 371mm, natural light

Anyhow, this Tufted Titmouse came to the birdbath for a drink of water. I tried to get a shot of the titmouse raising her or his head with water droplets, and I succeeded.

There is even a water droplet on the bird’s bill near the black part of her or his crest.

As I photographed the Tufted Titmouse, I watched her movements through my lens. I think I was hoping for something unusual to happen.

And it did.

Tufted Titmouse avoiding a yellowjacket – Canon R7, f8, 1/640, ISO 1250, +0.3 EV, Canon 100-400mm at 371mm, natural light

From outside my viewfinder, a yellowjacket flew into the birdbath and smacked the titmouse in the face. The yellowjacket did that twice. The photo above shows the titmouse trying to avoid the second smack from the yellowjacket.

I’d never seen a yellowjacket smack a bird in the face before. They can be fairly aggressive though.

Now, this second photo won’t make it into my photo gallery because we can’t see the face or eyes of the bird at all, and the titmouse is a bit soft.

But I appreciate being able to see and share the image just because of the interaction between the bird and the yellowjacket.

From one day to the next, I never know what I’ll see while I’m out photographing. Nature continues to amaze me.

Life is good.

Mia

See Steve Creek’s post from yesterday about visitors at his birdbath and learn why birdbaths matter on his site, click here.

Click here to see more of my Tufted Titmouse photos plus facts and information about this species.