Let's see what's coming

You don't like it? Well, you don't like yourself. You don't like your species, and you know what? Neither do I.

The symmetry of this turn in the air!

Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia) are small, agile birds known for their stunning ‘circle flight’ during nest-building.

This caption is misleading. What is pictured is not a "circle flight" but the result of a rolling shutter used when photographing birds in flight which makes the wings appear distorted and warped. Note the smearing on the wingtips.

The actual "circle flight" Northern Yellow Warblers do is nothing so fanciful. A circle flight is when a male on territory does a direct flight towards a rival at the boundary of their territory, and right before reaching the rival they do a sharp semicircle to return to their perch.

Circle Flight. Termed “circle flight” by Burtt (158); called “circling” by Ficken and Ficken (167). Male flies from perch towards neighboring male or female at territory boundary, then turns away; flight path horizontal and semicircular; performed early season during territory establishment. Of 49 nonvocal encounters by unmated males, 16 included circle flights (167).

(From Birds of the World)

Forest Respite, 2026