Sometimes in the woods we see something and think, “That can’t be right!” (Maybe we see an apparent yellow flower growing in a distant young spruce tree.) Then we look again, closely and from a different angle, and understand that it is right. (Maybe we step to the side, look through a long lens, and see an eye looking back at us.)
This eye belongs to a female black-throated green warbler who is building a nest only about three feet from the ground and about 1½ inches in diameter. It’s wedged in the crotch of a limb and the slim trunk of the spruce. She went about her business while I kept my distance.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 19, 2024.)