Yesterday, Friday, afternoon Melanie at the south gate to the park called and told me that another professional photographer had spotted a Snowy Plover in the Red Arroyo boat ramp parking lot.
I immediately high-tailed it out there to try and get my own photographs. I had gotten an image of one at Twin Buttes several years ago, but never had been impressed with the photo, as that one had been quite a bit further away, and therefore not a real great image. When we arrived it, the plover, was already walking away towards the weeds. I sat my camera up some distance away and waited, but after an hour decided to wait ’til this morning.
Snow Plover watching over eggs.
So this morning, I and and Ann went back. The bird wasn’t near the nest but with our binoculars we could see that there were two eggs instead of the single one that we had seen yesterday. I set up my equipment near some bushes some distance away. With my 500mm lens and a 2x tele-converter I wasn’t worried about not getting a good image.
Snowy Plover
After about a thirty-minute wait, here comes not one Snowy Plover, but two Snowy Plovers. They skittered around the parking lot, then eventually ended up near the “nest”. Actually, the two eggs are on the tar and gravel parking lot surface. One of the birds got on the eggs, and the other disappeared into the nearby brush and weeds.
I am inserting a couple of my photographs here for your enjoyment. Click on either one for an enlargement.
As a foot-note, while were waiting, a Scaled Quail landed near us for a very brief two minute visit. I decided against trying to get an image of it because I had my big lens sighted in on the plover eggs and didn’t want to risk of missing a shot.
Enjoy the photos, and Happy Birding!!
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 