Diminutive Terror: The American Kestrel

This little raptor strikes terror in the hearts of field mice and other small rodents.  It is among the most colorful of the falcons.  Like the shrike, they are excellent mousers, and they also go courageously after small birds, bats, insects, reptiles, and even fish on rare occasions.  They perch on tall trees or posts for long periods and watch for prey.  They then swoop and pounce.  In poor light they may sometimes be mistaken for a Merlin.  These first two images were taken yesterday, where as the bottom two have been published before.  Click on any of them to see an enlargement.

American Kestrel watching for prey

American Kestrel enjoying the chase

American Kestrel enjoying the catch

American Kestrel feeling good

Happy Birding!!

Location:     San Angelo State Park
Observation date:     2/27/11
Number of species:     22

Northern Shoveler     50
American White Pelican     120
Great Blue Heron     1
Black Vulture     4
Turkey Vulture     1
Killdeer     4
Greater Yellowlegs     10
Ring-billed Gull     100
White-winged Dove     6
Mourning Dove     1
Great Horned Owl     1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker     1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker     1
Loggerhead Shrike     1
Black-crested Titmouse     2
Bewick’s Wren     2
Northern Mockingbird     8
Canyon Towhee     1
White-crowned Sparrow     6
Pyrrhuloxia     2
Red-winged Blackbird     30
House Finch     10

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Bosque Del Apache Trip – Part II

The Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge consists of open fields, copses of trees, and several large lagoons or ponds.  Also included is a board-walk over one watery acre where there are reeds and water birds.  But the main part is the 12-mile driving tour that goes through and around these areas.  You may take your time and do it at your own pace.  You may stop anywhere you desire.  All you have to do is pull to the side of the road.  There are also many permanent viewing areas placed along the drive.  At the visitors center you can use the blinds and cactus gardens to see quail and other birds and small wildlife.  Rather than bore you with a lot of narrative. I will show some more images that I captured there.

But before I do that, I want to relate one our most thrilling experiences.  As we were doing the driving tour, we came upon this large lagoon that was filled with several species of ducks.  I spotted with my naked eye what I at first thought was a rather large white breasted duck.  Then through my binoculars, I realized that it was a hawk trying to sink it’s claws into a Northern Shoveler.  I figured that I might have as much as a minute to grab my 500mm and the tripod.  But just I reached for them, a beautiful Bald Eagle swooped down, snatched the duck from the hawk, and flew away.  An awesome image that I regretted that I wasn’t able to capture.

Gambel's Quail in tree

Cactus Wren

Black-throated Sparrow perched on Cholla

A young Western Meadowlark

Merlin in the brush

Sandhill Cranes in afternoon sun

So those were some of the highlights of the trip photographically, that is.  While in Las Cruces we enjoyed the fine Mexican food that can be found there.  However, a trip by Bob Zeller must have a dramatic ending, shouldn’t it.  After dining at La Posta restaurant in Old Mesilla, I stepped off the curb.  Then after seeing an automobile approaching, I stepped back up on the curb, slipped, fell and badly abraised my arm and hand.  So a trip to Walgreen’s drug store, for bandages, etc. ensued, followed by going back to our room to get cleaned up.  No broken bones, fortunately, but it will be several days before my arm and hand will be without bandages.

Organ Mountains, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Happy Birding!!

Bosque Del Apache Trip – Part I

Well, after a quick, but wonderful trip to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, we are back and getting things back to normal here. 

The trip nearly didn’t happen.  The distance from San Angelo to Soccoro, New Mexico, the nearest city with lodging, is about 640 miles.  We decided that was too far to try to travel in one day.  After all, in addition to my wanting to do some photography, the three of us are also birders and we tend to get distracted if we see something perched on a telephone pole.  So we decided to stop in Las Cruces , NM and go from there the second day.

We had originally wanted to leave Monday morning, but because we could not get the lodging we wanted, we opted to stay at the Dream Catcher Inn, a bed and breakfast.  But even then, we could get our three night stay only starting on Tuesday night.  So we left on Tuesday morning. 

A good thing we did.  On Monday morning we awoke to no hot water at home.  Our hot water heater was leaking water and had to be replaced.  If we had left on that Monday morning we would have had a mess to clean up after getting home.  So things happen for a reason.

The inn is east of Las Cruces, up near the foothills of the Organ Mountains.

View from our room at Dream Catcher Inn

On Wednesday morning we woke to the view pictured above.  Our hosts, Ken and Anita McLeod, were already awake and had our breakfast ready.  Hot coffee, sizzling bacon, a wonderful egg quiche, and bowls of fruit.  We then hit the road for the Bosque Del Apache NWR.  It was a drive of about 140 miles, but well worth it, as you will see.

At the bosque, you can take a 12 mile self-guided driving tour through the refuge.  You can stop anywhere along the way and there are several observation points.  There are numerous lagoons filled with water birds of all kinds, dead tree snags in the ponds with Bald Eagles perched,  tall trees where you can find many hawks.  At one end of the reserve was a large concentration of several thousand Sandhill Cranes.  It was late in the day by time we reached them, and they were just arriving after spending the day feeding in nearby fields.

Sandhill Crane

I will continue with more in Part II.  More pictures to come.  My monitor crashed  yesterday morning, so I ordered a new one, but it will be a couple of weeks before it arrives.  But I did manage to get another image or two edited besides these.  Click on either one for an enlargement.

Red-tailed Hawk and Birding results

First, I want to say that this may be my last post for about a week.  Ann, Jodie Wolslager and I are heading for New Mexico to visit some birding and wildlife areas there.  I hope to come back with some nice photos and new experiences to tell you about.

This morning we had our monthly Adult Birding Adventure at San Angelo State Park.  We had one of the largest participant turn-outs ever.  However, the bird activity left a little to be desired.  Plenty activity at the bird blind though.  By Ann’s count we had a grand total of 29 species.  Not bad for an off-day.  A total list appears at the bottom of this post.

Red-tailed Hawk

In keeping with my habit of including a photograph with each post, I submit this in-flight image of a Red-tailed Hawk, from my archives.  Did I ever tell you that I love to photograph raptors??  Click on the photo to see an enlargement.

By the way, I am overwhelmed by the comments to Holly’s Blog about in-flight photography, referring to the advice and tips that I gave her.  See   http://photobyholly.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/in-flight/    I thank one and all  for reading the tips.  I only hope that every one has good results from them.  I do need to clarify one thing.  My tips were based on my own experience with a Canon DSLR.  I remember that Holly shoots a Nikon, but I think that most DSLRs have a tracking type of auto-focus.

Happy birding and picture taking!!  🙂

Location:     San Angelo State Park
Observation date:     2/12/11
Number of species:     29

Mallard     3
Blue-winged Teal     20
Northern Shoveler     18
American White Pelican     12
Great Blue Heron     2
Black Vulture     6
Turkey Vulture     3
Red-tailed Hawk     1
American Coot     2
Killdeer     2
Greater Yellowlegs     3
Least Sandpiper     10
Ring-billed Gull     100
White-winged Dove     2
Mourning Dove     4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker     2
Black-crested Titmouse     2
Rock Wren     1
Bewick’s Wren     1
Northern Mockingbird     6
Curve-billed Thrasher     1
Canyon Towhee     1
White-crowned Sparrow     24
Northern Cardinal     6
Pyrrhuloxia     4
Red-winged Blackbird     12
Western Meadowlark     10
House Finch     18
House Sparrow     6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Red-naped Sapsucker and Meadowlark

The weather is starting to warm up again.  However, it got down to 16 degrees again this morning.  We checked out the San Angelo State Park, though, as the sun is starting to heat up.  No wind, very nice.  However we didn’t see much bird activity, but we didn’t stay long.  I have to get photo equipment sorted out and then wash the van for our trip to Bosque Del Apache NWR, in New Mexico.   We saw several Western Meadowlarks.  They were just about the only thing stirring, except for some cardinals, sparrows, etc.

Western Meadowlark

Tomorow is our monthly Adult Birding Adventure at the park.  It is lead by yours truly, and we usually have a good turnout of participants.  It consists of spending a little time at the bird blind, then the balance just driving slowly through the park, to see what we can see.  The reason for this is that several species don’t ever frequent the bird blind, and vice versa.  So we never know what we will come across.  Last year one time, we were surprised by a Burrowing Owl sitting on an old Prairie Dog mound.  More recently we saw what we at first thought was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  I managed to get a photograph (below) and that was when we discovered that it was a Red-naped Sapsucker.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Click on either photograph to see an enlargement. 

Happy Birding!!

Birding San Angelo News and Photos

I haven’t posted to my blog for a couple of days.  It just got so bone-chilling cold today, that I decided to stay in.  So I haven’t decided on anything special to write about.  I did get my life list up to 220.  I added an American Pippit last week, thanks to Sue Oliver.  We ran into her at O. C. Fisher Lake and she pointed one out.  I haven’t gotten close enough to get a decent photo yet, but now that I know what they look like and where they are, I should be able to come up with a nice image soon.

Blue Grosbeak

The monthly Adult Birding Adventure is coming up this weekend.  I hope to see some more of you out there.  The number of birders that are participating is increasing, but always room for more.  The weather forecast looks good, too.

Bald Eagles - Llano, Texas

The Phainopepla that hung around for about a month has left the building.  He certainly kept to the same area while he was here.  Almost always in the same tree, but alternated with a couple of nearby ones.  He will be missed.

The O. C. Fisher Lake level is drastically decreasing, and therefore the shorebirds are getting harder to see.  But there are plenty to see if you have binoculars or a spotting scope.  A huge number of American White Pelicans have left, but there was still around two dozen yesterday.  We have been seeing at least one Herring Gull. 

White Ibis

Since plans for a second bird-blind has been put on the back burner, Ann and I have expanded the feeding area at the present one.  On the east side, we have added a couple more feeders so the viewing experience has been enhanced.

Nest week on the 15th, Ann and I, along with Jodie Wolslager are heading to New Mexico to spend a couple of days.  We plan on visiting the Boxque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  I hope to bring back some new photographs, hopefully of some Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and I hope to get lucky and see a Bald Eagle.

Ringed Kingfisher

By the way, these photos have nothing to do with today’s subject.  But I can’t resist not putting photos with my posts. 🙂  Enjoy them, and click on either image to see an enlargement.

Here’s Woody, the Woodpecker

Whenever I see woodpeckers, I am reminded of the Woody, the Woodpecker cartoons that I used to see when I was a child growing up.  As I remember it, though, I believe Woody was a Pileated Woodpecker.  These pictures that I have here today are of a Ladder-backed Woodpecker.  The male, I photographed yesterday morning.  Both images of the female I captured earlier today.  All were at San Angelo State Park in San Angelo, Texas.  Enjoy the photos, and as usual, click on any of them to see enlargements.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - male

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - female

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - female spreading her wings

Happy Birding!!

American Kestrel with Happy Meal

Ann and I made a trip out to San Angelo State Park late Saturday morning.  There we met another professional photographer, Bill Plunkett.  He and his wife have been doing some very extensive traveling and stopped off here in San Angelo.  For examples of his work from all over the continent and more, check his website, www.plunkettphoto.com. 

I got lucky again.  While driving around the park, we didn’t see much bird activity until we came upon this dead tree near O. C. Fisher Lake.  There was this American Kestrel perched, trying to devour a mouse that he had caught.  I was fortunate to capture the action before he flew away.

American Kestrel with mouse

I hope you enjoy the photo.  Click on it to see an enlargement.

Happy Birding!!

Sunshine and Cool Birds

Yesterday morning, Friday, Ann and I woke to a nice clear, sunshiny day.  The temp was still only about 20 degrees.  We waited a bit until it was up to about 28 then we headed to San Angelo State Park.  First we needed to put seed in the feeders.  We do that on a regular basis, not just to feed the birds, but for the main purpose of attracting birds for the numerous birders that frequent the popular bird blind.

Cactus Wren in the snow

I also wanted to take advantage of the snow still on the ground, to get some wintery photographs.  My vision was to catch a Northern Cardinal perched on a snow-covered branch.  But a vision was all it was, as there wasn’t any snow on the tree branches.  All we had was about an inch of it on the ground.  But I did get a couple of nice photos of some birds in the snow.  One was the Cactus Wren.  The other was a White-crowned Sparrow that seemed to be staring at some large cat tracks.  Perhaps a Bobcat??

A cool White-crown Sparrow

At the blind, I scared off a small Opossum as I approched.  The water trough, which is about 2 feet deep was frozen solid.  I tried to break through it, but to no avail.  I would have to wait and let the warming sun do it’s job.  O. C. Fisher lake, which is dwindling by the day, looked like it was frozen all the way across.  Leaving there, we stopped by the Prairie Dog village.  A few of them were sitting on the mounds, pondering if they should venture across the snow.

A young Black-tailed Prairie Dog

But, today the snow will probably leave for the most part.  The sun is shining brightly and the temperature is climbing again.  Will spring be just around the corner??  Enjoy the photos, and click on any of them to see enlargements.

Happy Birding!!  🙂

A Cold day for Birding

The outside temperature right now is 16 degrees and the wind chill is about zero.  But does that bother me??  You’re danged right, it does.  🙂  But not to worry as in a few days it will be back to our normal sixties weather.  I just decided that now is a good time to stay inside and get other stuff done.  Like writing another post.

Summer Tanager - male

However, I had a difficulty deciding what to write about, so I opted to just show some more of my older images.  Today those photos are of the Summer Tanager.  I took these pics nearly three years ago with my old Canon 40D.  I think that I had just acquired my Canon 500 f4 IS lens.

Summer Tanager - female

For a brief description of the Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra), I will refer to my bird guides.  The Sibley’s Guide to Birds, describes it to have redish or greenish flight feathers.  Found in mixed woods, near water.  Found in the Concho Valley from April to October.  What I like about this species is the diverse color.  The male is mostly red, the female is mostly yellow, and the juvenile is logically a mix of the two.

Summer Tanager - juvenile

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, offers this information on the species. The Summer Tanager, Piranga rubra, is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae).^[2] The species’s plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.

Their breeding habitat is open wooded areas, especially with oaks, across the southern United States. These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. This tanager is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe.

Adults have stout pointed bills. Adult males are rose red and similar in appearance to the Hepatic Tanager, although the latter has a dark bill; females are orangish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail.

These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, especially bees and wasps, and berries. Fruit of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae) are an especially well-liked food in their winter quarters, and birds will forage in human-altered habitat^[3]. Consequently, these trees can be planted to entice them to residential areas, and they may well be attracted to bird feeders. Summer Tanagers build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch.

The Summer Tanager has an American Robin-like song, similar enough that novices sometimes mistake this bird for that species. The song consists of melodic units, repeated in a constant stream. The Summer Tanager’s song, however, is much more monotonous than that of T. migratorius, often consisting of as few as 3 or 4 distinct units. It is clearer and less nasal than the song of the Scarlet Tanager.

The Summer Tanager also has a sharp, agitated-sounded call pi-tuk or pik-i-tuk-i-tuk.^[4]

^{I hope you enjoy the information and the photos.  Click on any image ot see an enlargement.}