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We got an e-mail from Suaanne Johnson in Eldorado last evening. It seems another rarity was seen there at the water treatment ponds. Suzanne and her husband, Sid, were birding there and spotted a Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra). They got pictures and had the sighting verified with the proper authorities. The Black Scoter (male pictured above) is normally seen only on the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. So the female that they saw apparently was lost.
Ann and I drove down there this morning, but we weren’t able to see it. I probably took off and got back on course to it’s normal habitat.
Wilson's Snipe
But while we were there, we saw this Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata) in the weeds along the shorline of one of the ponds. Then further along this juvenile Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) appeared. He looked like he lost his momma, but he was large enough to fly, as he did shortly after I took this photo.
juvenile Cattle Egret
Soe even though the Black Scoter eluded us, I feel satisfied that I got the above photographs. Our total birding species count was 23. We were there for only two hours. Following is the list:
- Cattle Egret
- Eastern Phoebe
- Vermilion Flycatcher
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Lesser Scaup
- Eared Grebe
- American Coot
- Ruddy Duck
- Northern Shoveler
- Pintail Duck
- Ring-necked Duck
- Meadowlark
- Egyptian Goose
- Hermit Thrush
- Redhead
- Pied-billed Grebe
- American Kestrel
- Wilson’s Snipe
- Savanah Sparrow
- Mockingbird
- Black Vulture
- Canvasback
The EXIF data was identical for both images except for the ISO, which was 100 for the egret and 640 for the snipe. Otherwise the camera was my Canon 7D, Canon 100-400mm lens, 1/640 sec. @f7.1. Spot metering with aperture priority. Of course, the image of the Black Scoter is not mine.
Click on any photo to see an enlargement. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 