Yesterday’s birding and new lifer

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Ann and I decided that another nice day deserved to be spent birding.  We spent a couple of hours at Middle Concho and Spring Creek parks, then we got a call on our cell phone from Suzanne Johnson down at Eldorado.  A Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), had been spotted at the water treatment ponds.  So we left immediately to get down there.  We saw it and I got a nice photo of it.  It was lifer number 239 for me.

Common Goldeneye

Canon EOS 7D with Canon 500mm f4 IS lens and 1.4 tele-converter.  Exposure 1/1600 sec. @ f8, -0.3EV, ISO 400.  Partial metering and aperture priority.  Captured from our car, using a Puffin Pad window support.  Distance to subject was about 100 yards.

Total of 40 bird species spotted:

  1.  American Coot
  2.  Northern Mockingbird
  3.  Great Blue Heron
  4.  Pied-billed Grebe
  5.  Golden-fronted Woodpecker
  6.  Cinnamon Teal
  7.  Gadwall
  8.  Northern Shoveler
  9.  Great Egret
  10.  Green-winged Teal
  11.  Wilson’s Snipe
  12.  Great-tailed Grackle
  13.  Red-tailed Hawk
  14.  European Starling
  15.  Western Meadowlark
  16.  Double-crested Cormorants
  17.  Yellow-rumped Warbler
  18.  House Finch
  19.  Savannah Sparrow
  20.  Eastern Bluebird
  21.  Vermilion Flycatcher
  22.  Ring-billed Gull
  23.  American Coot
  24.  Wild Turkey
  25.  White-winged Dove
  26.  Northern Flicker
  27.  Red-winged Blackbird
  28.  American Goldfinch
  29.  Lesser Scaup
  30.  Eared Grebe
  31.  Northern Pintail
  32.  Horned Grebe
  33.  Ruddy Duck
  34.  Canvasback
  35.  Common Goldeneye
  36.  Ringed-neck Duck
  37.  Killdeer
  38.  Lark Bunting
  39.  Egyptian Goose
  40.  Eurasian Collared Dove

36 thoughts on “Yesterday’s birding and new lifer”

    • With all the wildlife that you get around your place, you should really pile up a list. Yeah, it is exciting. When those people called and told us about this Goldeneye, we were at the park. We just turned around and headed down there, 40 miles away. We were really excited to get to see it. But we got home a bit later, and our dog barked at us when we walked, like she was saying “Just where the hell have you guys been?” She pouted for hours.

      Reply

  3. Bob, Thank you for the notice about the Common Goldeneye. I went to Eldorado today and found the Common Goldeneye. I enjoyed the Egyptian Geese, too!

    Reply

    • Those two geese, I think they run the place. They are always around there. He is the mayor and she is his capable assistant. 🙂

      Glad you saw the Common Goldeneye. Happy New Year!!

      Thanks for the comment.

      Reply

  4. Beautiful image of the common goldeneye, indeed one of the more common waterfowl in my part of the world during the summer (of course). Glancing through your list I see many birds who could carry messages between us spring and fall. A pair of northern shovellers raised a brood this past spring on a wetland near my school. I tried to sneak up on them every day during my lunch walk, but always failed – they are just way to wary. Green-winged teals and mallards also considered that fen, but whether it was because of the proximity to industrial activity on the other side of the ravine, my persistent visits or a territorial tiff won by the shovellers, they eventually moved on and left the reserved shovellers alone. Wilson’s snipe, red-tailed hawk, yellow-rumped warbler, northern flicker, red-winged blackbird and the killdeer – all travel your way with my parents (who actually go further south to Mexico) in the fall, while I’m stuck up here with the ravens and chickadees. 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Cindy, thanks for the great comment. I agree with you about the Northern Shovelers and their friends, who can fly off at the drop of a feather. I missed a shot of a Green-winged Teal for that reason yesterday. Yes, we get alot of your birds because we on the migratory route. Then it turns around and you get alot or our birds. 🙂

      Happy New Year to you and yours. 🙂

      Reply

    • Thanks, Pat. Gosh I think this is the fifth time I have been nominated for this. Thank you very much. I am glad you like my images so much. Happy New Year to you and yours. 🙂

      Reply

    • Okay, birders keep lists of the birds they have seen and identified over their lifetime. I had never seen a Common Goldeneye before, so it was a “lifer” for me and I added it to my list. According to the Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America, there are 854 species, in North America. So I am at only 239, so there is a long way to go, and of course, I will never even come close. But if I I could reach 300 in my lifetime, I would be happy. 🙂

      Reply

  8. One thing I have learned through you is that ‘bird’ is not just a noun, but a verb – ie. ‘birding’ – I love this! I have also learned that I need to learn how to take better photos!

    Reply

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