Daily Archives: February 7, 2012

The Great Blue Heron – plus……Lifer 241

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We took a run out to Middle Concho Park today.  One of the highlights was catching a photo op of the Great Blue Heron, (Ardea herodias).  The Great Blue is I believe my favorite of all of the herons to photograph.  This one flew up from the river and lit high in the top of a tree on the other side.  I love the way the light breeze was blowing his plumage.  He was about 125 yards away.

I was in the car, but I was facing the wrong way to get a shot from the drivers side.  I got out and hand-held my Canon 70D with 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-converter, resting against the hood of the car.  Exposure was 1/1250 sec. @ f8 with a ISO of 125.  Center-weighted metering and aperture priority.  Click on the image to see a beautiful enlargement.

Great Blue Heron

As I said above, that was one of the highlights.  There were others and one was the spotting of not one, but two Brown Creepers, (Certhia americana).  The Brown Creeper is another rarity for the San Angelo area, so I was very pleased to see these two.  And, by the way, since I had never saw one before this was lifer number 241 for me, if anyone is keeping count.  I did get photos for confirmation, but they are not publishable quality by my standards.  They are good enough for identification purposes.

It was a good birding day.  In all we saw these 35 species:

  1. American Coots   35+
  2. Northern Shoveler   50+
  3. Gadwall   12
  4. Northern Mockingbird   4
  5. House Finch   12
  6. Great Blue Heron   9
  7. Pied-billed Grebe   6
  8. Cinnamon Teal   11
  9. Great-tailed Grackle   4
  10. Belted Kingfisher   2
  11. Ladder-backed Woodpecker   2
  12. Common Grackles   6
  13. Red-winged Blackbird   2
  14. Golden-fronted Woodpecker   6
  15. Great Egret   2
  16. Green-winged Teal   8
  17. Brown Creeper   2  (lifer)
  18. Meadowlark   6
  19. Yellow-rumped Warbler   2
  20. Eastern Bluebird   2
  21. Cooper’s Hawk   1
  22. European Starlings   8
  23. Black-crested Titmouse   3
  24. Dark-eyed Juncos – slate   12
  25. Mallard   2
  26. Northern Cardinal   2
  27. Blue Jay   1
  28. Savannah Sparrow   1
  29. American Robins   2
  30. Forster’s Terns   2
  31. Ring-billed Gulls   50+
  32. Northern Pintail   2
  33. Hooded Merganzer   1
  34. Ring-necked Ducks   50+
  35. White-winged Dove   1