Daily Archives: March 3, 2012

Return from Big Bend Country

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I’m Baaaacck!!!  We got in Friday afternoon about 3:30PM. We went to pick up Suzie, our little Shih-Tzu, from the dog sitter, then started un-loading and un-packing.  By the time we were finished, it was time just to relax and put off anything else until this morning.

Mountain Bluebonnets in Big Bend National Park

We had a wonderful time.  The temperatures in the area of Big Bend National Park were around 80 for highs with cool nights in the 40s.  In the next few days I will publish a few of the photographs that I created while there.  Primarily, I was in the bird photographing mode.  The migration was only beginning so we didn’t see as many birds as we had hoped.  But, I photographed birds that I hadn’t captured before, and we added several new birds to our 2012 list.

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher photographed at Rio Grande Village Campground, Big Bend National Park

As I said before, the migration wasn’t yet in full swing, but in the few days we were there we managed to see forty-five different species in the area.  Here is a full list that Ann compiled.

  1. Chihuahuan Raven   2
  2. Cactus Wren   3
  3. Lark Bunting   200+
  4. Loggerhead Shrike   2
  5. Black-throated Sparrow   18
  6. Northern Mockingbird   6
  7. House Finch   20
  8. Pyrrhuloxia   4
  9. Killdeer   1
  10. Western Meadowlark   6
  11. Eastern Phoebe   1
  12. Golden-fronted Woodpecker   2
  13. Sage Thrasher   4
  14. White-crowned Sparrow
  15. White-winged Dove   6
  16. Canyon Towhee   2
  17. House Sparrow   18
  18. Brown-headed Cowbird   10
  19. Brewer’s Blackbird   1
  20. Curve-billed Thrasher   3
  21. Gambel’s Quail   10
  22. Greater Roadrunner   2
  23. Northern Cardinal   6
  24. Great Blue Heron   1
  25. Pied-billed Grebe   2
  26. Verdin   1
  27. American Robin   1
  28. Chipping Sparrow   4
  29. Vesper Sparrow   6
  30. Say’s Phoebe   1
  31. Yellow-rumped Warbler   1
  32. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher   1
  33. Eurasian Colored Dove
  34. Spotted Towhee   2
  35. Brown Thrasher   1
  36. Hermit Thrush   2
  37. Scaled Quail   4
  38. Green-tailed Towhee   1
  39. Orange-crowned Warbler   1
  40. MacGillivray’s Warbler   1
  41. Phainopepla   1
  42. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
  43. Turkey Vulture   2
  44. Savannah Sparrow   6
  45. Red-tailed Hawk   3

Mountain Bluebonnets:  Canon EOS 7D with 100-400mm lens. 1/500 sec. @ f9, -0.3EV, ISO 125

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:  Canon EOS 7D with 500mm f4 lens and 1.4 tele-converter.  1/1000 sec. @ f11, -0.3EV, ISO 1000.