Friday we decided to make the rounds of some our favorite local spots again. We saw around 30 species so the birding is getting back to normal, despite not having many duck species yet. I did get some nice photos that I will post here for your enjoyment.
The Red-tailed Hawk was very co-0perative, probably had just eaten so he posed readily for me about 30 feet off the ground.
Red-tailed Hawk
This Ladder-backed Woodpecker, actually was hanging beneathe limb, but I decided to rotate it for better viewing. It still looks very natural.
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
This photo below is a young Great Horned Owl. I was surprised that he was so wide awake and alert. He was definitely staring me down. Love those eyes.
Great Horned Owl
On another note, we heard that there was a Sora, a water bird, in a pond at San Angelo State Park. We had been told that if we couldn’t see it in the reeds, we should clap our hands and it would answer. So we decided to give it a shot and drove out there. We didn’t see the bird, but decided to try the clapping thing. Sure enough on about the third attempt, this loud clapping came from the reeds. It was very unmistakable. Here is a photo of a Sora that I took a couple of years ago at Big Bend National Park.
Sora
Click on any photo to see an enlargement.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 