Weekend of the Merganzers

I am finishing up the year of 2013 with a few miscellaneous photos from the past weekend.  We hadn’t seen any of the merganzer species in several months.  Of course, we wouldn’t see them during the summer anyway, but it is later than usual, what with it being  just a couple of days away from the New Year Holiday.

Yesterday we ventured out to our usual haunts at the Middle Concho and Spring Creek parks.  Actually we have been seeing several birds lately, but what surprised us yesterday was that as I was taking a long look at a bunch of Northern Shovelers, I notice that one of them looked out of place.  Upon further review thru my long lens, I realized that it was a Common Merganzer swimming right along with the Shovelers, like he belonged to the family.

Common Merganzer

This morning, Monday, I had a check-up with my doctor, and on the way home we drove along the Concho River.  There we saw a couple of Hooded Merganzers.  I got out of the car and ventured down along the river bank and managed to get one decent shot.

Hooded Merganzer

Although the Merganzers were the highlight of the weekend, we did see some more of our favorites, the Great Blue Heron.  I have a hard time resisting photographing them when the opportunities arise.  This one was no exception and I took two while he was just spending time on a tree log.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Enjoy the photos, and click on any of them to see enlargements.  I wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2014.

‘Twas the day after Christmas……

And my true love said to me……  “Hey, lets go birding.”  Actually, we went birding Christmas Day, too, but didn’t spend much time.  The nice thing that we discovered was, hey, the winter birds are showing up.  Finally.  We had begun to think that they had by-passed San Angelo and the Concho Valley.

Today, we only spent two hours and twenty minutes.  But in that short period we saw 42 species.  It started immediately when we left the house, spotting a Blue Jay in a tree in our own yard, then see a Wilson’s Snipe in a wet area just a block from home.

We kept on going, heading for Middle Concho Park, then after that heading over to Spring Creek Park.  It seemed that there were birds everywhere.  That 42 total could have been higher, because there were a few that we saw yesterday that we didn’t see today.  Our personal record for birds seen in one day is 44, so we came close to breaking it.

Here are photographic highlights.

Bewick’s Wren

The above photo of the Bewick’s wren was captured yesterday.

Eastern Phoebe

I think this is the best photo of an Eastern Phoebe that I have ever gotten.  I was able to get pretty close.

Great Horned Owl

This Great Horned Owl never did open his eyes, during the fifteen minutes trying to get his photo.  I can’t blame him, it was a gorgeous day, sunny and no wind.

Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-tailed Hawk was about 250 yards away across the river.  Almost out of range but I was able to get this image.  I had to crop it extensively to get this much.

Redhead – female

We spotted this female Redhead duck, but didn’t see the male anywhere.  Nice looking duck, but not as pretty as the male.  But that is the case of most ducks.

Here is a complete list of the birds we saw this December 26, 2013.

1. Wilson’s Snipe
2. Northern Mockingbird
3. White-winged Dove
4. Blue Jay
5. Inca Dove
6. American Coot
7. Pyrrhuloxia
8. Great Blue Heron
9. House Finch
10. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
11. Northern Shoveler
12. Eared Grebe
13. Double-crested Cormorant
14. Western Meadowlark
15. European Starling
16. Black Vulture
17. Great Egret
18. Eastern Phoebe
19. Mallard
20. Pied-billed Grebe
21. Bufflehead
22. Eastern Bluebird
23. Vermilion Flycatcher
24. Spotted Sandpiper
25. Great-tailed Grackle
26. Yellow-rumped Warbler
27. Northen Harrier
28. Red-tailed Haek
29. Ring-billed Gull
30. Gadwall
31. Killdeer
32. Belted Kingfisher
33. Osprey
34. Northern Cardinal
35. Great Horned Owl
36. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
37. Green-winged Teal
38. White-crowned Sparrow
39. Black-crested Titmouse
40. House Sparrow
41. Mute Swan
42. Redhead

They don’t get no respect……

They are the Rodney Dangerfields of the avian world.  For you youngsters, Rodney Dangerfield was a stand-up comic who’s seemingly ongoing rants were about him not getting respect from anybody, including his wife.

Anyway, I am talking about the two species of cowbirds that are found in our area here in the Concho Valley.  They lie, cheat, steal, and do just about anything they can get away with.  They especially lay their young in other species nests, so they will have surrogate mothers.  So with all that, they wonder why they don’t get any respect from us.

However, after having said that, I feel that they, in their own right, are very attractive birds.  I am a birder and a bird photographer.  I present you with these images to see if you might agree with me.  First up is the Brown-headed Cowbird.  He (or she) has the worse reputation.  I usually don’t even try to get good photos of one.  (See, I don’t respect them either.)  But I did relent in a weak moment and got this photo.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Now I must admit, that the other bird of the species, the Bronzed Cowbird might be my favorite of the two.  They are difficult to photograph because of their dark colors, and so I love the challenge.  I might even say that I think they are beautiful.  I love those flashing bright eyes.  I have a weakness for beautiful eyes.  Let’s see what you think after looking at the next two photos.

Bronzed Cowbird

Bronzed Cowbird

I hope you enjoyed these photos.  Let’s show a little respect and give a big hand to these ill-treated birds.  Click on either of them to see some enlargements.

Snowy Egret and Blue Heron

Today the water was still standing in the parks from overnight rains when we decided to see what was around and about.  We drove thru Middle Concho Park and detoured around several areas of soggy ground.  I didn’t want to get stuck because Ann doesn’t like to get out and push.  🙂

Snowy and Great Egrets

Our highlight today was coming across a Snowy Egret.  It was on a large tree limb that extended out over the water.  On the same limb a Great Egret peered at the water.  In the photo, you can see the vast difference in size.  The little Snowy is about 24 inches in height compared to the 39 inches of the Great Egret.  The Snowy is somewhat rare around here, not being seen every year.

Snowy Egret backlit by the morning sun.

Of course, I saw another irresistible opportunity to photograph another Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Enjoy the photos and click on any of them to see enlargements.

Blue Heron, Egret, and new lifer

This morning was mild but quite windy.  Wanting to get out of the house and do a little birding, Ann and I headed to Middle Concho Park.  With the winds, many of the smaller birds were hunkered down and out of sight.  However, as we entered the park, something caught my eye in the water to my left.  At first I thought it was a Doubled-crested Cormorant, but did a double-take when I noticed  a quite larger bill, and the head didn’t look familiar.  I knew that whatever it was, I knew I had never seen one before.  I told Ann that I was going to chase it down and try to get photos.

It had started swimming away from us, farther down this long inlet that eventually emptied into the river.  It bordered a Disc Golf Course.  Nobody was there, so I drove the car across the course to the water and drove along the shore.  The creature was making good time, occasionally diving under the water then coming up another 100 yards farther down.  I was finally able to catch up and was able to prop my 500mm lens on the window and get some shots.  We were then able to check the image in the camera with our Stokes guide and found that it was a Common Loon.  It is rare to our San Angelo area and it turned out to be lifer number 264 for me.

Common Loon

Driving farther along that same body of water, we then saw this Great Blue Heron doing some hunting.  It was completely oblivious of me as I slowly drove my car up within 25 feet of it.  I again used my 500mm lens with a 1.4. teleconverter and it was almost too much lens.  The photo below is full framed un-cropped except a little from the sides for size.  I love the detail of the feathers.  Give credit to the outstanding Canon L series lenses.

Portrait of a Great Blue Heron.

Later we also saw this graceful Great Egret doing a little searching for prey.

Great Egret

It was a fun morning, getting to photograph two of my favorite birds and also getting another addition to my life list.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Two for One

It is unusual to see two rarities in a day.  Saturday was one of those days.  The Johnsons from Eldorado told us of the three Snow Geese that were hanging around the water treatment ponds there.  We ran down there to check them out.  Lo and behold, not only did we see the geese, but discovered that there was only one Snow Goose.  The other two were Ross’s Geese.  Both species are rare to this area.  Here is one of the photos that I obtained while there.

Snow Goose, leading two Ross’s Geese.

The Ross’s Goose is another lifer for our list.

More Great Blue Herons

Because of cold temperatures, I have been reluctant to do much birding.  Not a good thing for a guy that loves to photograph birds.  So I need to get off of my lazy butt and get out soon.  Maybe this afternoon.

In the meantime, I realized that I hadn’t posted anything lately, so this morning I dug into the archives.  I discovered that I have hundreds of Great Blue Heron photos.  Some I may have published in the past, and a few that I don’t think you have seen.  So just for funsies, here are a few for your enjoyment.  Click any image to see an enlargement.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron with catch of the day.

Great Blue Heron in flight.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron
mating dance

Great Blue Heron pair

Great Blue Heron with snake.

‘Tis the season for Warblers

Oh, the weather outside is…….nasty.  And getting colder by the minute as you can see by the snow falling on this blog.  Yes, a Siberian Clipper, or what is best known around these parts as a Blue Norther is going to come whistlin’ in.  I don’t think there is anything between San Angelo and the Canadian border except a snow fence.  And I’ll bet a dollar it is laying on the ground.

So, what about those warblers.  I don’t think I have ever written a post about them.  At least not collectively, anyway.  We have a few that winter around here, and I thought you might like to see some pictures of each.  So, not in any particular order I present………

Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is probably the most seen here in the San Angelo area.

Black and White Warbler

A neat story about the Black and White Warbler.  What an original name.  Anyway, I was at the bird blind at San Angelo State Park, sitting there watching to see what birds might fly in.  Suddenly, the Black and White flew in, perched on that twig.  Fifteen seconds later it was gone.  I had never seen one before, and I have never seen one since.  It is a very rare bird around here, and I was at the right place at the right time.

MacGillivray’s Warbler

The MacGillivray’s Warbler is very similar to the Nashville Warbler pictured below.  But check the eye.  The MacGillivray’s has the barred eye.

Nashville Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Without that black cap on the Wilson’s Warbler, it would be confused with the Yellow Warbler pictured below.

Yellow Warbler

I hope you enjoyed these photos.  Click on any of them to see some enlargements.

Long-tailed Duck – another lifer

As I mentioned in a recent blog, I often get calls telling me of new discoveries.  Yesterday I received an e-mail from Suzanne Johnson down in Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo, informing us that a Long-tailed Duck was making a stop-over.  It is a bird that usually winters on either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, then spends the rest of the year in the far north.  Ann and I hopped into the car and headed that way this morning, as it is a bird that neither of us had ever seen before.  It took a bit of patience and searching but we saw it at the waste water ponds outside of town.

Again, I got lucky.  We searched for about 30 minutes, and as I was about to give up, I saw a bird splash down in the water.  I zipped my big lens around just in time to get it in focus.  It was my bird, i.e., the Long-tailed Duck.  It was windy, the water a bit choppy as the ponds are large, but I managed to get a couple of images of it.  Not great photos, but good enough to prove the Identification..

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck accompanied by a couple of Eared Grebes.

We then came home after seeing about 15 other species in the ponds.  Later this afternoon, I got a call from friends in Eola, about 25 miles west, to come over and shoot photos of their cotton harvest.  Since they were half-way finished and cold weather on the way I though I would get over there and get the job done.

Cotton fields surround home on west Texas farm.

If the above photo was an aerial view, you would see that the home is surrounded by a sea of cotton fields.

Modules of compressed cotton harvested on cotton farm.

Pictured are 19 modules of compressed cotton, freshly harvested.  14 are full, 5 are nearly finished.  Each the size of a school bus.  And they are only half finished.  Looks like a good harvest.  (The modules appear shorter because of the long telephoto lens I was using.)

On the way home from that project, we spotted this Merlin atop a warning sign.  I barely had time to get the camera off of my lap and grab a shot, before it took off.

Merlin

The Long-tailed Duck is number 262 on my life list if any of you are interested.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.  By the way, the WARNING sign is for buried cable in the area.

Ladder-backed, Ladder-backed……..

Sounds like the beginning of a 60s rock’n’roll song.  Anyway, I found a few more images of the Ladder-backed Woodpecker when I was perusing my archives.  These are all male of the species.  I don’t know if you have seen them previously.  I do know that a couple of them had never been published before.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker in the branches.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker