Images from Memorial Day Weekend

The weather has been pretty un-settled in Texas as most of you know.  Consequently, my forays into the field to get photographs have been limited the past several days.  However, what I did get, I think you will enjoy.

This first one is of a Franklin’s Gull that I captured at  the now partially full O. C. Fisher Reservoir.  Ann and I had driven out to check on the new water level.  Far in the distance, we saw some birds in the air.  They were so tiny that I couldn’t make out what they were.  I hand-held my Canon 7D MkII and Tamron 150-600mm lens as steady as I could.  I managed to get the auto-focus locked on.  I squeezed he shutter and got this and several other images.  At home in the computer I enlarged the image so I could see what it was.

Franklin’s Gull original photo from the camera, with a 600mm lens.  Before I took this shot, the bird was merely a dot with the naked eye.

Franklin’s Gull – heavily cropped image

I love my camera setup.

From other areas of San Angelo State Park, I got these photos.

Common Nighthawk

Northern Bobwhite

This morning we ventured out to Spring Creek Park, the site of severe damage from the storms that we have had.  It appears that there is still some unrest as the birds were not available in abundant numbers.  However, I did manage to the this nice image of a Bullock’s Oriole.

Bullock’s Oriole

I would like to mention that O. C. Fisher now has about 17,000 acre feet of water.  However, even though it now looks like a large lake, that is still only about 12% of what it could hold.  The capacity of the lake is 115,742 acre feet.

After the rains…….

You have probably noticed that I haven’t posted in nearly two weeks.  The weather has been damp, drizzly, and cool at times.  That didn’t bother me much, but it limited my visits to my favorite areas.  But the big news is, we have had in the past couple days around 5 inches of rain on the watersheds to our O. C. Fisher Reservoir.  The lake was a dry bed, and now in the last 48 hours has become a huge bodyof water with an elevation rise of 18 feet.  And the water is still flowing into it from the North Concho river that crested at 20 feet above flood stage yesterday, the highest rise since 1974.  I took a look at the lake yesterday afternoon, and it has the most water I have seen since 2007.  A long way to go to be completely full, but it is definitely a first step.  More rain is forecast for the following week.

So, I am going to just post the photographs that I have managed to get since the last edition, during short visits to various locations around the area.  I hope you enjoy, and click on any image to see enlargements.

Cactus Wren

Bullock’s Oriole

Blue Grosbeak

Painted Bunting

Pyrrhuloxia

Western Kingbird

Common Nighthawk

Vermilion Flycatcher

Bullock’s Oriole

Solitary Sandpiper

Cactus Wren

Brown-headed Cowbird

Cactus Wren

Common Nighthawk

Yellow Warbler

Bulock’s Oriole

Painted Bunting – female

Painted Bunting

Lark Sparrow

Bronzed Cowbird

Dickcissel

Vermilion Flycatcher – female

Another fun forty species day!

Note:  To get full enjoyment of viewing these eighteen photos, it is better to view this post on a computer or device where you can click the photos to see enlargements.

It’s always fun to go out and see a large number of species.  Along the gulf coast and down in the south Texas Rio Grande Valley, it is easy to do so, as birds fill the trees there.  However, out here in west Texas, we have to go on the hunt.  So on that note, Ann and I started out by checking out the owl’s nest at Spring Creek Park.  We failed to spot the owlets as they stay pretty much hidden down in the nest.  We did spot the male guardian in a nearby tree again.

Great Horned Owl

We didn’t spend too much time there but headed to San Angelo State Park.  We saw several more species and I got these images.

The Brown-headed Cowbird, like the infamous European Starling, is also a beautiful bird if you overlook it’s nasty reputation.

Brown-headed Cowbird

We spotted this female Northern Bobwhite in a small tree.  I think the wind blew up her skirt.

Northern Bobwhite – female

And then, of course, was this image of one of my favorite flycatchers.  He looks a little wind-blown, too.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Another flycatcher in large numbers during the summer months here in west Texas.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

From there we decided to head for the Twin Buttes Reservoir area.  The large lake is not large anymore.  The drought really took it’s toll.  In the park area, there are a few rutted areas where water is still standing from recent rains.  It was at one of these places where we found numerous birds having a real pool party, minus the hor’deurves.  We just parked nearby, turned off the engine, and just watched and waited and I was rewarded with numerous photo ops.

Blue Grosbeak

Painted Bunting

Painted Bunting – female

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Red-winged Blackbird

Bronzed Cowbird

Lark Sparrow

Killdeer- chick

Bullock’s Oriole

Then watching from the cheap seats in the trees were these spectators.

Bullock’s Oriole – male

House Finch

Summer Tanager – first spring male

Vermilion Flycatcher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Of course, these are just a portion of the birds that we saw.  I wish I could have photographed every specie that we observed, but of course that would be next to impossible.  For example, we saw a Yellow Warbler that would have made a nice image, but it stopped in a nearby shrub just for a few seconds, just long enough to start reaching for the camera, but gone before I could get it to my eye.

Ah, the fun of the hunt….

Before I start, I should mention that this post is best viewed on a computer or device where the photos can be clicked and enlarged.

Ann and I sometimes get tired of going to the bird blind at the San Angelo State Park.  No that it has no birds, but they are same ones that we see over and over on each visit.  The past couple of days we went a different way.  We did go to the park, but instead of visiting the blind, we just drove all of the different roads that lace this 7,000 acre area.  We saw many different species that we wouldn’t ordinarily see at the blind; the types that don’t frequent bird feeders.  Here are a few images from that visit.

Scaled Quail

Black-throated Sparrow

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Western Kingbird

We saw several other species, of course, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get photographs of them all.  But after leaving the park, we continued with our adventure by going to a favorite spot of ours near Twin Buttes Reservoir.

Now, fishermen always have their favorite fishing holes that they call their honey holes.  Well, this place that we favor going to is our birding honey hole.  Guaranteed that we will see a variety of birds.  That is except for one thing.  This place in nothing but a large mud hole.  After rains, it is filled with water, but it takes several days for the water to dry up or evaporate.  It is several inches deep, thanks to the adult children that like to take their pickup trucks and play in it.  You know what I mean.

So this day it was rather large, about 25 feet long and about 15 feet wide.  There are three or four trees that surround it.  We parked in a good position, about eight feet away, so I could observe and photograph from my driver’s side window.  Voila!  My mobile bird blind.  We turned off the engine and waited.

The first we noticed was an adult Killdeer.  She was carefully watching over her chicks.  I was able to photograph the chicks from only about seven feet away.

Killdeer – adult

The chicks are only about five inches tall, long legs and big eyes.  Real cuties.

Killdeer – chick

Killdeer -chick

Then other birds started to arrive.

Blue Grosbeak

The bright background on the Grosbeak image gave me fits, but these others gave me no problems.

Lark Bunting

Vermilion Flycatcher

Bullock’s Oriole

White-crowned Sparrow ponders taking a drink.

Vermilion Flycatcher

This above Vermilion Flycatcher was only about five feet away, on a branch near my car window.

Finally, when heading for home, we decided to check out the old K-Mart creek, a water-filled bar ditch near the location near location of that now missing store.  We saw a couple of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, but they flew before I could get photographs.  However, this Green Heron was content to stay feeding in the water.

Green Heron

We called it nice day for hunting.  We netted a total of 36 species, and had a fun time.