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.