01 | March | 2016 | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

To a birder, a lifer is a bird that has seen for the very first time. Hence, we saw a White-throated Sparrow on the 29th of February, for our first time. It was at Spring Creek Park, scratching in the grass. It was that it was all alone that got our attention to check it out. It is a rare bird here, but not unusual to see on on ocassion. Anyway, it brings my life list total to 286. The photo isn’t really great. As you can see, it was right at the edge of shade and bright sunshine. That makes for difficult exposures. But what a great start to a fun couple of days birding.

White-throated Sparrow

As we drove through the park we spotted two photographers, both with the requisite camo clothes, tripods, and huge lenses. Like I used to have. They had out-of-state plates on their car. Anyway, they had flushed that female Great Horned Owl off of it’s nest and it was resting high in a tree. I stopped, got my little ‘ole 150-600mm lens out and nailed a great shot as it thankfully headed back to it’s nest. I hand-held the camera and I was dressed in plain old clothes.

female Great Horned Owl heading to the nest.

I think those two guys were part of a huge bunch that was harassing the owl on Sunday afternoon. That group was headed up by the Mr. Doe that was instrumental in saying that I harassed wildlife by sharing the info to knowledgeable birders. Well, ’nuff said about that.

We continued on through Spring Creek Park then headed to the Middle Concho Park that is located just across the water, but since there is no bridge, it is about an eight mile drive around to get to it.

Here are a few more images from around that area. Click on any image in this post to see some very nice enlargements.

First, is this little Pied-billed Grebe. They just swim around, occasionally diving under the water for something and usually coming up with nothing. But what the heck…..they look like they are smiling and happy.

Pied-billed Grebe

This Roadrunner was along the road, (where else?), looking for tidbits for lunch. Since the little ground squirrels are coming out of hibernation, he should be able to start eating better very soon. 🙂

Greater Roadrunner

Can you take another owl? This is the male that is supposed to guarding the nest where the previous female resides, sitting on the eggs. He looks bored. Wonder if he will make it another month or so.

Great Horned Owl – male

A lot of these Meadowlarks hanging around now. There are usually a few European Starlings tagging along.

Eastern Meadowlark

There are also a lot of these Yellow-rumped Warblers here, too. They will be leaving in mid-May, to return in October to spend the winter.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Sapsuckers can confuse a lot of people. They look like the average woodpecker. They used to confuse me, too, until I started to look for that white ‘stripe’ down the side of their feathers.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Let’s finish up with one of favorites. I love photographing herons. This is the same juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron from my previous post. He has found a home across the water from Spring Creek Park. Always about 200 yards away. I imagine that his adult parent is watching from another hidden spot. This time he was more in the open, aiding me in getting a better image.