Happy Fourth of July

I am wishing everybody a happy and safe July 4th weekend.  Ann and I have been here and there since my last post, several days ago.  But, not to worry, we saw many of the avian species and I obtained a nice collection of photographs.  During that time we were invited to Stephen and Nakia’s place in the Davis Mountains.  They have several acres at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.  They have set up a nice birding area.  He had a portable blind, but I preferred my more comfortable mobile blind, AKA, my Ford Escape.  I was able to position it for nice observation and photo shooting.   I will show you a few of those images first.  Please click on any image to see a nice enlargement of each.

This photo will fool you.  It is a juvenile Curve-billed Thrasher.  Probably a first year, it hasn’t developed the long, curved bill or the bright orange eye of an adult.

CORRECTION:  It has been brought to my attention by one of my readers, that it is actually a female Brown-headed Cowbird.  I should have been more careful in checking the identification.  There are similarities but the main difference is the size of the bill.  A juvenile Curve-billed Thrasher would have been shorter, but much thinner.

Brown-headed Cowbird – female

I love the little White-breasted Nuthatches, but they are dizzying to watch, as sometimes they are going up and other time going down head-first.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Identifying some of the flycatchers are difficult for me.  At first I thought this was an Ash-throated Flycatcher, but after seeking further advice, it was decided otherwise to be a Western Wood-Pewee.

Western Wood-Pewee

In this photo of an Ash-throated Flycatcher, you can see the differences.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

A noisy, feisth Black-crested Titmouse made it’s presence known.

Black-crested Titmouse

The hummingbirds had arrived in the mountains and I caught this female Black-chinned in flight.

Black-chinned Hummingbird – female

We loved being in the mountains, but we were only able to spend one day there, because of commitments back home.  After taking care of those on our return, we spent time locally and captured more photos.

Bullock’s Oriole captured near Twin Buttes Reservoir, as were the following Eastern Phoebe and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Bullock’s Oriole

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Driving downtown near the Concho River, we saw this Green Heron on the other side of the water atop a dead tree.

Green Heron in tree

Out at San Angelo State Park, we saw these two birds, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the ever popular Greater Roadrunner.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Greater Roadrunner

I hope you all enjoyed this collection.  I will be back sometime after the holiday.

 

Happy birding!!

Surprising San Angelo State Park

Back in about 2007 the water was high in O.C. Fisher Reservoir at the park.  Mesquite, cactus, and other trees and plants were in abundance.  There was plenty of fish in the lake and the park was healthy.  All species of wildlife thrived.  A person could go out there to go birding or to photograph that wildlife with great success.  It was nothing to see an osprey or a hawk on any given visit.

Then the great drought hit the area.  It has been only a couple of years or so ago that the lake was bone dry.  Not a drop of water to be seen.  You could walk across the lake without getting your feet damp.  Then it was decided to destroy most of the mesquite and underbrush.  That was done with several controlled burns.  The park took on the image of a burned-out forest fire.

Then several months ago, we were blessed with a deluge.  Huge amounts of rain fell on the North Concho River watershed, and the lake, in days, got back to the level of 2007, and perhaps a bit more.  We are now getting some more periodic rainfalls and the park is coming back.  Everything is looking much greener.  Of course, it will be much longer for the fish to return in large amounts, but the birds and wildlife is making a great comeback.  And that is what this post is all about.

Ann and I spent the past couple of days there checking out the birds.  Yesterday, we saw 44 different species of birds, and we didn’t even stop at the bird blind.  We probably could have added a few more there.  We just took a very leisure drive throught the south section of the park.  Here are a few images from that drive.  As always, click on any image to see beautiful enlargements, especially if you are reading this on a computer.

Driving near the area where the ‘buffalo roam’, in other words the fenced off part of the park where the bison are kept, we were surprised to see a couple of Cattle Egrets meandering near the animals.  This specie is not around every year, but I love their plummage.

Cattle Egret

The Bobwhites were calling and we could hear one nearly every part of the park we visited.  this one was in a nearby tree.

Northern Bobwhite

A Pyrrhuloxia quietly watching over the area.

Pyrrhuloxia

A Curve-billed Thrasher.

Curve-billed Thrasher

This Greater Roadrunner was calling, perhaps for a mate.  First time I had come across one making any kind of a sound.

Greater Roadrunner

In another area we were surprised by four Yellow-headed Blackbirds.  Another specie that we hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  During migration it not unusual to come up with some surprises.  They were deep in the grass so photographing them was difficult.  Here is one of the better images.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Driving towards the boat ramp, actually the only one of more than a dozen that is actually near the water, we spotted this Killdeer in the parking lot.  We discovered that it was sitting on two eggs.  This bird is peculiar in that it doesn’t use a nest per se.  It just picks a spot on the ground, usually a gravel surface, and drops the eggs there.

Killdeer sitting on two eggs.

And speaking of eggs and young birds, we have been returning to Spring Creek Park periodically to check on the offspring of a Great Horned Owl.  Here is my latest photo, taken two days ago.  It appears to be around four weeks old in my humble opinion.  As you can see it is standing on the nest.  It’s ears are beginning to shape up.  It won’t be long before it ventures out farther on a tree limb.

Great Horned Owlet

That’s it for this post.  Try to make it out to San Angelo State Park soon, and you may see some of these 44 species that Ann and I saw yesterday:

• White-winged Dove
• Blue Jay
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Northern Mockingbird
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Mourning Dove
• Cactus Wren
• Pyrrhuloxia
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker
• Barn Swallow
• Canyon Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Ash-throated Flycatcher
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• House Sparrow
• Northern Bobwhite
• Vesper Sparrow
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Killdeer
• Ring-billed Gull
• Spotted Sandpiper
• American Coot
• Gadwall
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-winged Blackbird
• House Finch
• Lark Sparrow
• American Pippet
• Common Raven
• Great Horned Owl
• Curve-billed Thrasher
• Turkey Vulture
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Black Vulture
• European Starling
• Chipping Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• Greater Roadrunner
• Black-throated Sparrow
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Bewick’s Wren
• Black-crested Titmouse

 

 

 

More Recent Random Images

Sorry to say that nothing exciting has happened the past few days, but we are getting settled in after our Big Bend trip.  I have been busy editing some of those pictures and trying to keep up with other blogs that I follow.

One of my many favorite blogs is Jo Woolf’s Journal.  She lives in Scotland with her husband, Colin, and they have been showing the great landscapes from Skye.  The mountains and cliffs along the ocean remind me of the landscape of the Big Bend here in west Texas.  The only difference is that the cliffs at Skye are along the ocean, whereas as here they are surrounded by desert.  Also, Colin is a fantastic water-color artist.  Click here to see his stunning wildlife art.

Mountains in the Mist – Big Bend National Park

While editing some of my Big Bend trip photos I came across a couple more images hopefully for your enjoyment.  How about another shot of the Scaled Quail.

Scaled Quail – hiding in plain sight.

These Curve-billed Thrashers are always fun to photograph, too.  I love their fierce expressions.

Curve-billed Thrasher on wire fence.

I have been keeping up with the Great Blue Heron nest downtown along our Concho River.  The kids are growing up.  If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I published a photo of the nest, and you could only see the head of one of the chicks above the nest.  Here what they looked like yesterday.

Great Blue Heron with chicks

We took a short drive to Middle Concho Park and came away with this shot of a Bullock’s Oriole.  They are quite plentiful around here now, but very elusive when trying to photograph them.

Bullock’s Oriole on mesquite limb.

I hope you enjoyed my photography again.  Click on any of the images to see an enlargement.

Little Blue Heron – a lifer

First of all, as I like to do occasionally, is  to bring attention to other nature artists that impress me.  Lyndi Simms is one of those and her work is stunning.  Check out her work by clicking HERE.

Okay, when Ann and I were out hooting for the owls last week we had another experience.  Glancing towards the river, we saw a flash of blue out of the corner of our eyes.  We looked to see what had distracted us, thinking maybe we were spotting a Great Blue Heron.  But what a surprise, when we discovered that it was actually a Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), a smaller relative.  They are in fact about 18 inches smaller than the Great Blue.  They are permanent residents to the gulf coast, but summer throughout the southern states.  They are very rare to this west Texas area where I live, and this is the first one I have ever seen.  Number 254 to my life list.  Click on either image to see an enlargement.

Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

One more bird that I don’t want to forget to mention is this Bronzed Cowbird, (Molothrus aeneus).  They summer mostly to the southwest of San Angelo, but a few do make it into the area.  Difficult to photograph because of the black, glossy feathers, but if successful,  the bluish feathers really pop.  This one I got lucky with when it was hopping in the grass nearby.  Ya gotta love that red eye, too.

Bronzed Cowbird

Here is a reminder to my new and older readers.  If you will click on “sign me up”, in the upper right of this page, below all of my copyright fine print, you will receive an e-mail whenever I publish a new post.  That way you will never miss any of my narratives or nonsense.  🙂

Green Herons have arrived…..

The Green Herons have been arriving in the San Angelo, Texas area for their annual summer stay.  On Friday, while I spent most of the time photographing those Great Horned Owls, I did spot a Green Heron sitting on a dead tree branch overhanging the river at Spring Creek Park.

The Green Heron, (Butorides virescens), is relatively small as herons go.  They are only about 19 inches tall.  These photos are of an adult with breeding plumage.

I was amazed at how I was able to get close to him.  Of course, he was pretty intent on staring at the water in search of some tasty morsel.  I got the following two shots of him there.  Click on any of the seven photos to see some incredible enlargements.

Green Heron

Green Heron

On Saturday morning we drove downtown to check out the Great Blue Heron nests along the Concho River.  Although we observed three chicks on those nests, the conditions weren’t good for usable photos.  I will be back there in a few days.  However we did see another Green Heron along the opposite bank doing a little fishing.  Here are the results of his endeavors.

On the hunt……

I see you…….

dive! dive! dive!……

Gotcha!! Two for one…..

Okay, my belly’s full. Now where is that eagle I am supposed to rassle??

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  I would enjoy reading comments from any of you.

Happy Blue Heron Parents

This morning early, I drove downtown to where the Concho River flows through the Santa Fe Park.  Along the bank of the river is a dead tree that hangs out over the water.  There are two Great Blue Heron nests near the top.  At least one of them has a new-born in it.  Since they are about 20 feet above me in elevation, it is difficult to actually see into them.  The skies were overcast and cloudy, and the lighting was excellent.  No harsh shadows to worry about.  The adults were coming and going, but I got this shot of both of them, plus the head of the tiny chick sticking up a bit.  I was about twenty feet away from the base of the tree, and up a small slope.

A happy family of Great Blue Herons.

I hope you enjoyed the shot.  Click on it to see an enlargement.

GBH on the hunt

Forgive the short post, but I spotted this Great Blue Heron hunting for prey along the banks of the Concho River yesterday.

On the hunt….

On the hunt…..

Diving….

Gotcha!!!

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Red-tailed Hawk taking a bath

I have seen some peculiar things when trying to photograph the behavior of wildlife.  Last week, when driving along the Concho River, I happened to look across at the opposite shore.  I saw something that took me by surprise.  A Red-tailed Hawk was just sitting in the shallow water.  I didn’t see any prey that he might have been eating.  He was there several minutes and I had plenty of time to maneuver my car so I could get this shot out the driver’s side window.  He was about 100 yards away so I used my 500mm and 1.4 tele-converter on my Canon 7D.  I still had to crop it extensively to make this closeup.

Red-tailed Hawk bathing in Concho River.

Farther along the river, I spotted this Great Blue Heron.  He was standing on some dead wood above the surface of the water.  I love this pose.

Great Blue Heron

On the way home we spotted four Curve-billed Thrashers.  In this photo you can see the ferocity in the eyes.  But for such a fierce looking bird. their call is pretty meek sounding.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Click on any photo to see an enlargement.

Black-crowned Night Herons

I was driving through the park one day.

In the merry, merry month of May.

I was taken by surprise,

By a pair of roguish eyes.

In the merry, merry month of May. 🙂

Actually, I was driving through our downtown city park on the Concho River.  I had just finished photographing some young Great Blue Heron chicks on their nest.  I happened to glance across the river, and there was this (here it comes) pair of roguish eyes of a Black-crowned Night Heron looking at me.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Here it is sitting in the tree branches contemplating this beautiful day in May.

Black-crowned Night Heron

He gets alerted to something.  He stands up on the tree branch and looks around. (with those roguish eyes, of course.)

Black-crowned Night Heron

Whatever has distracted him has made him restless, and he decided to fly away on a lovely day in the merry, merry month of May.

Photographed with my Canon EOS 7D and 500mm lens with a 1.4 tele-converter, tripod mounted.  Exposure about 1/1250 sec. @f6.3, -0.3EV, ISO 160.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

At Home with The Herons

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Concho River runs through downtown

Adult Great Blue Heron

San Angelo, Texas.  My hometown.  It is a pretty area along the river, but I think I mentioned that before, too.  So I won’t expound on that any more for awhile.  But there is, I could say, a rookery along the river for the Great Blue Herons.  I don’t know what constitutes a rookery, but there are three breeding pairs of the herons there, on different nests, of course.  As far as I have been able to tell, two nests have four young ones, and the other on the opposite of the river has two.

So a couple of days ago, I decided to go down and document the family life of these great birds.  This is a small collection of images, taken from the three nests.  I parked on the drive near the 9-hole golf course and got out of my car with my Canon EOS 7D and 100-400mm zoom lens.  It was a perfect combination for the two nests on the near side of the river.  I could stand on the river bank below, as the birds were only about twenty feet above me and hanging out over the water slightly.

“When do we eat, Ma?” Adult Great Blue Heron with children.

“Gotta get groceries for the kids.”

For the nest that was on the other side of the river, I mounted the camera with my 500mm f4 lens on a tripod.  The distance to that nest was, in my estimation about 150 yards.  With the 1.4 tele-converter on the lens it was an easy shot.  You can tell these images, as that nest was surrounded by leaves and foliage.  The other two shots were of the nearby nests on a dead tree.

Young Great Blue Heron on nest.

Nevertheless, I still had to do some close cropping with those faraway shots, but, as you can see, my camera setup done a magnificent job.

“Mother and Son”

In a few days, I think the young ones will be ready to fledge, or fly and leave the nests.  I will check on them again and hope that I can be there when they do.  It would be a great experience.

Disclaimer:  The photo of the heron in flight was taken on a previous occasion.  I tossed it in to add to the story. 🙂  Click on any image to see an enlargement.