Hot Diggety!! Migration is starting!!

Okay, I might be rushing the season, but with the storm Saturday dropping an average of two inches and the temps dropping into the low nineties and even upper eighties, you can’t blame me for getting excited.  And, right on time, a Yellow Warbler showed up at the bird blind in San Angelo State Park.  I got this photo, which isn’t a very good one because it took me by surprise, and I had a camera in one hand and a breakfast burrito in the other.  It didn’t stay around, so I didn’t get a second chance.  It isn’t as sharp as I would like, but at least, you can tell what it is.

Yellow Warbler

Because of the heat, birding was not very good.  Still, during a few limited short trips out I did get a few images last week.  Please click any image to see some very nice enlargements.

A trip to the Hummer House down near Christoval, netted me a couple good photos of a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Back in San Angelo, we went to San Angelo State Park, early one morning.  We stopped at the blind there first and this Curve-billed Thrasher obliged us by making a brief stop.  The light was still a little low but I think my Canon 7D Mark II handled it nicely.

Curve-billed Thrasher

The following morning, we returned to to just take a meandering drive through all of the roads that interlace the park.  It is great fun doing that, as we never know what we will come across.

Cactus Wren

There were still numerous Scissor-tailed Flycatchers hanging around.  Because of the shorter tail, I believe this one is a young one.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – juvenile

Before heading home we saw this perched Common Nighthawk, not fully awake yet.

Common Nighthawk

I guess that’s all for this post. I hope to get in more birding in the following days, now that the temperatures are more tolerable, both to me and the birds.

Oh, one more thing.  I have my 2017 Calendars in now.  More beautiful than before.  Twenty bucks plus mailing will get you one.  E-mail me at bobzeller@pobox.com if interested.

You can see more of my photos at http://bobzellerphotography.smugmug.com

Just a few birds………..

Monday morning was getting warm but there was a thin layer of high cloudiness.  With the diffused sunlight, I thought I would venture out to the San Angelo State Park to see what I might find to photograph.  Ann was doing the laundry and housecleaning and preferred that I was somewhere else anyway.

Arriving at the park, I decided on going to the bird blind first.  If a person is going to sit in there very long, it is best to do it early as it warms very fast these days.  However, when I got there I was very disappointed.  The grass and weeds were more than two feet deep.  The pond was covered in algae.  There was no trace of anything in the feeders.  I scrounged in the bin, and found only a handful of seed that I could scrape off the bottom.  I put that meager amount out in hopes of attracting a few birds.  It is obvious to me that the park personnel have no desire to maintain the place anymore.  The “Friends of San Angelo State Park”, seem to be directing their efforts elsewhere.  I don’t understand this, as birding is one of the largest growing hobbies in the state now.

Enough of my rant.  I sat there long enough to get a photos of a Northern Cardinal and a House Sparrow.  In it it’s own way, the sparrow is a very pretty bird.  Of course, I can’t say enough about the cardinal.

House Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

I also saw, while sitting there, numerous White-winged Doves, a couple of Black-crested Titmouses, and a Curve-billed Thrasher.  There were a couple of Bobwhites calling in the distance, too.

I decided to take a drive thru the park then, only to find that the birding was a bit sparse there, too.  Probably a combination of the heat and scarcity of water.  However, I did spot a Greater Roadrunner that I was able to photograph.

Greater Roadrunner

Early fall migration is right around the corner.  Beginning in late August, we might start to see some birds coming back from their journeys elsewhere.  Enjoy the photos, and click on any of them to see enlargements.

Don’t forget, Part IV of my music journey, will be published this coming weekend.  The plot thickens…………….

Our Birding Honey Hole

First, it should be explained that in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, honey hole is defined as slang for a location that yields large quantities of valued commodities.  Quite often it is applied to great personal fishing spots.  In our case, it is a hot spot for birds.  We discovered it several days ago near Twin Buttes Reservoir near a park area.  It is nothing more than a puddle of standing water, about 50 feet by 15 feet, surrounded by about five Mesquite trees.  Until it dries up, which will happen in a few days under this hot Texas sun unless we get more showers to fill it up again, it will be our little birding mecca.

Ann and I, after getting some yard chores done, decided to run over there this morning, which is only a couple of miles from our house.  We spent one hour and thirty-five minutes.  We just parked about twenty feet from the puddle/pond, turned the engine off and just watched from the car.  I had my Canon 7D with a 500mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter at the ready.  We weren’t disappointed.  In that short period we saw and ID’d nineteen species, saw another that we couldn’t identify, then also heard a Common Nighthawk and a Northern Bobwhite.  A total of 21 identifiable.  Here are a few photos from our little trip.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Painted Bunting – female

There were several Bullock’s Orioles and one female was foraging in the bark of a mesquite for grubs.  This sequence of photos shows her success.

Bullock’s Oriole – female, searching for grubs.

Gotcha!!!

Mmm Good!!!

Here is a list of all 21 species that we encountered this morning in and hour and thirty-five minutes.

1. Vermilion Flycatcher
2. Canyon Towhee
3. Bullock’s Oriole
4. House Sparrow
5. Ash-throated Flycatcher
6. Curve-billed Thrasher
7. Northern Mockingbird
8. Black-throated Sparrow
9. Painted Bunting
10. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
11. Greater Roadrunner
12. Brown-headed Cowbird
13. Northern Cardinal
14. House Finch
15. Northern Bobwhite – heard
16. White-winged Dove
17. Pyrrhuloxia
18. Common Nighthawk – heard
19. Red-winged Blackbird
20. Lark Sparrow
21. Killdeer

We also saw an un-identified bird splashing in the water, that bore resemblance to a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but it was too wet and scrubby looking to make a definite ID.  Hope you enjoyed the photos.  Click on any of them to see enlargements.

Blustery day images……

It is nice to have rain here in west Texas, but I would love to have it in larger amounts.  I know that sounds selfish, but these little sprinkles we have today, along with the cool temps and blustery winds, don’t do much to ease our drought.  We need some big gully-washers.

Great Blue Heron chicks on nest.

Nevertheless, I did get out a little today.  First I stopped at the Shannon Clinic to get an innoculation, then while downtown, checked on the young ones on the Great Blue Heron nest.  The chicks are getting larger, but staying near the nest so they are available so their mother, pictured atop a nearby branch, can bring them their daily meals.

adult Great Blue Heron

From there we decided to check in at San Angelo State Park and see if there had been any recent run-off into the lake.  Surprisingly, there was an acre or two of very, very shallow water.  Well, it’s a start.  But most likely it will evaporate before we get another measurable rain on the watershed.

Common Nighthawk

While driving around the park we saw our first roosting Common Nighthawk of the year.  We had seen several in flight a few days ago, when they were feeding on the flying insects in the evening.  We also saw this Curve-billed Thrasher nearby in a tree.  I just love the fierce look that these guys always have.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Since the weather was seemingly getting a little more inclement, we decided to head for the house.  Click on any image to see some enlargements.

Memorial Weekend Images

I am not going to go into a lot of detail for this post.  I know that many of you are celebrating this holiday weekend.  Maybe these photos will help brighten your days.  If you are traveling, be safe, drive carefully, and don’t text.   Please remember the holiday for what it is, to remember to thank the people that help keep our country free.  Click on any of the images to see some nice enlargements.

“On the Hunt”
Great Blue Heron

Northern Bobwhite

Curve-billed Thrasher

Turkey Vulture

Bronzed Cowbird

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.

The Menacing Curve-billed Thrasher

Going through old images again from the past year or more.  I decided to give some press time to this fierce looking bird.

Actually, the Curve-billed Thrasher isn’t really menacing.  But you wouldn’t believe it by looking into the adult’s eyes.  They are a bright reddish orange, and along with it’s curved bill, it looks downright mean.  Also, it’s call is a meek sounding tweet, not a growl.

I took this image of an adult nearly a year ago as it was hunkered down in some grass.

Curve-billed Thrasher – adult

Last September I came across this juvenile, pictured below.  At first I thought that it may have been a Sage Thrasher.  Since it was photographed here in San Angelo, a ‘sage’ would been away from it’s usual area which is farther west.  But after looking at it closely, I found that it was indeed a juvenile Curve-billed.  Notice the paler, or yellow eyes that was one of the deciding marks of a younger bird.

Curve-billed Thrasher – juvenile

Curve-billed Thrasher – juvenile

Thanks for visiting my blog again.  Click on any image to see some enlargements.

Pyrrhuloxia and Curve-billed Thrasher

First I want to share the news that my book, “Birds, Beasts and Buttes”, is now available in E-Book form for the iPad.  Click here where you can preview it and buy at reduced price over the print version.  You can also check out both versions, plus my 2013 Calendar, by clicking on the links on the right side of this page.

Now here is that bird again, you know, the one with the funny sounding name.  I caught this image of the Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) a few mornings ago at San Angelo State Park.

Female Pyrrhuloxia in early morning light.

While there we also saw this Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre), doing what it does best; thrashing.  Thrashing the sand and grass looking for insects, etc.

A thrashing Curve-billed Thrasher.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, and you can click on either one to see a very nice enlargement of each.

Tuesday Great Day Birding

I just got home a couple of hours ago and have been going through over 300 images that I took today.  Of course, about 280 of them will be trashed, but I did get a few good ones.  In all, the three of us, Ann, Carl Williams, my neightbor, and I saw/or photographed 43 species of birds.  We never left the San Angelo city limits. 

One of the highlights was to see a Western Grebe in the Middle Concho River.  It is an unusual bird to be seen around here.  It usually abides further west.  Then when we were driving throught Spring Creek Park, Ann pointed up into a tree where a Great Horned Owl was sitting on a branch.  It was back-lit by the sun, but somehow I was able to come up with a barely acceptable print.  Below is a complete list that we reported to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

1. White-crowned Sparrow   12
2. Brown-headed Cowbird   4
3. Bullock’s Oriole   4
4. House Sparrow   10
5. House Finch   14
6. Northern Mockingbird   22
7. Red-winged Blackbird   12
8. White-winged Dove   29
9. Pyrrhuloxia   1
10. Orange-crowned Warbler   1
11. Northern Cardinal   3
12. Golden-fronted Woodpecker   5
13. Mourning Dove   4
14. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher   24
15. Lark Sparrow   10
16. Barn Swallow   8
17. Chipping Sparrow   4
18. Bewick’s Wren   1
19. Black-throated Sparrow   1
20. Turkey Vulture   12
21. Great-tailed Grackle   36
22. Common Grackle   12
23. Vesper Sparrow   6
24. Black-necked Stilt   4
25. Northern Shoveler   12
26. Ash-throated Flycatcher   4
27. Red-tailed Hawk   1
28. Pied-billed Grebe   3
29. Inco Dove   2
30. Curve-billed Thrasher   2
31. Double-crested Cormorant   10
32. Neotropic Cormorant   3
33. Black-crested Titmouse   2
34. European Starling   3
35. American Coot   3
36. Western Grebe   1
37. Great Blue Heron   3
38. Savannah Sparrow   2
39. Yellow-rumped Warbler   1
40. Black-crowned Night Heron   1
41. Osprey   1
42. Eastern Bluebird   1
43. Great Horned Owl   1

I hope you enjoyed this post.  I will have more photos later in the week.  I was somewhat rushed to get this done to publish it today.  Don’t forget to vote in my weekly Bird ID quiz at this link:   https://bobzeller.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/birding-quiz-of-the-week/ or at the “Birding Quiz of the Week”  post on right side of this page.  Results will be published Friday.  Then on Saturday I will have a brand new quiz for you.  I have already written it, and can’t wait for you to see it.

What?? Me Angry??

Is this an angry bird or what?  In fact, he looks like he is ready to tear into anybody that messes with him.  He is the Curve-billed Thrasher, (Toxostoma curvirostre).  Rest assured, he only looks like that way.  There is no record of any attack on a human by this ferocious looking individual of the avian world.  Even his voice is more of a tweet than a growl.

Curve-billed Thrasher

I took these images of him while visiting the bird blind at San Angelo State Park on Monday morning.  You may remember that was the day that I left Ann at home to do the house-cleaning.  He was under some shrubs near the blind, but would scurry out periodically to peck around in the grass.  He spends most of his life in the desert southwest.

Curve-billed Thrasher

The photos were taken with my Canon EOS 7D and 100-400mm zoom lens.  The first two images exposed at 1/1250 sec. @ f8, ISO 640.  The bottom at 1/500 sec. @ f8, ISO 1600.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Update:  Ann’s cataract surgery on her left eye went off perfectly and she will be out birding with me in the next day or two.  She sends her thanks to all of you that had her in your thoughts.  She will have the same thing done to her right eye in a couple of weeks.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.