Tag Archives: Double-crested Cormorant

Yellow-breasted Sapsucker

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Another of the woodpecker species, is the Yellow-breasted Sapsucker.  Often mistaken for a woodpecker, it and the Red-naped Sapsucker are not too frequent visitors here.  Our local bird guides list them as “uncommon, not present every year”.

It is always nice to be able to photograph one close up, as I did this morning at Spring Creek Park.  We saw it moving among the trees, so I drove my car among the trees.  I was only about ten feet away to photograph this one.  It has a red crown, and a bit of red on the neck below the beak.  Forget the yellow belly.  This specimen was a bit ratty looking, it’s plumage dirty, and the reds not very vivid.  It probably hadn’t cleaned up yet from the recent rains.

Yelllow-bellied Sapsucker

Yelllow-bellied Sapsucker

In contrast, here is an older picture of a Red-naped Sapsucker.  Notice the red nape and the red crown.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Red-naped Sapsucker

While were out we encountered this Double-crested Cormorant trying to swallow his Happy Meal™.

Double-crested Cormorant with fish.

Double-crested Cormorant with fish.

Why not end the day with another photo of one of my favorites, the Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Enjoy the pictures and click on either of them to see an enlargement.

2013 – And so we begin………..

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Well, Ann and I decided not to dwell on last year anymore, but get back in the saddle and head off into the new year.  Birding -wise, we got off to a great start yesterday.  The temp only reached the mid 40s, but with not much wind it wasn’t all that unpleasant to be out.

We spent a little less than three hours and we saw a total of 37 species.  With a goal of reaching the 200-plus figure for the year, that is always a nice psychological beginning.  I also got a couple of nice images, including one of my best Belted Kingfisher photos to date.  I like it even though the tip of the bill is close to being nipped off.

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

I followed that up with this image of a Greater Yellowlegs.  I am always amazed with the Canon 7D and the Canon 500mm F4 lens and 1.4 TC set-up.  This bird was across the river about 150 yards away or more, and showed up as just a tiny spot in the viewfinder.  I had figured there was no way that I was going to get a good usuable photo.  The camera, with it’s 18MP, gave me a great file to work with.  I was able to crop it and still have this sharp image.

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Click on either image to see an enlargement.

If you are interested in the total species we saw, here is a complete list.  By the way, we only saw 194 species during 2012.  I had thought that surely we could have made the 200 mark.  Maybe this year……  We have a bit more experience now, and hopefully we plan to visit some east Texas areas that are teeming with new birds.

  1. Black-bellied Whistling Duck
  2. Gadwall
  3. American Wigeon
  4. Mallard
  5. Northern Shoveler
  6. Ring-necked Duck
  7. Bufflehead
  8. Mute Swan
  9. Pied-billed Grebe
  10. Double-crested Cormorant
  11. Great Blue Heron
  12. Great Egret
  13. Northern Harrier
  14. Red-tailed Hawk
  15. American Kestrel
  16. Merlin
  17. American Coot
  18. Killdeer
  19. Greater Yellowlegs
  20. Ring-billed Gull
  21. White-winged Dove
  22. Belted Kingfisher
  23. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
  24. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
  25. Eastern Phoebe
  26. Black-crested Titmouse
  27. Bewick’s Wren
  28. Eastern Bluebird
  29. Northern Mockingbird
  30. European Starling
  31. Yellow-rumped Warbler
  32. Northern Cardinal
  33. Red-winged Blackbird
  34. Western Meadowlark
  35. Great-tailed Grackle
  36. House Finch
  37. House Sparrow

Tuesday Great Day Birding

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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.

Great Blue Herons and a Ladder-backed Woodpecker

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I haven’t posted for a few days, but that is because the weather has been so danged nice, I just couldn’t sit at the computer.  I’ll probably be posting only about three or four times a week now, instead of my nearly daily doses during cold weather.

Ann and I went out yesterday, with the goal of hitting our favorite birding spots with a couple of little short stops along the way.  We ended up seeing 44 species during an approximately 4 hour span.

Great Blue Heron

We started off with spending about a hour at the bird blind at San Angelo State Park.  We wanted to see if the Green-tailed Towhee was still hanging around.  It was.  After we left there to head to Spring Creek Park, we stopped briefly at a pond in the Bluffs Addition, and saw our first American Wigeon of the year.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

After stopping at that pond, we then proceeded to Spring Creek and then the Middle Concho Park.  Among the highlights was the spotting of two Western Bluebirds, a specie that is normally found west of San Angelo.  Actually, the previous day when visiting the park with a neighbor friend, we saw seven of those.   Aside from the pictured Ladder-backed Woodpecker, we also saw six Great Blue Herons, one of those is pictured above.

All in all, it was a very fun day.  If you’re interested, here is a complete list of our species for the four hour adventure.  Click on either image to see a glorious enlargement.

  1. Great Blue Heron   6
  2. Cinnamon Teal   7
  3. Green-winged Teal   4
  4. Gadwall   16
  5. American Coot   22
  6. Malard   7
  7. Northern Shoveler   30
  8. Northern Mockingbird   14
  9. Eared Grebe   1
  10. Western Bluebird   2
  11. Pied-billed Grebe   6
  12. House Finch   20
  13. Red-winged Blackbird   10
  14. Eastern Bluebird   12
  15. American Goldfinch   4
  16. Blue Jay   2
  17. European Starling   12
  18. Black Vulture   2
  19. Forster’s Tern   5
  20. Ring-billed Gulls   220
  21. Double-crested Cormorant   6
  22. Mute Swan   1
  23. Northern Cardinal   2
  24. Western Meadowlark   15
  25. White-crowned Sparrow   30
  26. Phyrrhuloxia   2
  27. Belted Kingfisher   1
  28. Golden-fronted Woodpecker   6
  29. Yellow-rumped Warbler   3
  30. Vermilion Flycatcher   1
  31. Curved-bill Thrasher   2
  32. Northern Flicker   2
  33. Osprey   1  (flyover)
  34. Ring-necked Duck   2
  35. American Wigeon   4
  36. Great-tailed Grackle   6
  37. House Sparrow   6
  38. Black-crested Titmouse   4
  39. Canyon Towhee   2
  40. Green-tailed Towhee   1
  41. Mourning Dove   1
  42. Ladder-backed Woodpecker   1
  43. Savannah Sparrow   14
  44. Eastern Phoebe   1

About the photos:  Both photos taken with my Canon 7D.

Great Blue Heron:  500mm lens with 1.4 tele-converter.  1/3200 sec. @ f8, -1.7EV, ISO 100.  I accidently adjusted the EV un-necessarily and had to correct in post processing.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker:  100-400mm zoom lens.  1/500 sec. @ f7.1, +0.3EV, ISO 500.

More birding formation.  I found out this morning that a Snowy Owl has been seen, photographed and verified, near Lake Ray Hubbard near Dallas, Texas.  Since it is about 300 miles east of San Angelo, I will not go to have a look.  Maybe it will head west…………. 🙂  Hey, we can always hope. 🙂

What?? Not Another Birding Trip??

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Okay, I confess.  My name is Bob Zeller and I am a hopeless birding addict.  I tried to stop, but the withdrawal pains are too severe.  When I see a bird that I don’t recognize, I frantically dive into my thirty-some bird guides, tearing pages to make that elusive identification.  To add to my habit, I am also fanatic about wanting to photograph every bird I see.  I wade in the muck, crawl in the weeds, get tick-bit, all so I collect those photos.

So, to satisfy our cravings (Ann is addicted, too), we invited the Johnsons from Eldorado to join us.  We wanted to see if we could see more species this day than the day before, which I believe was 40.  We again set out for Middle Concho and Spring Creek parks.  Both parks in the same area, one on one side of the river, and the other park on the other side.  So the habitats for both are quite similar.  I have a few photo highlight for you.  Click photos to see beautiful enlargements.

Portrait of a Northern Mockingbird

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Belted Kingfisher

Great Blue Heron

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Horned Grebe (photographed previous day)

Here is the total species of 42 that we spotted.

  1.  Northern Mockingbird
  2.  Great-tailed Grackle
  3.  American White Pelican
  4.  Great Egret
  5.  Great Blue Heron
  6.  Northern Shoveler
  7.  Double-crested Cormorant
  8.  Ring-billed Gull
  9.  American Goldfinch
  10.  White-crowned Sparrow
  11.  American Coots
  12.  Pied-billed Grebe
  13.  Golden-fronted Woodpecker
  14.  House Finch
  15.  Lesser Goldfinch
  16.  Gadwall
  17.  Black Vulture
  18.  Eastern Phoebe
  19.  Yellow-rumped Warbler
  20.  Black-crested Titmouse
  21.  Bufflehead
  22.  Turkey Vulture
  23.  Red-winged Blackbird
  24.  European Starling
  25.  Western Meadowlark
  26.  Northern Cardinal
  27.  Cinnamon Teal
  28.  Ladder-backed Woodpecker
  29.  Vermilion Flycatcher
  30.  Eastern Bluebird
  31. Wild Turkey
  32.  American Robin
  33.  Green-winged Teal
  34.  Common Raven
  35.  White-winged Dove
  36.  Northern Flicker
  37.  Cedar Waxwing
  38.  Common Grackle
  39.  Belted Kingfisher
  40.  Clay-colored Sparrow
  41.  Blue Jay
  42.  Northern Harrier

As you can see we did break our previous day record.  These were seen during an approximate four hour period.  Click on any image and you can see beautiful enlargements.

Click my Flickr Logo at the right side of this page to view more of my photos.

I’d like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Yesterday’s birding and new lifer

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Ann and I decided that another nice day deserved to be spent birding.  We spent a couple of hours at Middle Concho and Spring Creek parks, then we got a call on our cell phone from Suzanne Johnson down at Eldorado.  A Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), had been spotted at the water treatment ponds.  So we left immediately to get down there.  We saw it and I got a nice photo of it.  It was lifer number 239 for me.

Common Goldeneye

Canon EOS 7D with Canon 500mm f4 IS lens and 1.4 tele-converter.  Exposure 1/1600 sec. @ f8, -0.3EV, ISO 400.  Partial metering and aperture priority.  Captured from our car, using a Puffin Pad window support.  Distance to subject was about 100 yards.

Total of 40 bird species spotted:

  1.  American Coot
  2.  Northern Mockingbird
  3.  Great Blue Heron
  4.  Pied-billed Grebe
  5.  Golden-fronted Woodpecker
  6.  Cinnamon Teal
  7.  Gadwall
  8.  Northern Shoveler
  9.  Great Egret
  10.  Green-winged Teal
  11.  Wilson’s Snipe
  12.  Great-tailed Grackle
  13.  Red-tailed Hawk
  14.  European Starling
  15.  Western Meadowlark
  16.  Double-crested Cormorants
  17.  Yellow-rumped Warbler
  18.  House Finch
  19.  Savannah Sparrow
  20.  Eastern Bluebird
  21.  Vermilion Flycatcher
  22.  Ring-billed Gull
  23.  American Coot
  24.  Wild Turkey
  25.  White-winged Dove
  26.  Northern Flicker
  27.  Red-winged Blackbird
  28.  American Goldfinch
  29.  Lesser Scaup
  30.  Eared Grebe
  31.  Northern Pintail
  32.  Horned Grebe
  33.  Ruddy Duck
  34.  Canvasback
  35.  Common Goldeneye
  36.  Ringed-neck Duck
  37.  Killdeer
  38.  Lark Bunting
  39.  Egyptian Goose
  40.  Eurasian Collared Dove

Birding and New Photos from Middle Concho Park

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It is frigid again here this morning, and not expected to get above 40 degrees with winds up to 25mph.  Possible snow flurries forecasted over the weekend, but not expected to stay on the ground very long.  Stay tuned on that.  Maybe San Angelo will have a white Christmas.  If so, maybe I can get out and get some snowy photos.

Anyway, yesterday was beautiful, got into the 60s, so Ann and I took advantage and went to Middle Concho Park to do a little birding.  We saw 28 species this time. (see list below).  A few that were new, that we hadn’t seen for a long time.  Here are some photo highlights.  EXIF data will be at the bottom of this page.

Western Meadowlark

 

Vermilion Flycatcher - female

Eastern Bluebird - with attitude

Some of these photos are not up to my standards, but they are passable.  For some reason, I wasn’t on my A-game.  I was making exposure mistakes, accidentally moving my settings and not discovering them until it was too late, then had to try to fix the errors in Photoshop.  I guess I was enjoying the weather too much and not paying attention.  We sure saw a lot of birds though, and here is that list.

  • Mockingbird   8
  • Black Vulture  2
  • American Coot   100+
  • Gadwall   25+
  • House Finch   50+
  • Pied-billed Grebe   14
  • Great Egret   3
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler   75+
  • Golden-fronted Woodpecker   8
  • Western Meadowlark   35
  • Ladder-backed Woodpecker   1
  • American Goldfinch  15
  • Lesser Goldfinch   6
  • Eastern Bluebirds   75+
  • Northern Shovelers   24
  • Double-crested Cormorants   10
  • Great Blue Heron   2
  • White-crowned Sparrow   24
  • White-winged Dove  50+
  • Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
  • Red-tailed Hawk   1
  • Great-tailed Grackle  20
  • Marsh Wren   1
  • Vermilion Flycatcher   4
  • Bewick’s Wren   1
  • Ring-billed Gull   20
  • Red-winged Blackbird   24
  • Mute Swan   3

About the photos:  All photos were taken with my Canon 7D and 500mm lens with a 1.4 tele-converter.  Aperture priority and partial metering.  Handheld from the window of my car.

Western Meadowlark.   1/640 sec. @ f6.3   ISO 400

Vermilion Flycatcher.  1/4000 sec. @ f6.3, +0.3 EV,  ISO  400  Distance  50 feet.

Eastern Bluebird  1/5000 sec. @f5.6  ISO 400  Distance 30 feet.

Middle Concho and Spring Creek Birding Hotspot

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Just when I thought it could’t get any better.  Middle Concho Park and Spring Creek Park are two adjacent parks at the confluence of Middle Concho River and Spring Creek, where they meet at Lake Nasworthy, here in San Angelo.  I think that is the easiest way to explain their location.  One park is on one side of the river,and the other park on the other side.  However to get from one side to the other, takes about a three mile trip around, back to the bridge that goes over the lake.  Confused??  We’ll just leave it at that.  I remember the joke about the guy on one side of the river calling to a guy on the other side.  He calls over, “Hey, pal, how do I get to the other side?”  The other guy calls back, “You idiot, you are on the other side”. 🙂

The way we bird these parks is to just cruise through the area on the many little lanes and roads, at idling speed of 1-2 miles mph.  Keep your eyes watchful, and you ears listening.  Watch into the trees and along the shorline of the river.  I must admit, in winter it is a bit easier because of the absence of leaves on the trees.  In nice weather we once in a while, sit my camera on a tripod near a picnic table, and just wait and watch.

So getting back to my post here, you remember a previous post a couple of days ago about Ann and I seeing 24 species in a couple of hours.  Well, I don’t know how it could have got any better, but when we made a return trip (again) Saturday, we saw a whopping 34 species in about 3 hours.  During that time, I was also shooting photographs, 442 images in all, if anyone is counting.  Here is a sampling of three.

Cooper's Hawk

Red-naped Sapsucker

Gadwalls

I will put the EXIF photo settings at the bottom of this page.  But first here is a complete list of the birds we saw and/or photographed. (Mostly saw). 🙂

  • Northern Mockingbird   6
  • American Coot   200+
  • Double-crested Cormorants   25
  • Northern Shoveler   100+
  • Golden-fronted Woodpecker   4
  • Great Egret   4
  • Gadwall  50+
  • White-winged Doves   75+
  • Green-winged Teal   4
  •  Cinnamon Teal   2
  • Great Blue Heron   7
  • Black Vulture   3
  • Western Meadowlark   10
  • Great Horned Owl   1
  • Pied-billed Grebe   5
  • Eastern Bluebirds   25
  • House Finch   12
  • Great-tailed Grackles   25
  • Red-tailed Hawk   1
  • Yellow-Rumped Warbler   30
  • Savannah Sparrow   12
  • Lesser Goldfinch   3
  • White-crowned Sparrow   5
  • Red-winged Blackbird   3
  • Northern Flicker   1
  • Northern Cardinal   1
  • American Robin   1
  • Belted Kingfisher   1
  • Mallard   1
  • Ring-billed Gull   1
  • Blue Jay   1
  • Inca Dove   3
  • Cooper’s Hawk   3
  • Red-naped Sapsucker   1

About the photos.

Cooper’s Hawk.  The hawk was sitting in a tree.  I maneuvered my Ford Edge around so I could shoot it from my driver’s side window.  Canon 7D, 500mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter, 1/1000 sec. @ f11, ISO 400.

Red-naped Sapsucker.  I got out of the car and hand-held my Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm lens.  1/1250 sec. @ f6.3 +0.3EV.  ISO 2000

Gadwall.  The bird was in the water about 15 yard from the shore.  I propped my Canon 7D with the 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-converter, on the hood of my car, resting it on a SafariSack support.  1/1000 sec. @ f10, ISO 400.

Two more from Middle Concho Park

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Friday opened cool and cloudy, but by 11:00AM it was bright and sunny.  We decided to return to Middle Concho Park where we had seen so many species the day before.  Again there were an abundance of birds.  We birded there for an hour or so, then we drove over to the adjacent Spring Creek Park.  Here are two photographs that I captured there.  A Blue Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), and an American Robin (Turdus migratorius).

Blue Jay

American Robin

As I said the good news was that it was bright and sunny.  On the downside I didn’t have the best light that I would have had if it had remained cloudy.  Boy, I sure am hard to please, aren’t I??  But it did make it difficult to expose properly for the Blue Jay.  As you can see, it worked out okay, though.  The American Robin was in open shade where the light was more even, so the job was easier.

During our birding, we saw a couple of hawks, several herons and egrets and others.  In all, we saw 21 species, as I have listed below.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and narrative about our birding exploits.  Have a great weekend.

A Better Day for Photography – And Birding

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Ah, the pleasure of it all.  The showery, foggy, drizzly weather finally left the building for a bit yesterday.  The temp reached 70 degrees, however it stayed cloudy, and that was perfect for me.  The better to make photographs.

Shortly after lunch, Ann and I decided we had enough cabin fever and decided to drive to Middle Concho park and see what was hanging out around there.  Here are two photos that I managed two capture. A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and a Great Egret (Ardea alba).  Co-incidentally they were both high in a tree (separate) when I photographed them.  Actually we had counted 3 egrets and about 6 herons flying up and down the river as we drove through.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

I photographed these in the RAW format and post editing was in Photoshop CS5.  I used my Canon 7D with 500mm lens and 1.4 converter.  Tripod mounted.  The cloudy skies made for excellent light, as there were no harsh shadows.  Both birds were across the river, about 100 yards away and about 20 feet above the ground.  Both images have been cropped.

As for our birding, we saw a total of 20 species during our two-hour stay of mostly doing photography.  We were surprised to see one lone Bufflehead swimming along in the river.  And of course, the place was over-run with American Coots.  But as they say, ’tis the season.  Here is our total list.

  • Great Blue Heron
  • Great Egret
  • Cinnamon Teal
  • American Coot
  • Sharp-shinned Hawk
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Northern Shoveler
  • White-winged Dove
  • Black Vulture
  • Grackles
  • American Robin
  • Northern Mockingbird
  • House Finch
  • Eastern Bluebird
  • Western Meadowlark
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • Bufflehead
  • Golden-fronted Woodpecker
  • Gadwall
  • American Goldfinch

Hopefully, we can make it out again before the weather changes this weekend.