‘Twas the days after Christmas……

I hope all of my readers around the world had a very happy Christmas.  Ann and I did.  We did what we love to do.  We went birding.  We are alone.  No children and nearest relatives over 1,000 miles away.  Our best friends live a bit farther.  But we have no complaints, as we enjoy each other’s company.

So anyway, the weather Christmas was absolutely beautiful  We first ventured to two local parks near Lake Nasworthy.  When I say local, I don’t mean that they are in the middle of town.  More likely they are at the edge of town, out towards our airport.  But since our home is near that edge of town, these parks are just minutes away.  They abound with wildlife; birds, water fowl, wild turkey, and bobcats, etc.

Today, Sunday, I will post here a few of the images that I have gotten the past few days, including Christmas Day and the days after.

This Song Sparrow was in the reeds along the lake.  It looked pretty tiny in my viewfinder.  But I was using my Canon 7D Mark II and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.  I shoot using spot focusing and if I can get that tiny dot on a bird, I can get some good results, images sharp enough that I can crop close for photos like this.  By the way, you can click on any image to see nice enlargements.

Song Sparrow

There were plenty of meadowlarks around.  Again, they prefer showing me  their backside instead of their beautiful yellow breasts.

Western Meadowlark

The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are rare around here this time of year, but they do sometimes make appearances.  This one was with a group of three, and I had a challenge to get photos.  They were flitting all over the place.  I finally got out of the car and was trying to get shots over the hood.  After a about twenty-five, or more, efforts this was the best of the bunch.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

At the southern end of Spring Creek Park is a small narrow cove.  It was there that Ann and I spotted three Black-crowned Night Herons, one adult and two juveniles.  They were across the water, about 200 yards away.  This juvenile was the only one that I could get a clear open shot.

Black-crowned Night Heron – juvenile

Co-incidentally, at the northern end of Middle Concho Park, there is another little cove.  This one much smaller and narrower.  As we were driving along the nearer edge, this Wilson’s Snipe startled me, flew up and across to the far side.  I was able to see where it landed and was able to get some photos, from about 50 yards.  They are little cuties, and I love to photograph them.

Wilson’s Snipe

Back to driving along the brush line in Spring Creek Park, we came across some more Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  It seems that I have seen more kinglets this year than in the past.  They, like the gnatcatchers, are quick and flighty, never sitting still.  I got lucky again and got this capture.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

A Northern Flicker in one of it’s favorite perches.  High above on a dead tree.

 

Northern Flicker – red-shafted variety.

I will end this post with this delightful photo of one of my favorite little birds.  The Eastern Phoebe.

Eastern Phoebe

I do hope you enjoyed these photos from our Christmas weekend.  The weather here in San Angelo is going to have big changes the next couple of days, so I don’t know when I will get out again.  But if the sun shines, and there is no winds to speak of, it can be beautiful even if the temperatures get down real low.  I will be watching for opportunities.

My 2015 list didn’t make the goal of 210 that I had hoped for.  We are still a 185, with the prospects of adding more pretty small.  Too many medical issues kept me in for part of the year.  But in about a week, 2016 will begin with new hopes for a longer list.

I hope to publish another post before the end of the year.

Til then, Happy Birding!

Pine Warbler, a lifer…….

For you who may be unfamiliar to the birding vernacular, a lifer is a bird that an individual sees for the very first time, then adds it to his or her’s ‘life list’.  Currently, my life list is at 285. That is the total that I have compiled since I got into birding about six years ago.  Since there are nearly 800 species in the state of Texas alone, it certainly is nothing to brag about.  I would like, though, to eventually get to 300.  At my age, that is a manageable goal.  So, in that vein, I can tell you that I got my 285th yesterday.

Having had a successful little tour of Spring Creek Park, seeing several species and getting some photos, we ventured over to Middle Concho Park to see what might be there.  As we drove through, we saw an area where many small birds were darting through the Live Oak and Mesquite trees. Titmice, Vermilion Flycatchers, and American Goldfinches.  All of a sudden a yellowish bird caught my eye.  I knew instantly that it was not a goldfinch that I was looking at.  Then I remembered that a couple of other birders had mentioned that a Pine Warbler was running with a bunch of goldfinches.  After getting several shots off with my Canon 7D Mk II and Tamron 150-600mm lens, I looked at the images on the back of the camera and compared them to my Stokes Guide.  Lo and behold, a Pine Warbler.

A Pine Warbler is very, very rare to the Concho Valley and Tom Green County, so this was an exciting find.  This image is one of about seventy-five that I tried to get.  The bird is quick and fast, and I didn’t get very many usable photos.

Pine Warbler

After getting that photo, I got a shot of this very cooperative Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

As I mentioned above, previously we had been to Spring Creek Park.  Here are a few photographs from there.

This White-breasted Nuthatch is the first that I have seen in this park in a couple of years, although I know they are present.  Just not always visible.

White-breasted Nuthatch

In the same area this Bewick’s Wren was flitting among the brush……..

Bewick’s Wren

……..along with this beautiful Eastern Phoebe.

Eastern Phoebe

So, all in all, a pretty fun day, when I can come away with a few acceptable images to post here.

On another note, this is the time of the year when there are various Christmas Bird Counts going on.  This link to the Lost Pines was sent to my by Garth Beyer.  Check it out, it may be something you may be interested in.  It sounds like fun.  http://www.visitlostpines.com/hyatt-lost-pines/activities/christmas-bird-count.aspx.  I probably won’t participate.  I am at that age that I would rather stay by the fire with liquid refreshment on those upcoming cooler days.

 

 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – A Wow moment.

I am feeling better now that I can get out into my nature environs again.  Traveling through the San Angelo State Park, I came upon this beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  I pulled the car off the road.  The bird continued to pose for me, and I think I came away with one of my best photos of one in a long time.  I hope you enjoy. (click on it and the other images to see enlargements.)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

We also ventured to the north section of the park.  This Great Blue Heron was standing in a pond in the North Concho River.

Great Blue Heron

Before we left that area, I had to take a shot of this Black-tailed Prairie Dog.

Black-tailed Prairie Dog

The following morning we made a short visit to Spring Creek Park and spotted some Eastern Phoebes cavorting in some brush.  One of them stopped long enough to take a breather on a wire fence.

Eastern Phoebe

Migration isn’t in full swing here yet because of our lingering 100° days.  But cooler weather so projected for the next few days so birding should start improving.

I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you of my new DVD that I recently produced with the help of DST Productions in Knoxville, Tennessee.  One hundred of my finest work, including birds, wildlife, and landscapes.  Truly a beautiful collection set to some beautiful music.  In 1080P HiDef.  As many of you know, I am a very trusting individual.  You can have this DVD if you will mail me a check for 25.00 that includes any taxes and shipping expenses.  My address is Bob Zeller, 4401 White Ash Ln., San Angelo, TX.  I will ship it immediately by Priority Mail.  By the way, it would make great Christmas gifts.  I have references available if you like.

Of course, my book, “Birds, Beasts and Buttes” is still selling very well.  Total cost to you is 65.00.

Happy Birding to all. 🙂

Good day for birding on Friday

I had gotten an e-mail from a friend, saying that he had seen some Mississippi Kites along the Concho River downtown.  So after eating an early breakfast at Stango’s in town, we decided to prowl along the river to see if we could see one of the kites.  We got more than we expected.

First of all, we spotted a Coopers’s Hawk across the river.  I almost missed him as he was partly hidden from branches, but enough of him showed up in the early morning light.  Although a long way across, I tried to get him in my viewfinder and snapped of a few shots.  Fortuntely I was using my new Tamron 150-600mm lens.  I was at the extreme end at 600mm, and this is the result I got.

Cooper’s Hawk

We saw a Green Heron fly by us and settle down by the water, so we followed it and stopped along the road.  I got out of the car and walked closer to the shore.  It was across the water about 100 yards away.  Again, the Tamron lens came through for me.

Green Heron

We saw a couple of Great Blue Herons, but I didn’t like the images.  They were too contrasty in the light.  Oh yes, we did see a couple of Mississippi Kites, but they were too far away, even for my long lens.

We then decided to head to Spring Creek Park, where we had previously seen the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  They had decided to fly elsewhere, but we saw another Eastern Phoebe.

Eastern Phoebe

Then we came across another bird, that we thought was another phoebe.  I took several photos of it, and only after we got home and I was able to enlarge the image for a closer look, did I discover it was an Eastern Wood Pewee.  You can see the similarities.

Eastern Wood Pewee

After that we drove down near where the river gets wider.  Ann saw this larger heron type bird fly across us and land near the the opposite shore.  At first, I thought it was another Great Blue Heron, when it flew over the car.  An illusion of course, as it turned out to be a smaller juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  Unfortunately, it was right next to a piece of trash, and it wasn’t going to walk around it.  Neither could I figure out how to remove such a large portion of the photo, so I just decided to leave it as.

1st year Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Leaving that park, we headed over to Middle Concho Park, actually just on the other side of the river.  There wasn’t much going on there, except this little Black-crested Titmouse in a small tree.

Black-crested Titmouse

We will be going out this weekend for more fun and birding so stay tuned for whatever we may come across.  Click on any image to see enlargements.

Just a few images from the past week.

This post might be a bit brief from the narrative side.  I couldn’t think of anything to write about more deeply.  We did make a few excursions this past week to do a bit of birding, and get a few photographs along the way.  We did see our first Bullock’s Oriole and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers of the year.  Also the first Black-necked Stilts that we have seen in over two years.  With the level of Lake Nasworthy having dropped three feet, the shoreline is wider and making great habitat for the wading shorebirds.  Here are a few photos for you to see.  I would strongly ask that you read this post by clicking on the link.  Then you can click the images and see some great enlargements.

Osprey

I watched the Osprey for twenty minutes, hoping he would turn to face me a me a little bit, but it never happened.

Eastern Bluebird

The Eastern Bluebird was in the shade a little bit, almost making the face too dark, but I love photographing them.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was a harbinger of many more to come.  Summer is almost upon us.

Eastern Phoebe

Solitary Sandpiper

Black-necked Stilt

I love the elegant, gracefulness of these Black-necked Stilts.  Their slender legs are about the size of straws.

Bullock’s Oriole

The Bullock’s Oriole is the predominant oriole in this area.  The one above was the first I saw this spring.  It was nearly too far away for a decent photo.

Great Horned Owlets

The owlets were over two hundred yards away, across the lake, high in a tree.  My friend, Julie Stewart, told me about them.  She attempted to photograph them with her 300mm lens, but were almost out of reach.  She thought that with my 150-600mm lens I might have a better chance.  I got the above shot, putting my setup on a tripod at the water’s edge.  Even then, I had to do some extreme cropping, and a little sharpening.  Those tiny twigs in front of the birds made focusing from that distance very difficult.  But thank you, Julie, for giving me the chance.

So, that’s about it for this time.  I love reading your comments, so if you feel like saying a few words, give it a go below.

By the way, the Solitary Sandpiper is number 140 on my Texas Big Year list.

Let’s do the Bokeh

If my photos make you feel like dancing, forget it, bokeh isn’t a dance.  It is the aesthetic quality of the blur in the background of some photographs.  In talking about a picture, one might say that it has good bokeh.  I love to produce that effect myself.  I get it mostly when I am photographing, for example, a bird with my long lenses.  By using wide apertures such as f2.8  thru f6.3, I end up with a shallow depth-of-field.  DOP as it is called briefly, is the small area in front, and in back of the subject, that is in focus.  Everything in front of and in back that is blurred, is the bokeh.  An example is this photograph that I captured of an Eastern Phoebe.  Notice how the bird is in great focus, and the background is a nice, soft blur.

Eastern Phoebe

My Tamron zoom telephoto was set at the max range of 600mm and my aperture was set at f6.3.  I was about 30 feet from phoebe. The background was several yards back.  Distance can make a difference in the effect.  This Osprey in the photo below, (which I published about a week ago in another post) was about eighty yards away on another tree branch.  The background was made up of tree limbs and brush and you can see that the bokeh took on a different, but very pleasing look.

Osprey

Still another pleasing effect was in this photo of a Painted Bunting.

Painted Bunting

In the photo below, of the Greater Roadrunner, because of the angle of my camera, and the location of the bird, the background was more in focus, but not enough distract the viewer.  The aperture was the same f6.3.  Same lens.

Greater Roadrunner

In the photo below, I used the water itself as the background.  I love these Greater Roadrunners.

Greater Roadrunner

While I am on the subject, I will mention that different type lenses might have a different look on the bokeh.  Some will produce round dots of blurred light, for example.  Also, there may be a difference in the different brands of lenses.  Some may produce better bokeh that others.  Personally, I a very satisfied with the results I am getting with mine.  They make me feel like dancing. 🙂

Incidentally, I never mention this much, because I am not the greatest of salesman.  My photographs are for sale.  Just contact me and we can talk about sizes, prices, etc.  I have satisfied customers all over the country, and I wouldn’t mind helping you to give additions to your walls, too.

Also, my book is still doing well, and you can check that out by clicking on the Flickr logo on the right side of this page, or the gallery link at the top of the page.

Cabin fever blues and cold buns….

Again, we are having cold, freezing moisture.  It is keeping me inside, as moisture and cameras do not mix.   Of course, that is just a good excuse, as I don’t like to freeze my buns off either.  I will just post a few of my photos from the past few days, when it was nice enough to get few exposures.

Eastern Phoebe found something to sing about.

Northern Shoveler – a pretty female.

White-crowned Sparrow – a juvenile looking pretty good.

Western Meadowlark – ya gotta love that yellow breast.

Great Blue Heron – breeding time and gotta build a place for the wife and kids.

Click on any image to see enlargements.  I am going to hibernate for a day or two, but I’ll be back. 🙂

Yellow-rumped Warbler and more….

Today it was very cloudy, but warm and windy at about 77 degrees.  But it is more or less the calm before the storm.   Tomorrow it is supposed to be only 42°, then on Saturday even lower at 32°.  Those are predicted highs.

But enough about the weather.  I went out this Thursday morning to see if there were any birds around.  Not very many, we found out.  We did see a few at Spring Creek Park;  Western Bluebirds, House Finches, American Goldfinch to name a few.  Also the Ladder-backed Woodpecker of video stardom in my previous blog was still there.  I wonder if he is planning a nest at that location.

Here a couple of shots of a Yellow-rumped Warbler that I obtained.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

An Eastern Phoebe made an appearance, too.  Something familiar about that tree branch.

Eastern Phoebe

Meanwhile this squirrel watched all of the proceedings from above.

Squirrel

I hope you enjoyed this post and my photographs.  More to come in a few days, I hope.  Maybe that cold front will finally bring in some more of the birds that we have been missing.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

By the way, my book would make excellent Christmas gifts for that birder in your family.  Click on “Birds, Beasts and Buttes” on the right side of this page to get preview and order if you like.  For autographed copies, contact me at bobzeller@pobox.com.

Horoscopes are for the birds.

My horoscope this morning seemed to imply that I would be presenting you with a message with great authority.  I have no idea in the meaning of this.  I will probably give you a bit more of my nonsense enhanced with a few pictures.  How do astrologists come up with this stuff?  They explain that it is all in the ways the stars align.

Well, I can never see any stars align when I look at that wonderful Milky Way.  Heck, I took my trusty plumb-bob outside to check for some kind of alignment.  I couldn’t make out any two stars that seem to be in line with each other.  So I put that ol’ plumb-bob back in the garage with all of my plumbing tools.

Great Egret with sunfish

I went out yesterday to see if I could get some usable photos.  I came across this Great Egret, (Ardea alba), and I don’t think the stars were aligning for him as I watched him for twenty minutes, trying to swallow this sunfish.  He finally gave it up, contributed to the catch-and-release program.

Mute Swan

Now this Mute Swan, (Cygnus olor), felt very comfortable in his element.

Eastern Phoebe

As did the above Eastern Phoebe, (Sayornis phoebe).  So maybe there is something to be said about the alignment of stars being inducements.  Anyway, my thoughts on the stars are that there a heck of a lot of them.  Astronomers haven’t yet seen how far away the farthest one is, but so far they have seen nearly 400 billion light-years away.  I imagine that when they see the farthest one, they will see a plate-glass wall.  On the other side of the glass they will see a little kid with a dirty face.  He will have  lollipop in one hand, and a hammer in the other, that he is fixin’ to swing at the glass.

Well, enough of this nonsense for now.  My wife read this and clobbered me, and now I am seeing stars. 🙂

Return to K-Mart Creek

About four blocks from our home there is a vacated K-Mart store.  It has been empty for a few years, the parking lot overgrown with weeds.  It is located in the southwest part of San Angelo, on the frontage road that runs paralell to Loop 306.  Between the parking lot and the frontage road is a borrow ditch, or “bar-ditch” as we call them here in west Texas.

There is usually water running there, drainage and run-off, etc.  Birds of different species frequent the place.  Ann and I started referring to it as K-Mart Creek.  There would be herons, egrets, ducks and various others.  During the last year, during our terrible drought, it was dry most of the time, and there were very few birds.  Now with recent rains there is a little water and birds are beginning to return to the creek and the surrounding grasses.  A few days ago we spotted several Northern Pin-tailed Ducks.

Northern Pintail

This morning as we were coming home from breakfast, we decided, as we do often, to check out the ‘creek’.  There were no ducks this time, but in the brush along with a couple of White-winged Doves, there was this Eastern Phoebe.  We were in the parking lot side of the ditch, and the brush was on our side of the ditch.  I was able to use my Canon 7D with my Canon 100-400mm lens for the shot.  I also used the same set-up previously for the image of the Northern Pintail above.

Eastern Phoebe

Please click on either image to see nice enlargements.  Exposure data follows:

Northern Pintail: 1/1250 sec. @ f5.6, +0.3EV, ISO 800

Eastern Phoebe: 1/500 sec. @ f7.1, +0.7EV, ISO 1000