Recent Odds and Ends…..

The weather is continuing to be warm, read very warm, and the birds continue to be stressed and they keep to themselves hidden somewhere in the trees and landscape.  However, that doesn’t stop Ann and I from getting out a couple of hours each morning.  Although not getting many images, I have lucked out and got a few nice ones.  Here is a collection, mostly from the past several months that I believe that I may not have ever posted here.  Some may be even older.  My Facebook readers will probably recognize many of them.  If you can, PLEASE view this on a computer.  That way if you click on any image, you can see some very beautiful enlargements.

This Painted Bunting we found at an old mudhole that was on the verge of drying up.  If I were to go there this morning, I am sure it would be dry.  Anyway, I think this is one of my favorite photos of this bird, and I think it is a great start to this blog post.

Painted Bunting

This Greater Roadrunner that I photographed yesterday at San Angelo State Park ranks as one of my best of that species.  I love the way the light enhanced the various colors of the feathers.

Greater Roadrunner

Since I have been spending more time in the house, I have been at the computer going through images from the past few months, that I hadn’t edited or sorted.  This Pyrrhuloxia was photographed in the early morning light of July 21 of this year.

Pyrrhuloxia

We came across this Greater Roadrunner one day at San Angelo State Park.  He was so close to me that I opted to get a portrait of him.  I found it quite interesting.

Greater Roadrunner

I never pass up a chance to photograph these tiny Vermilion Flycatchers

Vermilion Flycatcher

In the birding community, the females don’t usually get their due.  The female Grosbeak, in my opinion is a beautiful bird as you might agree.

Blue Grosbeak – female

One of the cutest birds that I know of, is the Black-crested Titmouse.  But they also are very feisty and you don’t like to be messed with.

Black-crested Titmouse

At the Hummer House down near Christoval, Texas I as enjoying photographing the many, many hummgbirds there.  I thought this image moved the cute meter up a notch.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Of all of my Great Horned Owl photos, I rank this image as one of my personal favorites.  I try to photograph this species at every opportunity.

Great Horned Owl

This photo would fool you.  As a juvenile Curve-billed Thrasher, it has neither the curved bill nor the orange eye of the adult.

Curve-billed Thrasher – juvenile

Another bird that is difficult photograph is the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  To happen to catch one with the red crown showing is a bonus.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Another one with the same degree of difficulty is the cute little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

When I was much younger and not at all interested in birds of any kind, I used to think that all the little ones were sparrows.  The medium size up was all pigeons.  The really big birds. think large and XX large, were all eagles.  Then the ones on water were all ducks.   But now that I am getting more educated in the avian species, boy, am I ever getting surprised.   I have found that there are over fifty different species of sparrows alone. Wow! Holey-moly, Batgirl!!  Who’da thought!  Well, this Grasshopper Sparrow is one of the more unusual ones.

Grasshsopper Sparrow

I think that will be all for this post.  I hope you have enjoyed reading and seeing the photographs.

’til next time,

Happy Birding!!!

Visit to the Hummer House

The Hummer House is actually a B&B resort near Christoval, Texas, about 20 miles south of San Angelo.  It consists of the original Hummer House, the name of the first cottage constructed there, plus two newer additions, a four bedroom lodge, and a nice cozy one bedroom bungalow.  In addition there is an observation room with a large window measuring by my own estimates about 30 feet long by about 9 feet high.  A perfect setting to view and photographs birds and wildlife in air-conditioned comfort.  However, guests have the option of roaming around the several acres of woodland and a flowing river.

On our visit, because of the heat, Ann and I opted to sit in the observation room.  There were several other people in there doing the same.  The birds were active, especially hundreds of Black-chinned Hummingbirds.  Here is my favorite image of one of them.  I got lucky and happened to get a head-on flight image.

“Gear down, full flaps, I’m coming in”.

By the way, I was using my Canon 7D Mark II and a Tamron 150-600mm lens mounted on a mono-pod.  Feel free to click on any image to see an enlargement.  They look great if you will view them on a computer.

One of the favorite birds that people like to see at the Hummer House is this Painted Bunting.

Painted Bunting

In addition, I was able to photograph this White-eyed Vireo, before the sun got to high.  It was perched on a little wire structure over the water feature.

White-eyed Vireo

This Summer Tanager was doing the same, enjoying the water spray that comes on periodically.

Summer Tanager

The observation room is open to the public on Friday evening from 7:00PM until 9:00PM, and on Saturdays from 9:00AM until 3:00PM.  Dan and Cathy Brown would welcome you.

I hope you enjoyed this post and the images.

Happy Birding!!

Where’s the spring??

Wow, I am wondering about all of this crazy weather.  Yesterday we almost set a record high at 96 degrees.  But…..by 10:00PM the temp had dropped into the 40s.  Today’s high will be in the 50s.  So, I am wondering if and when we will actually get some permanent springtime temps.  But I must say that the 96 yesterday looked like we were going to skip spring altogether, go directly to summer without passing Go and getting our 200.00.   Such is the weather in west Texas.

We took a short visit to the Hummer House in Christoval a couple of days ago.  We were a bit early for most of the birds that frequent there.  We did see several Black-chinned Hummingbirds, some Northern Cardinals, Black-crested Titmouses, and some sparrows.  We decided to head back to San Angelo and went to the blind at San Angelo State Park.

Here are a couple of photos from the day.

Black-crested Titmouse at the Hummer House in Christoval, Texas.

Northern Cardinal at San Angelo State Park

After getting home later, my neighbor called to say that there was a large hawk flying around the neighborhood.  I grabbed my Canon EOS 7D and 100-400mm zoom lens and ran outside.  With my binoculars I spotted him high in the sky.  I took the shot below, but because of the extreme distance, it was difficult to get much of a picture.  However, this heavily cropped image does clearly show the marking of a Swainson’s Hawk.

Swainson’s Hawk in flight.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Images from Hummer House Nature Retreat

I am still going through old images whenever I have extra time.  Today I came across a few more from a trip in May 2010 to the Hummer House Nature Retreat, at Christoval, Texas.  Here are a couple of those gems.

Bathing Painted Bunting

I should have entered this in Karma’s Rainbow colored Photo hunt. 🙂  The Painted Bunting is truly a hand-painted masterpiece from the Man himself.

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon 500mm IS lens with 1.4 tele-converter
• 1/640 sec. @ f9 – minus 2/3 EV adjustment
• ISO 250
• Lens focal distance – 700mm
• Metering – partial
• Aperture priority

Eastern Phoebe

It is amazing that I have never posted a photo of an Eastern Phoebe before this.  It could be that they are hard to get close to, and I have usually seen them only from a distance.  For both of these shots, I was inside an air-conditioned observation room and photographing through a plate glass window.

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon 500mm IS lens with 1.4 tele-converter
• 1/400 sec. @ f7.1
• ISO 500
• Lens focal distance – 700mm
• Metering – partial
• Aperture priority

Click on either image to see an enlargement.

Red-shouldered Hawk

I recently had the experience of seeing a Red-shouldered Hawk  (Buteo limeatus) sitting on the nest.  Later I saw him swoop down to get to a piece of raw meat on the ground.  This took place at Dan Brown’s Hummer House and bird refuge.  Dan, himself, tossed out the meat.  I was on hand with my Canon 7d with a 500mm lens, attached to a Manfrotto tripod.  My goal was to photograph the hawk as he grabbed the meat.  I was a little slow, or the bird was very, very fast.  Take your pick.  I prefer to say that he was just too fast for me. 🙂

Feeding Red-Shouldered Hawk

Anyway I missed the shot, but I did get a nice image of him feeding on the meat.   Sibley’s describes the Red-shouldered Hawk as a small forest buteo, usually found near water, hunts mainly mammals, some reptiles and amphibians from perches.  It is rather compact, stocky, and accipiter-like with relatively short, broad wings; all show translucent pale crescent across wingtips.  It has a noticeable red area on the shoulders.  This next photo shows him sitting on a tree branch.

Red-shouldered Hawk

On an earlier trip to the Davis Mountains, we spotted this next one in an open field, watching for a meal.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Enjoy the photos and click on any of them to see an enlargement.

In other news, Suzanne and Sid Johnson, of  Eldorado, Texas were fortunate to see a Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) near the south entrance to San Angelo State Park on Saturday, January 8.   Dr. Terry Maxwell of Angelo State University, stated there has only been around eight sightings of that species in this area in the past half-century.   Naturally, I have been on the watch since then to try to get a glimpse of it myself.  So far, my search has been in vain.

Happy Birding

Just Singin’ in the Rain

A couple of photographs of a Black-chinned Hummingbird, singing (actually humming) happily in the rain.  They were under a mister and getting pretty wet.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

 

These energetic birds were photographed at Dan and Cathy Brown’s ranch at Christoval, Texas.  I used my Canon 7D with  a 500mm lens and a 1.4 tele-converter.  It was mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with a Wimberley gimbal head.  Shooting distance was about 40 feet.  Click on either image to see and enlargement.

Hawks, Hawks, Hawks!

To me  there is hardly anything more beautiful than a hawk soaring through the air, on the hunt for prey.  I love to photograph them on the wing whenever possible.  But I take what I can get.  For example the Zone-tailed Hawk pictured here was perched in the rain, getting soaking wet.  That was the first one I had ever seen and that, of course, is the only photograph that I have, and I was lucky to get it, as it flew away seconds after I took the shot.  The Zone-tailed Hawk is often mistaken for a vulture because of it’s slouching posture when perching and it’s similar flying habits.

wet Zone-tailed Hawk

I have something new for my blog posts now.  When I am discussing subjects, such as  birds, animals, flowers, etc., I can assign a link, if one is available, to them as in the paragraph above.  If you click on any of those links, they will take to you to more in-depth articles.  So today I am going to show you some of my hawk photographs. 

First up is a Red-shouldered Hawk that I photographed at the Hummer House near Christoval, Texas.  Dan Brown, the owner, had put some meat out for it, and after devouring it, the bird perched in the tree.

Red-shouldered Hawk

 The following is a Northern Harrier that I photographed at San Angelo StatePark.  It was doing it’s usual thing, of flying low over the mesquite and brush.  Again it didn’t come close enough to me to get a great picture, but the image that I did get shows the distinct white wide stripe on the lower back and tail.

Northern Harrier

The Cooper’s Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk are very similar in appearance except that the Coopers is about 5 inches taller.  Other than that, they both are long-tailed and short-winged, and are agile in maneuvering to catch their prey. These two photos were both taken at San Angelo State Park.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

One of the larger buteo hawks is the Swainson’s Hawk.  This one was perched on the cross-bar of a utility pole outside the entrance to San Angelo State Park.

Swainson's Hawk

The buteo to which all other hawks are compared is the Red-tailed Hawk.  Similar in size to the Swainson’s hawk but very conspicuous with the red tail.  This is one that I was lucky enough to catch in flight, and one of my personal favorites.

Red-tailed Hawk

I hope you have enjoyed todays photos.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Another lucky day

Gosh, I seem to stumble into some great photo opportunites.  This morning on the way to the San Angelo State Park, we barely got three blocks from the house when Ann spotted a White-tailed deer; a doe and two fawns cavorting in a vacant lot near the Walmart.  This is actually not that un-common for that area because this location is very near the city limits, right where the brush and mesquite start.

The deer were on my right and I didn’t see them right away.  I whipped into an illegal U-turn to go back, and fortunately they had crossed the road and ended up on the right side of the street.  I slowly pulled to the curb, all the time praying that they would hang around for a few seconds more.  Luck was with me and I managed to snap off a few images through the passenger side window. 

White-tailed Deer with fawn

Yesterday, Ann, Jodie and I made a trip to the Hummer House down at Christoval, Texas.  They sell some of my work there and I had to check my inventory.  I was lucky to find that they were almost out of my note-cards so I replenished the stock.

We decided to hang around and shoot a few photos.  I let Jodie use my 500mm lens to try out.  I think she is getting the urge to buy one.  She says she thinks whe is ready to “run with the big boys”.  This is one of her photos of a Painted Bunting, and with this result I agree with her.

Painted Bunting

Yesterday afternoon, I finally got my copy of National Wildlife Magazine, and lo and behold my photo of the two Black-tailed Prairie Dogs was on the back cover.  I had been previously been told that it would be on one of the inner pages.  So, obviously I am excited about that.  It is the August-September issue.

Happy Birding! and click on either photo for an enlargement.

End of a week, Start of a month

Spotted Sandpiper

It’s the end of the week but starting a brand new month.  I’m going to show you a few highlights of the past week.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

On Tuesday Ann and I decided to take our friend Jodie Wolslager on a little birding trip.  We headed to Eldorado first to tour the water waste ponds there.  There are always a good selection of waterfowl there, and you never know when you might get surprised.  Suzanne Johnson had e-mailed us that there were about the thirty-seven White-faced Ibises there the previous day.  By the time we got there the count was down to nine.  But nevertheless I obtained some photos.

White-faced Ibises

We also saw some Yellow-headed Blackbirds, both adult and juvenile.  We saw Spotted Sandpipers and a few other sandpiper types that we were unable to identify for certain.  Also in attendance were probably one thousand Wilson’s Phalaropes.

Leaving there we headed to Christoval and back to our favorite place the Hummer House.  

Wilson's Phalaropes

A great collection of birds there, many more than than what we saw on a previous trip.  Our first Painted Buntings of the season, Summer Tanagers, Pine Siskins, Vermilion Flycatcher. Lesser Goldfinches, plus many others.

This morning Ann and I were out at the San Angelo State Park to give a little presentation on birds for a group of Girl Scouts.  I guess because of the cooler weather this morning, most of the birds stayed away.  However, we were treated to a young male Wild Turkey that entered stage left, and left stage right.  We did see a couple of Bullock’s Orioles though.

Upon leaving the park Ann and I spotted our firse Common Nighthawk of the season.  He was perched as always, parallel on a branch.  I got a few nice photos which I will post one here.  After I took the photos, another birding

Common Nighthawk

 friend of ours, Jimmy Villers, drove up with his wife.  She had never seen a nighthawk before, so she got quite thrill out of it.

Click on any photo to see an enlargement.

Happy Birding!!

Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)

Well we made it to the Hummer House yesterday.  What a beautiful day for birding it was.   Saw a good collection of birds, but not as plentiful as there will be in a couple of weeks.  We did see a Painted Bunting, among others, but the highlight of the day was seeing the Red-shouldered Hawk nest.  This hawk is not common for this area as it mostly resides to the east of here. 

I hope to make more trips there so I can see the progress of the young ones after they have hatched.  I have posted some of my photos here for your enjoyment.  I am rather proud of them.  One image shows the hawk on the nest, the others are two images of  he or she in a nearby tree.

In other news Susanne Johnson reported 25 White-faced Ibises are (or were) at the water treatment ponds down in Eldorado,  plus some other water and shore birds.  Jodie Wolslager sent me a photo of about 25 Yellow-headed Blackbirds that she saw near the country club.  I had personally never seen such a large flock of those beautiful birds.  I may venture out that way later this evening to see if I can find them.  Also Sue Oliver sent me a photo of a Greater Roadrunner that she took near her house.

Red-shouldered Hawk on nest

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk