Happy Decoration Day

Of course, we all know that it is now known as Memorial Day.  Originally called Decoration Day, to be observed celebrating and honoring the dead, military and civilian.  It was, and is,  a tradition to decorate the graves with flowers, flags, etc.  The name change happened around 1968.

Your’s truly, of course. My old hat has stood the test of time.

I am not good at selfies, but I thought I would toss this one to show that I am standing the test of time, too.  Ann says I should have smiled a little more to show off my new teeth. 🙂

My oldest memories of Decoration Day, as it was called when I was a child, was of my Dad and I listening to the Indianapolis 500 Auto Race.  The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, as it’s motto states.  The first time was probably about 1938.  I would have been four years old, and my dad was a big fan of that annual race.  It wouldn’t matter what we were doing, fishing, washing the car, or sitting in our living room, there was always a radio present so we could listen.  Then in later years, of course, we would be watching on television.  Thus, that is what I did yesterday, as I have done all those years, except for a couple of years during my military deployment.

The race has changed over the years.  The cars are faster but safer.  Back then the speeds were barely over 100 mph, but the gradually improved.  I remember when A. J. Foyt turned laps at the amazing speed of 160 mph.  Now, this year, qualifying speeds were around 230 mph.

Anyway, I had a most enjoyable weekend.  It started with a great telephone conversation with my dear best friend in Tennessee.  It had been perhaps a year or more since we had chatted by phone, but we keep pretty much in contact each month by e-mail.  She is also a very accomplished wildlife photographer, too.  So we always have things to talk about.  She and her husband are our closest friends.

We then spent a couple of hours birding at San Angelo State Park on Saturday morning.  The heat is starting to reach 100 degree temps, so the birding is starting to slow down.  The rest of the weekend we spent just hanging out at home, watching the Texas Rangers baseball games.

I did take a few hours to work on my  (click here) Fine Art America page, and my Gallery page that you access above.  I would so love to have some of you purchase my prints.  As low as 17.00 and change.  Buying is easy.  In my Gallery, I am putting direct links under each photo.  Click that link and a price list will appear, you only need to decide the size.  Or click the FineArtAmerica link above.

Painted Bunting

Of couse, I must continue my habit of posting at least one of my photographs with each post.  The Painted Bunting is one of the most beautiful birds around here.  They will be present here for most of the summer, to brighten the upcoming hot dry days.

I hope that all of my readers have a safe but fun Memorial Day weekend.  Until the next time, HAPPY BIRDING!!!

A Happy Cloudy Day…..What??

I awoke Sunday morning, and to my pleasant surprise the skies were cloudy.  Now, you may say what’s the big deal with that.  Well, I will tell you.  With the overcast skies, the light will be great for photography.  With cloudy skies, you avoid harsh shadows or bright hot spots that you get on bright sunny days.  Having said that, most of my photography is done on those bright sunny days.  Here in west Texas, if I had to wait for those cloudy days, my cameras would lay collecting dust.  Like the song says, “…and the skies are not cloudy all day……”

The reason for my happiness.  I had decided that since I haven’t been feeling too well, I would just go sit in the blind at San Angelo State Park for an hour or two.  Now that blind; the way it is situated, has terrible light in the morning sun.  Trees break up the light into either bright sun or dark shadows.  Not many areas of open shade.  To get any photos of birds, they usually are bright on one side and dark on the other.  In other words, it is difficult to get a nice photo with well-balanced light.

But even away from the blind, I would prefer cloudy days over sunny days.  Nice even light on all subjects and saturated color.  Now I am speaking as a bird photographer.  I am not looking for nice blue skies, as that is not a necessity for bird photos.  For landscapes and scenics, well that is a different subject altogether.

All of the photos that you see here in this post were photographed on that cloudy Sunday morning.

Yellow Warbler

This Yellow Warbler surprised us when it made an appearance in a nearby tree.  It is migrating from the south of Mexico and heading for it’s summer residence in middle United States.

Northern Bobwhite

This Northern Bobwhite just wandered in from some nearby brush area.  Notice no harsh light from the rocky background.

Northern Cardinal

Normally it would be difficult to get nice even light on this Northern Cardinal.  The reds really glare in open bright sunshine.

Mourning Dove

For some reason or other, I usually pass up photos of doves as they are so plentiful, but the overcast light brought out the nice colors.

House Sparrow

The same goes for this bird.  I have never seen a House Sparrow look so beautiful.

Curve-billed Thrasher

I love this mean-looking bird.  There’s a new sheriff in town

These photos were all shot at an ISO of 1600.  Shutter speed was about 1/1000 sec. with the aperture wide open.  Canon 7D Mk II with a Tamron 150-600mm Gen 2 zoom lens.  Cropping and post editing with Photoshop CS5.

Birding advice for San Angelo State Park

I live only three miles from San Angelo State Park, and most of you know from my posts, that I frequent the place four to five times a week.  I get a large percentage of my bird photographs there, but not where you would suspect.

Red-tailed Hawk

Occasionally, I stop at the bird blind to see what species might have stopped by.  During those visits I often see birders from out of town, that are camping there. I have found that most of them go only to the blind to see birds.  They don’t know what they are missing.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

I don’t know exact numbers, but I would suspect that there are 200-300 species that can be seen in the park, depending on the time of year.  As you know, they come and go with the migration and changing seasons.  But just a handful visit the blind.  That area mostly draws seed-eaters.  Remember, I said MOSTLY.  Others will stop by on occasion, because of the water feature.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

On a regular basis, you won’t see hawks, owls, egrets, flycatchers and other non-seed eating species.  Oh, yes, as I said, on a rare occasion one of these will stop by, if only for a drink of water, or to snatch an innocent sparrow.

Great Horned Owl

I would recommend to leave your campsite, get in your car and just drive slowly over the twenty something miles of roads.  Watch the trees and brush for movement and you can get some pleasant surprises.  It is always fun to come upon some warblers, kinglets or gnatcatchers darting around.

American White Pelicans

O.C. Fisher Lake is another great spot.  Pelicans, egrets, herons, grebes and other water birds can be seen at or from the shorelines.

American Avocet

So my advice is to spend a couple of hours just cruising the park.  You will be surprised how many bird you can see.  After that, go to the bird blind and pad your lists. 🙂

For prints of these and some of my other work click HERE.

Until my next post, HAPPY BIRDING!!!

 

Lifer 301…..My Virginia Rail

In the world of birding, a lifer is a bird that an individual has seen for the first time in his or her life.  When I got into serious bird photography about ten years ago, I was only interested in photographing them.  In that vein, as I captured them on film, I found that I needed to be able to tell people what I was photographing.  I then started buying various guides so I could learn about the different species.  I also found that there are 383 different species just in my local area of the Concho Valley.  In my edition of Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America, there are 854 species in the country.  Now get this, as of February 26, 2018, there are 648 species that can be seen in the state of Texas.  That is according to the Texas Birds Records Committee of the Texas Ornithological Society.    Wow!!  that is around 75% of the entire national count.  So if you want to see bird, Texas is the place to be.

Right now we are in the middle of spring migration.  Birds are moving north from Mexico, etc, to their northern homes.  Some stop here, others keep on moving more northerly.  So, the odds of seeing more unique birds is really great this time of year.  In the fall this is all reversed.

Anyway, as the years have gone by, I adopted the habit that most birders have, of keeping track of how many of these birds I have actually seen and have learned to identify.  Most I have photographed.  Others, I have observed closely with the help of more expert birders.  I have accumulated the “life list”.  I saw number 301 a few days ago.  It was my very first Virginia Rail, a very rare bird for the San Angelo area.

Virginia Rail

At the time, we, Ann and I, were watching for a Sora, another marsh bird, that had been reported.  We had arrived early, with a burrito and coffee, at the area where the Sora had been reported.  It was a small marshy area with reeds and cat-tails; the perfect habitat.  The Sora is a very shy bird that doesn’t like to show itself often.  So patience is the key.  We sat there for about 45 minutes while we finished our breakfast.  We were about to leave, when Ann saw a little movement.  We got some teasing little peeks through the grasses, then….what the??  I saw an orange bill.  Hey, wait a minute, Sora’s don’t have orange bills.  A few seconds later, the Virginal Rail, pictured above finally ventured into the open.

The Virginal Rail and the Sora both winter in Mexico and east along the gulf coast.  They then migrate to spend summer the northern states.  It was during this migratory trip that they decided to stop off here in San Angelo.  Possibly traveling companions.  Anyway, a few minutes after this exciting event, the Sora that we were originally looking for came out of the reeds at almost the same location.

Sora

So, getting a ‘tofer’ made for an exciting morning.  Getting great photos of each added a little sugar.  You can see my entire Life List by clicking on that button at the top of this page.

Until the next time

HAPPY BIRDING!!

 

A new (May)day dawns.

I have been doing a lot of thinking since my last post, considering what kind of changes I can make to keep my Texas Tweeties blog interesting.  Also since that post, I have acquired over one hundred new subscribers.  Of course, that shows me that I might not need to make major changes at all.  However, one thing I might do, is to sometimes touch on stories of my past, and I do have many.  For example, how many of you knew that I tried to be a piano tuner once?  Or an award winning paper boy? (Some great stories on that one.)  Just a couple of the things from my mysterious past.

Of course, my blog title of Texas Tweeties, is in line with my photography of birds.  A friend of mine chose that name for me.  However, it has nothing to do with Twitter and those kind of tweets.  You might say that I have been tweeting long before our president started tweeting.  I had considered once to change that title, but it caused too much of an uproard among my readers, so Texas Tweeties shall remain thy name.

Another major change is that I don’t do my own printing anymore.  My aging, but excellent Epson printer is giving me problems.  It has served me well the past few years, but I just can’t afford to replace it.  But not to worry, you can go to my FineArtAmerica site and order my work in any size you desire.  You also have the option of different types of paper, mats and framing.  You can also order coffee mugs and other home decor featuring my photographs.  Just go to this link FineArtAmerica, click the image you are interested in.  Drop-down menus will show sizes and prices.  You can order direct.

Oh, yes, before I forget about it, I have been feeling better. Not 100%, but getting there.  I am getting head movement therapy at the West Texas Rehab Center.  Hopefully my bouts of dizziness will subside.  But with feeling better, Ann and I got out a little in the past few days and got a few photographs.  My highlight was spotting this Common Yellowthroat.  They are very shy little birds.  They hang out in dense brush mostly.  You can hear them before you see them, or maybe never see them.  It can be very frustrating.  However, this one made an appearance for a few minutes, giving me ample time to get several exposures.

Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat

Also, while driving around the parks near Lake Nasworthy, we spotted this Great Egret in her breeding colors.

Great Egret in breeding plumage.

Well, that is all for this post.  I’ll be back in a few days with more exciting stuff.

Happy Birding!!

Rumors of my passing are unfounded…..

Yes, I am still around and I have realized that it has been about two months since my last post.  To be truthful, I have considered discontinuing this blog.  I guess it was probably that I had the winter blues, etc.  Anyway, I just couldn’t get myself pumped up to write.  But I still had people reading my older posts, and some others subscribed, hopeful for new articles to come.  I decided to give it another try.

Then, about the tenth of March, about midnight, I was awokened with the urge to go to the bathroom to relieve myself.  As I started to rise from the bed, all of a sudden I was hit with a ferocious attack of vertigo.  Have you ever heard someone say, that the room was spinning?  Hey, it happened.  I couldn’t focus on anything, because it kept whizzing past my eyes and on around the bedroom.  I was so off balance I couldn’t get off the bed.   My wife called 911, and the EMTs were there in minutes.  The fire station is only about six blocks away.  They helped me, carried me to the bathroom so I could finish what I started out to do.  This while the room was still spinning and I couldn’t focus on anything.  Needless to say, I then got very nauseous, along with all that goes with it.

I will spare all of the details, except to say I am sorry for the EMT who had to clean the ambulance afterwards.  Not a fun trip.  I was kept in the hospital for a couple of days while, with the help of anti-nausea meds, I finally could walk without looking like Tim Conway.  Anyway, I have had problems with my dizziness and off-balance since then.  I have an appointment on April 30, (three days to go), at West Texas Rehab where they are going to do some therapy that will hopefully cure it once and for all.

Through all that, I haven’t done much with my birding and photography.  I have been only able to get to the field for periodic short trips, when I have little periods of near normalcy for maybe an hour here and there.  Here are a few photographs that I managed to get in those little forays.  Just click and scroll down.

Great Egret in breeding plumage.

Vesper Sparrow

Greater Roadrunner

Pied-billed Grebe

Merlin

Canyon Towhee

Cinnamon Teal

Loggerhead Shrike

American Kestrel

Bell’s Vireo

Grasshopper Sparrow

Most of these photos were captured around the San Angelo area.  There have been reports of Painted Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, various warblers and other spring birds coming in the past few days.  So hopefully, by my next post, I will have gotten several photos of those birds.  That should be sometime next week.

I hope you enjoyed this brief post and the photographs.  Until my next post………

Happy Birding!!!

Waiting for Spring

Cold weather here in San Angelo, with drizzle and freezing temps.  A few days ago it was near 80 degrees.  But wait.  In a couple of days it will be back to near spring temperatures again.  Such is living in west Texas.  Anyway, I am anxious for spring and the spring migration.  Needless to say, with the ups and downs of the weather, birding is pretty slow.

Because of that, my blog posts have been a bit slow, too.  But I am taking advantage of such lulls to get personal projects done.  I got my two broken front teeth replaced.  Crowns on those and the two adjacent canine teeth.  However one glitch.  When installing the four crowns, one that was supposed to go on one of the canines, accidentally fell off and I swallowed it.  Such fun.  Got x-rayed to confirm it and another is ordered.

But in between dental appointments and drizzly days, we did manage a few outings.  Here are a few images from those forays into the wild.

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owls had been missing from Spring Creek Park, where we had seen them the past few years.  Finally a couple of weeks ago, a pair finally show up.  This is the male.  The female usually takes flight and heads across the water.  I have not determined where or if they have  nest.

Greater Roadrunner

For some reason, probably because of the changeable weather, it was a few weeks into the near year before we spotted a Greater Roadrunner.  Finally a fellow birder tipped us off of one at Middle Concho Park.  You can see, this one looks like a young one.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

This is one my better photos a Ladder-backed Woodpecker.  I have gotten some in the past, but I was never as satisfied with them as I am of this one.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I never tire of trying to photograph these tiny kinglets.  It takes great effort and lots of photos to get one in focus.  The are feisty, fast little guys.  Constantly on the move.  On this one, I got a glimpse of the red crown that they expose occasionally.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

I believe the Golden-fronted Woodpecker is one of the most photogenic birds.  I love photographing them when I get the opportunity.  This one is a male, identified by the red crown atop the head.

Eastern Phoebe

The ever-popular Eastern Phoebe.  Cute little guys.  Always around.

Canyon Towhee

I was fortunate to catch this Canyon Towhee pretty close to me and singing his heart out.

That is all of the photos that I will to show at this time.  Again, I hope you enjoy all of my posts.  With nice weather on the horizon, I hope to get out in the field again soon.

Shooting from a blind or in the wild…….

I am a bit late with my first post of the year.  Not any huge reason for it, just a few scattered things that took up much of my time.  Of course, I could blame part of it on the weather which at times, has been a bit nasty.  Then there was a problem, not finished, that I am replacing my two front teeth with a bridge.  They had broken off and at first it looked that they would be extracted.  Then the dentist said they could be saved with a bridge.  So that was the option I decided on.  He did a root canal on each of them to start things.  Then there was the two-week healing time.  Then I went back last week to get ‘fitted’ for the new bridge.  Again, I am waiting for it to be finished, and finially on February 13, I will have a new shining smile.

Great Horned Owl

So during that time, with those delays and the weather, I didn’t get out much.  However, on other projects, my calendar went well.  I still have a few left if anybody is interested.  Just contact me in the comments for more information.

Cooper’s Hawk

I read an interesting post by a fellow nature photographer Jim Miller.  He frequents the various blinds and photo ranches around the state.  You can click here to read it.  If you like to photograph from bird blinds you will find it informative.  Personally, I don’t use blinds very often.  I prefer to get out in the wild and hunt down my photo opportunities.  I find it more fun and challenging.  The downside of photo blinds is you get so many photos that are repetitive, as the different birds resting on the same tree stump, etc.  But they do make nice posed portraits.  Also, there is the danger of including seed and feeders in the shots.  However, the better organized photo ranches try to avoid having that sort of thing in the camera’s line of sight.

Then there is the price.  It can cost anywhere from 150.00 and up to spend any time at those photo ranches.  Of course, there are perks. Comfortable chairs in a comfortable environment.  Well placed perches and seeds to lure the birds to the area.  You just have to sit back and wait for the birds to arrive.

Here in San Angelo there is a blind at the state park.  No cost to use it.  I use it on occasion, perhaps once in a two-month period.  It is decent and attracts birds.  However on that note, there are birds that are not attracted to bird blinds, simply because they are not seed eaters.  Examples are hawks, owls, flycatchers.  But even they, will occasionally make an appearance because of the water feature.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

All of the photos in this post are captured in the wild.  In fact, about 95% of the photos I have posted here over the years have been taken in the wild.  I travel the parks and back roads of west Texas, in my quest for wildlife photos.  I use my Ford Escape as a mobile blind, shooting from the window.  I use a SafariPack bean bag for stabilization by draping it over the window sill.  My set-up of choice is a Canon 7D Mark II with a Tamron 150-600mm Gen 2 zoom lens.

Here are a few more images from the past few weeks.  As I mentioned above, all photographed in the wild.

Belted Kingfisher

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Bobwhite

American Kestrel

So, it doesn’t matter what your preference is.  Photographing from a blind, or doing as I do, prowling the wild.  It is the the final outcome that is important.  Whatever you enjoy doing the most.  I hope you enjoyed this post and the photos.  Until the next time……..

Happy Birding or Happy Shooting to all!!!

 

Raptors ‘R’ Us – Part II

Okay, getting back to my chatter about raptors……..  I believe I left off with discussing the Red-tailed Hawks.  I might as well add this photo that I captured a couple days ago, after I published part I.

Red-tailed Hawk

Another hawk that is similar to the Red-tailed, is the Swainson’s Hawk.  In fact, when I got into birding and was new, I often confused the two.  They are a stately bird.  That dark bib is one of my favorite markers for this specie.

Swainson’s Hawk

Swainson’t Hawk

I love watching the Northern Harrier.  Some people refer to him as the Grey Ghost. It hunts by flying low over the grasslands.  It’s eyes seemingly never leave the ground.  I have found them very difficult to photograph, but in truth, I have had few opportunites to do so.  When I do see one, it usually takes me by surprise, as it flies by.  However, I am proud of this photo that I captured on a trip to the Davis Mountains.  I spotted it from my car as it was streaking across the land.  I stopped the car, and caught it as it turned around and made a return flyby.  Not one of my best technically, but I do like the composition.  It is readily identified by that large white spot on it’s rear.

Northern Harrier on the hunt.

One raptor that is rarely seen here in the Concho Valley is the Crested Caracara.  Sometimes known locally as a Mexican Eagle.  It is more familiar in south and central Texas.  It is a peculiar looking bird, and it sometimes can be seen hanging out with the vultures, eating road-kill along the highways.  I did get a few photos while visiting our friends at Uvalde, Texas.  He is not wearing a toupee.

Crested Caracara

Another hawk that favors the southern part of the state, is the Harris’s Hawk.  I was able to capture several images of this bird when visiting Uvalde.  It seemed that it was everywhere.  Of course, as usual, I was hunting them from the car.

Harris’s Hawk

Harris’s Hawk

There are two hawks that confuse birders and cause great debates about identification of the two.  I am talking about the Cooper’s Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk.  They are very similar.  I will offer a photo of each here.  The Cooper’s has the black-cap on a flattish shaped head.  Also the eyes are set forward more.  The Sharp-shinned lacks the black cap and has a more round head shape.  Even then, I imagine that I will get letters disputing my IDs.  I am definitely no expert, but this is my story and I am sticking to it. 🙂

Cooper’s Hawk.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The Red-shouldered is a slightly larger bird.  It is easily identified with that red area on the shoulder.  This one was photographed at the Hummer House Bird Sanctuary in Christoval, Texas.

Red-shouldered Hawk

The White-tailed Hawk is one that I know very little about.  It usually lives in far southeast Texas.  However, I photographed this one near Uvalde.  A friend helped me with the identification.

White-tailed Hawk

Before I forget, I must include the Osprey, a fish-eating raptor.

Osprey

Getting into some of the smaller hawks, I have seen and photographed a Merlin several times at San Angelo State Park.  At only ten inches tall, they still look formidable.  You can see that look of innocence, though.  Here are two of my favorite photos of one.

Merlin

Merlin

Ah, my definite favorite of the tiny hawks is the American Kestrel.  Beautiful marking.  A very feisty raptor that can sometimes act benign and easy to photograph, or often as not, give me a merry chase through the countryside.  It depends on his mood.  This particular image is one of the latter.  I was in a mini-van at the time several years ago, driving through San Angelo State Park.  Ann was with me, and this little bird moved from tree to tree, finally stopping and giving me nice views of his tail feathers.

American Kestrel

Finally, I am going to end this raptor series with one of the fastest falcons on the planet.  We were at San Angelo State Park, watching the brush for some warblers, when something flashing by caught my eye.  It zipped past some trees and out of sight with great speed.  I told Ann, I just have to go see if I can see if and where that bird might have  landed.  She started to protest, but I had the keys and was driving.  The effort paid off, as we didn’t go far.  It had landed atop a picnic table shelter.   I was able to get shots from afar, but since it didn’t move, I was able to maneuver in closer with the car.  It continued to sit as I took several photos.  I discovered then that it was a young bird.

Peregrine Falcon

Here is an adult that I photographed a few years back.

Peregrine Falcon

This concluded my 2-part series about the raptors of the Texas bird world.  There are a few more species, but as of this date, I have yet to see or photograph.  When I do, you will be the first to know. 🙂

So on this date, December 31, 2017, I want to wish everybody a fantastic Happy New Year and best wishes for a great 2018.

Happy Birding!!!

Raptors ‘R’ Us – Part I

A cold Tuesday morning here in San Angelo as I begin writing this post.  We had below freezing temps and freezing rain overnight.  A hot drink type of day.  So, I am sitting here,  cussing and discussing in my mind what to write about.  I believe that since I recently wrote a post about the tiny, cute birds, I will focus on the big guys this time.  The raptors that are found in Texas. I think I will do this in two parts, as I found going through my images, that there are quite a few of these species.

In my mind, the word raptor conjures up images of large flying creatures with fiery eyes, giant claws and smoke coming out of their noses.  Of course, in reality, that is not so.  Many of them are very small birds and quite cute.  I may be questioned about this, but my definition of raptors is any bird that is aggressive in it’s hunt for live prey.  Take the innocent looking Loggerhead Shrike.  He may have that Lone Ranger mask, but trust me, he is not looking to save the pretty girl and ride off into the sunset.  He has the heart of a killer.  He catches his prey and impales them on sharp cactus spines or the barbs of a barbed wire.

Loggerhead Shrike

But let’s begin with the largest birds.  The eagles, i.e. the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagle.

Out here in west Texas, eagles are scarce so I don’t get many opportunities to photograph them.  But I did get lucky, getting my very first Golden Eagle.  We were on a recent trip to the Davis Mountains.  We were given a tip that if we drove the highway 505 from the Davis Mountains south towards Valentine, Texas, there might be some of those eagles along there.  Sure enough, we had gone only a couple of miles along that road and we came upon a Golden Eagle munching on some roadkill.  It took me by surprise and the eagle was equally surprised.  It took off and headed for a fence post, only about a hundred feet from me.  I immediately stopped the car.  I was shaking and in a sweat, and I scrambled to get my camera lens on him.  I couldn’t believe my luck, as I sat there clicking away and getting several exposures before he took off.  I had never been this close to one of these gorgeous birds.  But alas, in my excitement, I forgot to check my camera settings and I came away with some over-exposed images.  I could only try to salvage what I could out of them.  Here is what I got.

Golden Eagle

Here is a photo of a juvenile Golden Eagle that I photographed back in about 2008 when I was visiting relatives in Michigan.  It was about 40 feet up in an evergreen tree.  I had to set up my tripod about a half block away to get an angle from where I could shoot and capture the image with my Canon 500mm f4 lens.  He was a young bird, and was scrambling around the nest, just getting ready to fledge.

Golden Eagle, juvenile

There was a pair of Bald Eagles that nested along the highway near Llano, Texas.  We decided to take a drive down there to check them out several years ago.  It was a very cold morning, but there were several other photographers there toughing it out.  We were impressing each other with our big lens set-ups.  The eagles were quite far away, but I manage to get a few shots, including this image of one of the pair leaving the nest.

Bald Eagle leeving the nest.

The only other time I had a chance to photograph a Bald Eagle was on a trip to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.  What a wonderful place that is.  All types of birds, waterfowl, raptors, etc.  Anyway, I liked this photo of a Bald Eagle that I captured.  He was far off and had his back to me.

Bald Eagle

At one point, we were observing some Northern Shovelers swing along in some wetlands of the Bosque, when a Red-tailed Hawk tried to pounce on one of them.  From out of nowhere, a Bald Eagle swooped down and grabbed the duck away from the much surprised hawk.

Moving right along here, let’s talk about the Common Black-Hawk.  It is also a large hawk that summers in some isolated spots of west Texas.  I found this one in Big Bend National Park.  Apparently, there is a pair that returns annually and nests near the Rio Grand Village RV park.  The National Park Service knows of the nest, and has the area marked off to keep people from getting too close.  With my long lens, of course, I had no problem.

Common Black-Hawk

How about this Zone-tailed Hawk.  It is very similar to the Common Black-Hawk.  The Zone-tailed Hawk, however, likes to hang with the vultures.  The way it perches, flies, and feeds, it does look like he is emulating them.

Zone-tailed Hawk

The predominant hawk in this area of west Texas is the Red-tailed Hawk.  It has many variations but one thing remains.  The tail is red on all of the adults.  It is the largest of the hawks here.  I have hundreds of photos of them as they are my favorite to photograph when I get the opportunity.  Here are a three of my favorite images.

I caught this one as he was in a screaming dive to catch either a rabbit or a smaller rodent.  I couldn’t tell for sure.  But he was intent on making the capture.

Red-tailed Hawk

As you can see in the photo below of a juvenile, they are a very beautiful bird.

Red-tailed Hawk, juvenile

This photo of an adult in flight shows you how intimidating they can be.

Red-tailed Hawk

I think I will end this Part I of my raptor series right here.  Next post, Part II, will be about the Swainson’s, Cooper’s, Sharp-shinned hawks, and many more.  Watch for it soon.  I hope you have enjoyed these so far.

Happy Birding!!