Valentine’s Day Weekend birding

February 15, 2016 by Bob Zeller

While trying to get my new computer up and running, I just had to take a few breaks to get out for some birding and photography. I needed to relieve the stress. But I certainly have a feeling of accomplishment. I had a few glitches and problems, but along with encouragement and help from my dear friend, Deb, up in Tennessee, and my wife, Ann, the job got done.

Because of time limitations, we just hit the local parks for a few hours. I managed to come away with a few usable photos. Also I believe we added about three more birds to our 2016 list. We are at 103 now for the year. The weather was really gorgeous. Hard to believe it is only mid-February.

First a Pied-billed Grebe in Lake Nasworthy at Spring Creek Park. These little guys are cuties.

Pied-billed Grebe

A Great Blue Heron at same location. He sat on this buoy for quite awhile.

Great Blue Heron

A Northern Flicker pecking away at something on the ground.

Northern Flicker

One of several Black-crested Titmouses along the brushy fence line. They re cute, but very feisty.

Black-crested Titmouse

The first spring American Robin for us, at Middle Concho Park.

American Robin

I hope you enjoy these photos. Click on any of them to see enlargements.

‘Till next time, Happy Birding!

Patience Pays in Photography

October 19, 2013 by Bob Zeller

This Friday afternoon it was quite cloudy and cool. Ann had finished grocery shopping and we wanted to visit San Angelo State Park and see how much water had been caught in our previously dry O. C. Fisher reservoir, after recent rains. After driving out there, we found the gates were locked. The park was closed for use of the dove hunters. So that will wait for another day.

After that I thought we should return to our favorite birding places near Lake Nasworthy. We stopped at Middle Concho Park for a little drive around. With the cool wind blowing and cloudy skies, I didn’t hope for much. But I told Ann, patience is the key. We may not see many birds, but we may get a surprise or two. As I predicted we saw nary a bird, until we were about to leave that park and we saw a hawk swoop thru the trees. We saw the approximate area that it went, so I drove towards that spot, watching the trees. After some close searching, we spotted a Cooper’s Hawk in a tree. It was the first Cooper’s that I had seen in several months. I was able to maneuver my vehicle so I could photograph it from a distance with my Canon EOS 7D and 500mm lens. Here is the result, a nice image of that beautiful bird.

Cooper’s Hawk

We left that park and ventured over to it’s sister, the Spring Creek Park. Driving through there we saw this Great Blue Heron, one of my favorite birds to photograph. It was hunting across the river. At one moment it decided to show off it’s wings and I took this shot, among others.

Great Blue Heron

We decided to go home, but since it was early and we had extra time, we decided to drive to Twin Buttes reservoir and see if our luck would continue. In a small tree we spotted this red-shafted Northern Flicker.

Northern Flicker – red-shafted

Then, lo and behold, in the same tree on another branch was this Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

So when you are out in the field, thinking that there is nothing going on, just be patient. You never know what might suddenly appear.

All of my images are cropped and post-processed in Photoshop CS5. Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Some ‘Thankful it’s Friday’ images.

November 30, 2012 by Bob Zeller

After a week of catching up with a few chores, getting over a little bout of sniffles, I am back at work. We went out for a bit this morning to get a few images for a post and was nicely rewarded, even though the birding was limited. I will post these for your enjoyment, I hope. One thing to mention, it seemed to be a day that the birds were wanting to get behind twigs or branches, but I think the images are acceptable. Click on the images to see some beautiful enlargements.

This Red-breasted Merganzer didn’t have the problem I described above. However, it was another lifer (number 255) for me. I had never seen one before.

Red-breasted Merganzer

Here is a big Red-tailed Hawk, and, ‘voila’, there is the branch I am talking about. But that is a problem that comes up often, and you can’t do anything about it, but accept it and make the best image you can.

Red-tailed Hawk in tree

A nice image of an Osprey with a large fish. I think that it is a fresh catch, and I think I saw the fish squirm a bit before the bird dug in for his meal. If you look close, you can see the fish’s eyes, perhaps looking up imploring for mercy from the bird.

Osprey with fish

A Northern Flicker. Again the tree branch didn’t obstruct enough to take away from the image.

Northern Flicker – red-shafted

Ah, an un-obstructed photo. This hawk was across the Middle Concho river from me, but it looks like he is still quite aware me.

Red-tailed Hawk – juvenile

So that’s it for today. I am sorry for the lateness of this post. Ann has been under the weather, I just had the sniffles plus I had to catch up on some other business obligations.

Images from Middle Concho Park

October 21, 2011 by Bob Zeller

Ann and I took a brief visit to Middle Concho Park a couple of days ago. Birds from the migration are starting to return. Eastern Bluebirds, American Coots, grebes, etc. Also I got this image of a Red-shafted Northern Flicker (Colapts auratus). It was the first flicker that I had seen this season.