They’re Titmouses, not Titmice

Catchy title to get your attention.  I was sitting here trying to decide what to post about.  I have been idle, just goofing off for the past week or so.  Time to write, but what to write about.  Time for the old “throw the dart trick”.  I threw the dart, it bounced off the wall and fell to the floor.  So much for that deal. So I flipped a coin, and it came up Titmouse.  Don’t ask…..

I haven’t written about Titmouses, not Titmice, in quite some time, maybe never.  I don’t recollect.  Anyway here in the west we have the Black-crested Titmouse, and in the east they have the Tufted Titmouse.  Same bird except the difference in the tufted little crown.  It’s grey in the east, by the way.  The dividing line is somewhere around the center of Texas, and you’ll see each of them around there.  To be truthful, they don’t go any farther west.  Hmmm..

I dug through the old archives;  actually old files, but I like to call them archives.  It sounds more impressive, don’t ya think?  You would think from that, they are carefully stored for generations to come.  Not.  I actually just file them away in my image file, where they may or may not get lost, depending on how careful I am with tagging them.

In those archives, I found these images that you might enjoy.

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse being hassled by a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-crested Titmouse

And there you have it.  My best collection of Titmouses.  I need to get out more.  I need to sharpen that dart, too.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

No Magic with this Merlin

With this little hawk, you get what you see.  The Merlin is a feisty, speedy little hawk that can catch birds and insects in midair, using level sprints or quick turns.  I photographed this one back in October, as he was hanging on in the wind to a small shrub.  At first I thought it may have been a Prairie Falcon, but the spacing of the banded tail and heavy streaking on the breast told me that it was most likely a Merlin.

Merlin

Merlin

Merlin

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Quiz No. 7 – New Bird Quiz

For this week’s quiz I am going to change it up a bit and see how you like it.  One of the photos is a Bronzed Cowbird, (Molothrus aeneus).  Look them over closely, consult your guides, and vote below to select which photo you think it is.  Also, I would like you to comment at the end, and tell me how you like this format versus the older one that I used for the first six quizzes.

Photo A

Photo B

Photo C

Photo D

Photo E

Select from these photos, A, B, C, D, or E, and tell me which one is the Bronzed Cowbird.  Put a check mark next to your choice and click Vote.  Click any image to enlarge.  Good luck.  Answer will be published on Friday.

Comment below and please and tell me how you like these quizzes.  Which style do you like best.  Do you have some more ideas to share?

What?? Me Angry??

Is this an angry bird or what?  In fact, he looks like he is ready to tear into anybody that messes with him.  He is the Curve-billed Thrasher, (Toxostoma curvirostre).  Rest assured, he only looks like that way.  There is no record of any attack on a human by this ferocious looking individual of the avian world.  Even his voice is more of a tweet than a growl.

Curve-billed Thrasher

I took these images of him while visiting the bird blind at San Angelo State Park on Monday morning.  You may remember that was the day that I left Ann at home to do the house-cleaning.  He was under some shrubs near the blind, but would scurry out periodically to peck around in the grass.  He spends most of his life in the desert southwest.

Curve-billed Thrasher

The photos were taken with my Canon EOS 7D and 100-400mm zoom lens.  The first two images exposed at 1/1250 sec. @ f8, ISO 640.  The bottom at 1/500 sec. @ f8, ISO 1600.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Update:  Ann’s cataract surgery on her left eye went off perfectly and she will be out birding with me in the next day or two.  She sends her thanks to all of you that had her in your thoughts.  She will have the same thing done to her right eye in a couple of weeks.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Big Bend National Park Images

I have been going through old images again.  It’s what I do when I don’t have anything excitingly new to publish.  I just like to see what kind of trouble I can get into, or stir up.  Anyway, here are some photos that you may not have seen.  When I am not photographing birds, my other passion is the rugged and beautiful landscape of Big Bend National Park.

Santa Elena Canyon and Ocotillo

Santa Elena Canyon is one of my favorite spots.  A person can take Ross Maxwell Scenic Highway, that travels the western flanks of the Chisos Mountains, and ends up at the mouth of this awesome canyon.  The Rio Grande River flows through it, creating the immense 1,500 foot walls, that are a scarce 50 yards apart.  A trail of less than a quarter of a mile takes you right up face-to-face with the base of these walls at the entrance.  An easy, but sandy, walk.  The above image was made from about 2 miles away, from the nearby old Maverick Road.  We had just visited the ruins of Roberto Luna’s jacale and were headed back towards the canyon.  The ocotillo was in full bloom and I couldn’t resist this shot.  It was shot on film with my old EOS3.

At another point on the highway, there is a turnoff to have a great view of the Mule Ears Peak.  You can easily identify why it got it’s name.  The view is always changing with light and time of day.  The photo that I have here was taken early in the day, if I remember correctly.  I love the ‘layered” look of the smaller foot hills.  I have photographed the peak many, many times, but I have never gotten an image that really knocked my socks off.   This one is one of my better ones.

Mule Ears Peak

On one trip we made to the BBNP, the weather was very, very rainy and drizzly.  I was excited that the mountains were sometimes covered or shrouded in cloudy mists.  It seemed that I was stopping every mile or so to shoot an impressive scene.  So, it was inevitable that I would forget where one of my images was taken.  I remember stopping for the shot, because of the peaks above the clouds, but on subsequent trips I haven’t been able to remember the place.

Mountains in the Mist

I hope that you have enjoyed these scenic photos from my past.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Blue Heron and Bluebird

The weather Wednesday was still windy and cool.  However we, Ann and I, did get out for a little bit.  We took a little drive through Middle Concho Park again.  This time I got images of another Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), and an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis).  The heron was on the other side of the river.  I maneuvered the car down near the bank so I could shoot it from my drivers’ side window.  I rested my Canon 7D with 1.4 tele-converter on the Puffin’ Pad on the sill.  Even with the wind, it was still a stable platform.  Exposed at 1/1250 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 250.

Great Blue Heron in tree

Also, along the river we spotted an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), flying overhead.  I grabbed my other Canon EOS 76 with a Canon 100-400mm lens attached, hopped from the car to see if I could get an inflight shot.  This is the result.  The bird was pretty high up and back-lit so I had to crop it extensively to produce this photo.  Not the best image, but I wanted to show it to you anyway.  Exposure 1/2000 sec @ f5.6, ISO 100.

Osprey in flight

Later, as we were driving through some of the roads in the park we saw this Eastern Bluebird in a tree off to the left.  It was in the shade, making exposure a little difficult.  I used the same set-up as I did with the heron.  Exposed at 1/640 sec. @f5.6 +0.3EV, ISO 200.

So all in all, the trip wasn’t wasted.  The weather is starting to heat up again over the weekend so hopefully it will be a more comfortable time to get out to get some more photographs.  For these, click on any of them to see an enlargement.