“It was a dark and dreary night…….”

Okay, I am trying to write a new post here.  But words are failing me.  Actually it is really a dark and drizzly day here.  Woke up to a light rain and so far at 11:00AM we have received over an inch.  Not a really good day for bird photography.  Water and camera lenses do not mix well.

So I think I will just show you a few more recent photos that I haven’t posted yet.  If you are on Facebook you may have seen them already, as I like to post there occasionally.  By the way, if you can view this post on your computer, please remember to click on the images.  You can see some great enlargements that way.

I had posted another image of this Bobcat earlier.  I originally ignored this one as I didn’t like my first impression of it.  But now, after looking at it again, it has grown on me and I really like it.

Bobcat

But that’s the way I am.  I find that sometimes I can go back through my archives and spot another picture that I didn’t like at first, then after processing it I sometimes get a nice surprise.

So here’s another from our recent trip to Fort Davis.  I usually like to really get close up to my birds, but in this image I found that I like the composition.

Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker dangling from branch of a century plant.

Another Acorn Woodpecker.  I love these guys.

Acorn Woodpecker

How about a couple more of that magnificent Snowy Egret that we saw at Balmorhea State Park.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Hey, who is this masked man. 🙂

Loggerhead Shrike

Well, I think that will be all for today.  I don’t want to use up all of my good stuff or I won’t have anything for my next post.  I hope you enjoy this one.

More from Houston trip

My last post described the great wildlife in and around Shannon’s back yard near Houston, Texas.  Here are a few more photos I took during that great week, including this sequence of a Great Egret making a landing in their creek.

Great Egret making a landing.

Great Egret landing.

Great Egret splashing down.

In the nearby trees a spider was working in the early morning light.

Early morning spider web.

White Ibises were all around us it seemed.  Beautiful, long-billed wading birds found around the gulf coast.  Their favorite food are the river snails found in the creek.

White Ibis

White Ibises

Back in the yard, Shannon’s children are finding some large grubs in her compost bed.  I think they named this one Moe.

Texas-sized grub.

Shannon and grub.

Shannon goofing off with grub.

The woodland birds were waking up and we spotted this nearby Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

A Snowy Egret made a late appearance.

Snowy Egret

So our four fun days ended there and we returned home to San Angelo with great memories.  Can’t wait to go back.  Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Blog Post Number 500 and Quiz #3 Results

Well, I made it.  This is my 500th post to my Texas Tweeties blog.  I am going to be popping champagne and toasting all of my loyal readers, in 129 countries, plus all of the new ones that subscribed today.  So all of you out there in the blogosphere, have a little drink of your choice and raise your glass with me to another 500 posts.

Snowy Egret

I guess the first order of business is giving you the results of my third quiz that ended last night.  As of this Friday morning, the results were:

1. Snowy Egret          21
2. Cattle Egret              9
3. Great Egret               4
4. Forsters Tern           1
5. White Ibis                 0

Those that thought it was a Snowy Egret, congrats, you are right.

Cattle Egret

Great Egret

Forsters Tern

I’m sorry, but I didn’t have an image of a White Ibis.

Thursday morning we drove out to Spring Creek Park and we saw another Green Heron in some reeds.  Check out these photos.

Green Heron

Green Heron

Green Heron in flight

Green Heron in flight

So I hope you enjoyed this post and the photos.  Tune in tomorrow for Quiz #4.  It will be another challenge.  Click on the above photos to see an enlargement.

More Egrets – Ya Gotta Love ‘Em

Two more egret photos from our little foray down to the Eldorado, Texas water treatment ponds.

Great Egret

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon 500mm IS lens – with 1.4 tele-converter
• 1/2000 sec. @ f6.3 – minus 1/3 EV adjustment
• ISO 100
• Lens focal distance – 700mm
• Metering – partial
• Shutter priority

Snowy Egret

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon 500mm IS lens – with 1.4 tele-converter
• 1/2000 sec. @ f5.6 – minus 1/3 EV adjustment
• ISO 125
• Lens focal distance – 700mm
• Metering – partial
• Shutter priority

I hope you like the photos.  Click on either of them for an enlargement.

Eldorado Water Treatment Ponds – Snowy Egret

Ann and I went down to Eldorado to bird and photograph at their water treatment ponds.  It is one of our favorite places to go, even though it is about a 40 mile drive.  The place consists of four large ponds, each approximately 100 yards wide and about 200 yards long.  These are just guesses on the dimensions but I opine they are pretty close.  There is a little driving lane around each pond, so you can use your car as a bird blind.

The one thing I like about going there, is that you never know what you might see.  Yesterday we saw three Snowy Egrets, one Great Egret, one Great Blue Heron, one Willet, three Killdeer, several Black Terns, several Spotted Sandpipers, plus various swallows, sparrows and vultures.  Today, I will feature a couple of images that I obtained of a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula).  Quite a bit smaller than the Great Egret, it has black legs, yellow feet, and a black beak with yellow lores.  Exception is the juvenile has yellow legs with a black edge.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Cattle and Snowy Egrets

I am still editing old images that were taken a couple of years ago.  They may have been seen in a previous blog post.  But with new software I think I am improving the images for sharpness and definition.  This first one is a Cattle Egret.  The photo was taken at Big Bend National Park.  We were just entering the park, and there were several of the egrets perched in some Ocotillo bushes a few yard off of the road.

Cattle Egret

• Canon EOS 40D
• Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
• 1/400 sec. @ f22 – minus 1/3 EV adjustment
• ISO  500
• Lens focal distance 400mm
• Metering – center weighted
• Aperture priority

This image of a Snowy Egret was taken below the Lake Nasworthy dam in San Angelo, Texas.  He was intent on his fishing and was oblivious of me.  I was able to get within 50 feet to get the photograph.

Snow Egret

• Canon EOS 40D
• Canon 500mm IS lens with 1.4 tele-converter
• 1/3200 sec. @ f6.3
• ISO 400
• Lens focal distance  700mm
• Metering – partial
• Aperture priority

I hope you again enjoy the images.  Click on either of them for enlargements.

Bird of the Week – Great Egret

Today I inaugurate my new series Bird of the Week.  Hopefully each Friday, I will post a photograph of a bird that I will choose at random.  I will provide a photograph or two, along with some useful information.  I think this may become informative for all, including myself, as I will be doing a bit of research to provide information.  Also you may click on the Bold Bird Name to go to a Wikipedia link for detailed info, if available.  My own resources will be my handy Bird Guides.  So here we go.

Great Egret. (Ardea alba).  The Great Egret is one my personal favorite water birds.  Long-legged and graceful.  Tall, slender and long-necked.  Length 39″, wing-span 51″, weight 1.9 lbs.  All white, yellow bill and black legs and feet.  When foraging, they will walk slowly thru open water or reedy areas, watching for fish.  When they spot their quarry, they use their bill as a spear, instantly stabbing their prey.

This first photo was taken along the Concho River in downtown San Angelo.  I was walking along the bank.  I spotted the egret flying down the river.  I hand-held my Canon 7D with the 100-400mm zoom lens.  I picked him up in my view-finder, the auto-focus locked on, and I just panned with him as he flew by.  I got lucky, with the background.  When this image was captured, the background was blurred of course, but also there was a large building completely in shadow.  Hence the completely black background.  The stats are ISO 1600, 1/500 sec at f9.

Great Egret

 This image ISO 100, 1/640 at f8 .  Canon 7D, 100-400mm zoom lens.

Great Egret

This final shot is an older one that I shot with a Canon Powershot SX10 that I tried for awhile.  ISO 80, 1/640 at f5.7  

Great Egret

Click on any image for an enlargement.

Birding Eldorado Saturday 10/30

Friday evening Suzanne Johnson called us from Eldorado and told us that there was an influx of birds at the water treatment ponds.  She invited us to come down there Saturday morning for some birding there.  We were happy to hear that there were finally some birds arriving there so, Ann and I headed that way.

I don’t remember how many different species that we saw but there were, Green-winged Teals, Pied-bill Grebes, Gadwalls, American Wigeons, Eared Grebes, Northern Shovelers, Blue Huron, Vesper Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Savannah Sparrows, Meadowlarks,  Ruddy Ducks, Lesser Scaup, one Redhead, Pyrrhuloxia, and one female Ring-necked Duck.

The weather was nice, but very windy, and it made photographing these birds on the water difficult.  Hear are a few photogaphic highlights.  Some are not award-winning images, but good enough for identification.

Green-winged Teal

Ruddy Duck

Eared Gebe

Wind-blown Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Back here in San Angelo, activity with some migratory birds are picking up.  On O. C. Fisher Lake we have seen numerous American Kestrels, Loggerhead Shrikes, Meadowlarks to name a few.  There are several hundred American White Pelicans, American Avocets, Greater Yellow-legs, Least Sandpipers also.  We have seen two Norther Harriers almost daily.  This morning we saw two Red-tailed Hawks also.

 Click on the above images to see enlargements.

Happy Birding!!

Black-and-white Warbler and other news

Migration must be starting, what with all the water birds that have been arriving as reported in yesterday’s post.   For Ann and I, it certainly is great fun.  This morning we managed to add two more lifers to our lists.   While at the Wildlife Viewing Area at San Angelo State Park, we saw a rare Black-and-white Warbler.  A few minutes later a Wilson’s Warbler flew in.  The Wilson’s isn’t rare, but nevertheless it was a lifer for both of us.  Later we drove down to the boat ramp area and with our spotting scopes, saw at least twelve Black-crowned Night Herons,  Great Blue Herons, a Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and four un-identified terns.  Enjoy the photos, and click on either one to see and enlargement.

Black-and-white Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Hot morning at San Angelo State Park

Image via Wikipedia

Ann and I made our usual trip to San Angelo State Park. As hot as it was getting be, her and I still had a good time after feeding the birds at the blind.  While at said blind I did manage to get this nice shot of a Black-chinned Hummingbird  It was feeding at the blossoms on a Red Flowering Yucca.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

 We then made a drive around with the windows open and the air-conditioning turned on.  Checked to see if the Roseate Spoonbills had stayed, but apparently they are not used to this west Texas heat.  We did get a good list of birds, though.

25  Red-winged Blackbird

50  White-winged Dove

2   Northern Cardinal

25   House Sparrow

10   House Finch

1  Black-chinned Hummingbird

12  Northern Mockingbird

2   Black-crested Titmouse

40  Common Grackle

2   Pyrrholoxia

1   Painted Bunting

3   Morning Dove

2   Brown-headed Cowbird

3   Western Kingbird

3   Killdeer

1   Long-billed Dowitcher

8   Black-necked Stilts

5   Snowy Egrets

2   Great Blue Heron

8   Double-crested Cormorants

3   Turkey Vulture

3   Canyon Towhee

1   Greater Roadrunner

1   Golden-fronted Woodpecker

3   Common Nighthawk  (all withing 10 yards of each other)

4   Barn Swallow

10  Lark Sparrow

3   Western Sandpiper

Several un-identified ducks.

Not bad count considering the heat.  Today is supposed to be the 23rd consecutive day of 100+ degrees.  So we’re setting a new record as the days go by.  The old record was 18 straight days.

So folks, I am going to cool off this afternoon in front of the TV and watch the Texas Rangers take on the Baltimore Orioles.  Life doesn’t get any better than this. 🙂

Happy Birding everybody!!