‘Twas the days after Christmas……

December 27, 2015 by Bob Zeller

I hope all of my readers around the world had a very happy Christmas. Ann and I did. We did what we love to do. We went birding. We are alone. No children and nearest relatives over 1,000 miles away. Our best friends live a bit farther. But we have no complaints, as we enjoy each other’s company.

So anyway, the weather Christmas was absolutely beautiful We first ventured to two local parks near Lake Nasworthy. When I say local, I don’t mean that they are in the middle of town. More likely they are at the edge of town, out towards our airport. But since our home is near that edge of town, these parks are just minutes away. They abound with wildlife; birds, water fowl, wild turkey, and bobcats, etc.

Today, Sunday, I will post here a few of the images that I have gotten the past few days, including Christmas Day and the days after.

This Song Sparrow was in the reeds along the lake. It looked pretty tiny in my viewfinder. But I was using my Canon 7D Mark II and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. I shoot using spot focusing and if I can get that tiny dot on a bird, I can get some good results, images sharp enough that I can crop close for photos like this. By the way, you can click on any image to see nice enlargements.

Song Sparrow

There were plenty of meadowlarks around. Again, they prefer showing me their backside instead of their beautiful yellow breasts.

Western Meadowlark

The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are rare around here this time of year, but they do sometimes make appearances. This one was with a group of three, and I had a challenge to get photos. They were flitting all over the place. I finally got out of the car and was trying to get shots over the hood. After a about twenty-five, or more, efforts this was the best of the bunch.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

At the southern end of Spring Creek Park is a small narrow cove. It was there that Ann and I spotted three Black-crowned Night Herons, one adult and two juveniles. They were across the water, about 200 yards away. This juvenile was the only one that I could get a clear open shot.

Black-crowned Night Heron – juvenile

Co-incidentally, at the northern end of Middle Concho Park, there is another little cove. This one much smaller and narrower. As we were driving along the nearer edge, this Wilson’s Snipe startled me, flew up and across to the far side. I was able to see where it landed and was able to get some photos, from about 50 yards. They are little cuties, and I love to photograph them.

Wilson’s Snipe

Back to driving along the brush line in Spring Creek Park, we came across some more Ruby-crowned Kinglets. It seems that I have seen more kinglets this year than in the past. They, like the gnatcatchers, are quick and flighty, never sitting still. I got lucky again and got this capture.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

A Northern Flicker in one of it’s favorite perches. High above on a dead tree.

Northern Flicker – red-shafted variety.

I will end this post with this delightful photo of one of my favorite little birds. The Eastern Phoebe.

Eastern Phoebe

I do hope you enjoyed these photos from our Christmas weekend. The weather here in San Angelo is going to have big changes the next couple of days, so I don’t know when I will get out again. But if the sun shines, and there is no winds to speak of, it can be beautiful even if the temperatures get down real low. I will be watching for opportunities.

My 2015 list didn’t make the goal of 210 that I had hoped for. We are still a 185, with the prospects of adding more pretty small. Too many medical issues kept me in for part of the year. But in about a week, 2016 will begin with new hopes for a longer list.

I hope to publish another post before the end of the year.

Til then, Happy Birding!

Going back to the Big Bend……

March 30, 2014 by Bob Zeller

I am going to be brief with this post. Again, Ann and I are leaving tomorrow morning to spend a week down in the Big Bend National Park area. Migration is beginning and we hope to come home with some nice new photos from the area.

Here are a couple of images from the past few days. Hope you enjoy. Just click on any of them to see some enlargements.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – first one of the season

Wilson’s Snipe

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ash-throated Woodpecker

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

We will be staying at the Casitas of the Far Flung Outdoor Center in Terlingua. If you are in the area, stop by cabin #12 and visit. Otherwise, we will be back next weekend with new photos and maybe some stories to tell.

It’s a Vermilion Flycatcher!!

November 13, 2013 by Bob Zeller

It was about five years ago that I got into birding. It was a by-product of photographing colorful birds. Up until that time, I was really unaware of the beauty of those avian creatures. In my mind, there were about four species of birds: i.e. ducks, pigeons, sparrows and hawks. Then I found that there about 780 species in the United States alone. Mind boggling.

Then after I got hooked, I had dreams of seeing certain birds that I had never seen before. One bird that I longed to see was the Vermilion Flycatcher. I had seen pictures, but never a live one. Friends that knew better would say, “Bob, they are out there, you just have to look closer”.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Then one day, I was startled to finally spot one. I said, “so that’s what they look like”. I watched it perch on a branch, suddenly fly down to snatch a bug of some type, then hurriedly fly back to it’s perch. Now that I had finally seen one, it became easier after that. So the point I am trying to make is that it is all in knowing how and what to look for.

Common Nighthawk

The same for Nighthawks. Never had seen one until one day birding, a friend pointed it out as it was sitting on a tree limb. Even then I didn’t see what she was seeing as all I saw at first, was the proverbial bump on a log. The all of a sudden it seemed to materialize in front of me. I had been looking at it bit didn’t know what I was seeing. Now it is my turn to impress people by spotting them when they can’t.

Learning birds by learning their habits and behavior can be a huge help. Ann can even identify birds by their sounds. I hear a lot of obvious ones, but I am not becoming very proficient at it. I am getting better at visually identifying birds in flight. They all have different moves and also you can see different field marks that you may not see when they are perched or on the ground. Case in point, the American White Pelican, when in or on the water appears to be all white. But in the air, they show they beautiful wings that have contrasting black markings.

American White Pelican

American White Pelican in flight.

And then you have the Wilson’s Snipe. It is really invisible. It loves the marshy grasses around ponds, and I have actually stared one in the eye, and didn’t see him for what it was. This one is a little bit more visible.

Wilson’s Snipe

So as you can see it is good to pay attention to all of the field marks, habits, and how they look and act in flight.

Now I have to study up on the behavior of those darned Clay Pigeons. They zip through the air, but disappear so quickly that I don’t get a good look.

Happy Birding!! Click on any image to see an enlargement.

More Spring Surprises

March 21, 2013 by Bob Zeller

Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from my good friend Carl Williams. He lives just a few houses down the street me. He informed me that he had driven by our now familiar “K-Mart Creek”. It is so named by the bar ditch that runs by an empty K-Mart store about four blocks from us. He told that there was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron wandering about the place.

I high-tailed it down the street to get a good look. The Yellow-crowned Night Heron, (Nyctanassa violacea), is somewhat of a rarity around these parts, so I was anxious to have a look and maybe get a few photographs. Have I told you that I always have my camera with me?

At first, I only saw the bird as he was facing away from me. I was on the store parking lot at the time and was able to aim my 500m lens and 1.4 teleconverter out the drivers side window and get this shot.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

After getting this shot, I decided to try to get around for a frontal view. I took my camera with the 100-400mm lens attached and proceeded to cross the little bridge, giving the bird a wide berth so he wouldn’t spook. By then he had moved closer to the bridge, and by being very quiet, I was able to get the shot below from there.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

But the surprises weren’t over. I got back in the car, drove a few yards and discovered a Wilson’s Snipe, (Gallinago delicata), poking around in the water under a large tree. I had to settle on trying to aim my 500mm lens (again with the 1.4 tele-converter) between some tree branches to get the shot. By using only the center focusing point, the job isn’t too tough. Below is one of several images that I was able to get. These little guys are quite the cuties.

Wilson’s Snipe

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A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Airport

February 5, 2013 by Bob Zeller

Boy, I bet you’re curious after that title, ain’t ya? Well, I just gotta get your attention, one way or another.

First, I have a few new images to show you. Several birds and more, and some of them even co-operated this morning.

Red-tailed Hawk in tree

This Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) was across the river about 200 yards away. I didn’t think I had a prayer of getting a usable photo, but as you can see, I was wrong. I pulled my vehicle close to the river bank and turned off the engine. Any small vibration can throw the focus off on long shots. I used my 500mm lens with a 1.4 tele-converter on my Canon EOS 7d for the shot. I steadied the set-up on my side window and made the shot. The image was severely cropped.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

We also spotted this Ruby-crowned Kinglet, (Regulus calendula). He was more in the open than the one that I photographed a few days ago. Today he was in a ‘leaf-less tree’, one that lost it’s leaves for the winter. Pretty high off of the ground, but still made a decent photograph.

Wilson’s Snipe

Later as we crept along a shallow area, inches from the edge, I spotted this Wilson’s Snipe, (Gallinaga delicata), laying at the edge of the water. He sensed our presence and froze in position, thinking, and rightly so, that he was camoflaged enough to make himself invisible. He was only about 7 inches long and was very difficult to spot. A cute little fellow.

C-17 Globemaster III

During our birding tour a fairly large bird, was making practice approaches to the nearby Mathis Field airport. It turned out to be a C-117 Globemaster III, (Aeroplanus gigantus), one of the largest aircraft in the United State Air Force inventory. I decided to see if I could get a meaningful photograph of it. We decided to head to the airport to see what I could come up with. I stationed ourselves near a ditch at the end of the runway, on Knickerbocker Road. I wanted to get the aircraft just as it went directly overhead, just before it touched down. Wow!! What an experience. In the viewfinder, it looked like it was right on me. I stayed with it and fired off a sequence of photos. Then I ducked!! Of course, it was probably only 50 feet over my head, but it certainly felt closer. I hope you like the image. I like the way the camera exposed the clouds behind the plane and darkened the sky above.

Click on any image to see an enlargement.

Photography – Sense of Scale – plus Wilson’s Snipe

January 5, 2012 by Bob Zeller

I just recently read Jeff Lynch’s post (his blog) about showing sense of scale to your photographs. Give it a read. It is excellent and has great photographs. I was impressed with it and decided to show you here, what sense of scale can accomplish.

Santa Elena Canyon - Big Bend National Park

These walls of the canyon reach a height of 1,500 feet. The photo looks somewhat nondescript until you notice that speck at the bottom left. That is a hiker making his way into the entrance of the canyon. You can also see another person showing as a white speck in the center of the green growth. Click on the photo and you see what I am talking about.

This photo was taken about ten years ago. I was on a narrow trail up on the wall of the canyon, about 100 feet above the Rio Grande River. (I am sure that Jeff has been there.) The wall was near my right side looming high above me. I wanted a vertical shot, but I needed something to show the scale of it all. I looked down and saw the hiker meandering along. I waited until I could fit him into the image. I was using a slightly wide angle lens so I could include a sliver of sky at the top. I was using film and all my EXIF data has been lost.

So you can see how important it is to show something in your photos to show sense of scale. For example, if you are photographing a lizard, an object, or anything that your viewer has no idea the size, include a pencil, ruler, or something that is familiar.

Now onto birding news. The Common Goldeneyes have left the water ponds at Eldorado. As you remember I saw them back on, I believe Dec. 29. They were a lifer for me and I showed you the photograph. Ann and I drove back down there today, as I was hoping to see them to add them to my 2012 species viewed list, but alas, not to happen. We did add 11 more to my 2012 species list, bringing it up to 44 towards my goal of 225 for the year.

But the wind was blowing quite hard and most of the water birds were hunkered down under the banks of the ponds. I did come up with another photo of a Wilson’s Snipe which I will share with you here.

Wilson's Snipe

Exposure data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon 100-400mm lens. 1/400 sec. @ f8, +0.3EV, ISO 640. Spot metering with aperture priority.

For more photos click on my Flickr link in the right side-bar of this page.

Another Cattle Egret – Plus More

November 15, 2011 by Bob Zeller

Ann and I decided to take another run down to the Eldorado Water Treatment ponds again yesterday, Monday, morning. With all that bird activity, I wanted to see if I could pick up some more good images, or at least improve on some previous photos.

First of all, we found that the little juvenile Cattle Egret was still hanging around. I got this photo of it as it was perched upon a post in one of the ponds. It was an easy shot with my Canon 7D and 100-400mm lens. 1/500 sec. @f8 and ISO 400. Sky a little overcast so it made for excellent lighting.

juvenile Cattle Egret

We started to drive around the ponds again, slowly, as we always do. I had my other Canon 7D with the 500mm lens and 1.4 converter in my lap, leaning slightly out the window. My Puffin’ Pad window cushion was in place. I was hoping to see another Wilson’s Snipe.

As we were making a turn around the corner of one of the ponds, I was rewarded. Right down to my left, only about twenty feet away, I spotted one. I quickly set up my camera in the window. I discovered that I nearly had too much lens. The snipe, as you can see, filled up the frame, with the 500mm and 1.4 converter. He froze thinking that I couldn’t see him, which was nearly true, as he was blending in with the weeds and mud. I didn’t want to grab the other camera with the 100-400mm for fear that he might fly.

"Hiding in Plain Sight"

Wilson Snipe. Canon 7D with 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-converter. 1/400 sec. @ f8, ISO 400.

These ponds are about 150 feet across. There are hundreds of ducks of different species, and it has been hard to get decent close-ups even with using the 500mm and the 1.4 converter. The ducks always seem to swim away to the furthest side of the pond.

To solve the problem, or at least help it a bit, I decided to do something that I never tried. I have a 2x tele-converter that I can use on the 500mm, but because it would change the aperture to an f8, the auto focus is dis-abled. Therefore I would have to hand-hold it and manual focus. Plus the ducks are moving on the water. But, I figured what the heck. Nothing to lose.

I went ahead and attached the 2x making my working focal distance 1,000mm. I sat it on the window sill, and focused it on this female Northern Shoveler, so far away it was pretty tiny with the naked eye. The result, as you can see, isn’t so bad. I was able to crop it and print out a nice 8×10.

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler. Canon 7D with 500mm lens plus 2x tele-converter. Focal Distance 1,000mm. 1/4000 sec. @ f8, ISO 400. Manual focus, hand-held with aid of a Puffin’ Pad window support.

Now that I can get these great results, I may use the 2x tele-converter more often when down in Eldorado.

I hope you enjoyed the images, and my little telling of the experience. Click on any photo to see an enlargement.

Flight of the Cattle Egret

November 13, 2011 by Bob Zeller

Yesterday Ann and I made a return trip to the water treatment ponds down at Eldorado, Texas. Our purpose was to try to get a look at the Black Scoter that was seen there for a few days. This time we did get a chance to see it. But as we watched, and as I was preparing to photograph it, it flew off. Since the ponds cover several acres, and there are five seperate areas we didn’t see it again amidst the hundred of duck species that were there. So a photograph will have to wait for another time. It was a lifer for both Ann and I.

However, the juvenile Cattle Egret was still there. I got a few images of it feeding in the reeds, but my prize was this photo of it in flight.

Cattle Egret in flight

Esposure was with my Canon 7D with a Canon 100-400mm lens. 1/500 sec. @ f8, ISO 250. Spot metering and aperture priority.

We also saw a Greater Roadrunner running with a captured Red-winged Blackbird in it’s beak. No photo. Running too fast for me. Total species for the two hours again was 27.