Let’s blog for another year.

In my previous post I mentioned that it was the seven year anniversary of this blog.  After much soul-searching, horn-blowing, champagne-drinkin’ and general partying, I have decided to go for another year.  Or at least make it until my 1000th post, which this one is my 927th.  Or which comes first.  We will whoop it up then and make another decision if need be.

The birding is still a bit slow, considering the time of the year.  I guess it is because of the continuing high temperatures here in San Angelo.  I think the summer birds got tired of the heat and left town.  Their replacements, the fall and winter birds, decided to delay their visit because it is still darned hot here.

But, we still get out several days a week, hoping to get to see something new or get good photos of any hangers-on.  Here are a few recent images that I am proud of.  I was using my Canon EOS 7D Mark II.  Lens was my Tamron 150-600mm.  I will begin to try to put my exposure data under each photo.  It is something new that I thought I would try.  Several of my readers say that they would like to know how I shoot my photographs.

We stopped near a shrubby area at the Isabelle Harte Multi-use area of San Angelo State Park.  We spotted some bird activity within, and after waiting a few minutes, this Yellow Warbler came out of the branches into view.  It was early in the morning, and the bird was backlit, thus the reason of the one stop EV adjustment.

Yellow Warbler – 1/1000th sec. @f7.1, +1 EV, ISO 1000.

This bobwhite was about 30 yards away, partially backlit and shaded by some tree branches.

Northern Bobwhite – 1/1000 sec. @ f7.1, +1 EV, ISO 1000.

This Vermilion Flycatcher was high atop a tree branch, pretty far off, but my Tamron 150-600 long lens helped me out.

Vermilion Flycatcher – 1/1000 sec. @ f6.3, ISO 160.

There are still several Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in San Angelo State Park.  Most of them we have found lately are the short-tailed juveniles, but we did come upon this adult.  One of my favorite birds.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – 1/1000 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 250.

This morning we heard, before we saw it, this Cactus Wren.  Very rare for me to get so close to one.  Another one that was heavily backlit by the morning sun.

Cactus Wren – 1/640 sec. @ f6.3, +1.7 EV, ISO 320.

I hope you enjoy my post today.  I would love to hear your questions or comments, so let’s hear what you have to say.

Happy Birding!!

 

Hot Diggety!! Migration is starting!!

Okay, I might be rushing the season, but with the storm Saturday dropping an average of two inches and the temps dropping into the low nineties and even upper eighties, you can’t blame me for getting excited.  And, right on time, a Yellow Warbler showed up at the bird blind in San Angelo State Park.  I got this photo, which isn’t a very good one because it took me by surprise, and I had a camera in one hand and a breakfast burrito in the other.  It didn’t stay around, so I didn’t get a second chance.  It isn’t as sharp as I would like, but at least, you can tell what it is.

Yellow Warbler

Because of the heat, birding was not very good.  Still, during a few limited short trips out I did get a few images last week.  Please click any image to see some very nice enlargements.

A trip to the Hummer House down near Christoval, netted me a couple good photos of a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Back in San Angelo, we went to San Angelo State Park, early one morning.  We stopped at the blind there first and this Curve-billed Thrasher obliged us by making a brief stop.  The light was still a little low but I think my Canon 7D Mark II handled it nicely.

Curve-billed Thrasher

The following morning, we returned to to just take a meandering drive through all of the roads that interlace the park.  It is great fun doing that, as we never know what we will come across.

Cactus Wren

There were still numerous Scissor-tailed Flycatchers hanging around.  Because of the shorter tail, I believe this one is a young one.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – juvenile

Before heading home we saw this perched Common Nighthawk, not fully awake yet.

Common Nighthawk

I guess that’s all for this post. I hope to get in more birding in the following days, now that the temperatures are more tolerable, both to me and the birds.

Oh, one more thing.  I have my 2017 Calendars in now.  More beautiful than before.  Twenty bucks plus mailing will get you one.  E-mail me at bobzeller@pobox.com if interested.

You can see more of my photos at http://bobzellerphotography.smugmug.com

Birding at the Mud Hole

Near the Twin Buttes Reservoir, there is a low depression where water stands after we have had some rains.  Mudders, defined as immature adults that love to play in the mud with their pickup trucks, are always driving their vehicles through it and keeping it pretty well churned up.  The water will usually take three or four days to either soak in or evaporate.  The area is surrounded by five large mesquite trees.  The combination of the trees and convenient water makes it a very nice little birding oasis.   All one has to do is to park close by and watch.  That is, providing you do it on a week day, when the mudders are absent.

So, that is what Ann and I did the past two days.  First we stopped by early in the morning at a local Jack and Jill’s for take-out coffee, a roll and a burrito.  We took them with us to this mud hole, parked and set in for a few hours of birding and photography.  We spent two to three hours each morning.  We saw a total of 28 individual species for the two outings.  I will give you that list at the bottom of this post.  Here is a sampling of the birds that we saw.  Click on any image to see enlargements.

The Yellow Warbler is one of favorite of the warbler species.  It is always a joy to see this one in the trees.

Yellow Warbler

I missed a shot of a beautiful mature male Blue Grosbeak.  But this young one perched on a branch nearby.  Just as I got him in the view-finder and focused he decided to fly.  I punched the shutter just in time to catch him as he took off.

Blue Grosbeak – first year

Another favorite summer bird is the Painted Bunting.  This is the first one that we saw this year as they are just starting to arrive.  Thae harsh early morning sunlight did me know favors but I got this acceptable image.

Painted Bunting

The Orchard Orioles are also new arrivals. The adult male stayed deep in the trees and I didn’t get an acceptable shot of him, but this first year male gave me an opportunity.

Orchard Oriole – first year male

I always admire the Canyon Towhees.  They are rather quiet and somewhat bland in color, but I still think they have a cerain beauty about them.

Canyon Towhee

There were plenty of Lark Buntings around.  This is a female.  I had posted a photo of a beautiful male in my previous post.

Lark Bunting – female

I believe this one was named by a Mr. Richard Cissell.  Kidding!!  This weirdly named Dickcissell is another difficult bird to find.  I love the coloring.

Dickcissell

Ann spotted this flash of yellow in the trees.  I was trying to spot it, too, and it finally lit on this branch only about ten feet away.  Only then, did I realize what it was.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  A Yellow-breasted Chat, although not rare, is usually pretty shy and most of the time, very difficult to find.  This is only the second time I have ever seen one and had the opportunity to photograph it.

Yellow-breasted Chat

This Cactus Wren was still around, working on it’s nest.

Cactus Wren

Here is the complete list of the birds we observed during those two days:

1. White-winged Dove
2. Great-tailed Grackle
3. Northern Mockingbird
4. Killdeer
5. Lark Sparrow
6. Cactus Wren
7. Blue Grosbeak
8. White-crowned Sparrow
9. Vesper Sparrow
10. Barn Swallow
11. Brown-headed Cowbird
12. Lark Bunting
13. Ash-throated Flycatcher
14. Pyrrhuloxia
15. Painted Bunting
16. Bullock’s Oriole
17. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
18. Northern Bobwhite
19. Bronzed Cowbird
20. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
21. Yellow Warbler
22. Western Kingbird
23. Yellow-breasted Chat
24. Dickcissell
25. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
26. Canyon Towhee
27. Curve-billed Thrasher
28. Orchard Oriole

‘Tis the season for Warblers

Oh, the weather outside is…….nasty.  And getting colder by the minute as you can see by the snow falling on this blog.  Yes, a Siberian Clipper, or what is best known around these parts as a Blue Norther is going to come whistlin’ in.  I don’t think there is anything between San Angelo and the Canadian border except a snow fence.  And I’ll bet a dollar it is laying on the ground.

So, what about those warblers.  I don’t think I have ever written a post about them.  At least not collectively, anyway.  We have a few that winter around here, and I thought you might like to see some pictures of each.  So, not in any particular order I present………

Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is probably the most seen here in the San Angelo area.

Black and White Warbler

A neat story about the Black and White Warbler.  What an original name.  Anyway, I was at the bird blind at San Angelo State Park, sitting there watching to see what birds might fly in.  Suddenly, the Black and White flew in, perched on that twig.  Fifteen seconds later it was gone.  I had never seen one before, and I have never seen one since.  It is a very rare bird around here, and I was at the right place at the right time.

MacGillivray’s Warbler

The MacGillivray’s Warbler is very similar to the Nashville Warbler pictured below.  But check the eye.  The MacGillivray’s has the barred eye.

Nashville Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Without that black cap on the Wilson’s Warbler, it would be confused with the Yellow Warbler pictured below.

Yellow Warbler

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

A new day, more birds

After spend a few listless days with not many birds to show, Ann and I finally had an enjoyable morning today.  After breakfast, she, on the spur of the moment, said that we ought to make a run out by the Middle Concho Park to see if things had changed.

The morning was much cooler and I guess that made the difference as we saw a total of 29 species.  I even got a few more images to share.

juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron

We first saw the juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron across the river.  I maneuvered my Ford Edge close to the water so I could rest my big 500mm lens on my Noodle for the shot.

Next, down the little road a bit, I spotted the bright red Vermilion Flycatcher in a tree.  I started to move in with my car to a more comfortable position, but the bird moved.  So began a merry chase for about 15 minutes before I was successful in getting the shot.  I must mention that I didn’t actually “chase”, as in hassling the bird.  I guess “follow” is a better word for it.

Vermilion Flycatcher

After seeing what we could in that park, we decided to try Spring Creek Park while we were in the area.  We saw a two or three Yellow Warblers, but had no opportunity to get a photo.  Coming upon a shoal that was uncovered by the lowering water level, we saw a Spotted Sandpiper and a Green Heron.  Both gave me good photo opportunities, although they were pretty far from the bank.

I got my tripod out and set it up closer to the bank.  It was a shady area and I was confident that I wouldn’t disturb the birds as we were somewhat hidden in the low light the trees provided.  These photos are indeed a credit to my state of the art equipment.  Well, maybe I helped a little, too.  But I am proud of the images that I got after doing some tight cropping.

Spotted Sandpiper

Green Heron

Well, I hope you enjoyed these images as much as I enjoy getting them for you.  It appears that things are looking up a bit, and maybe we will get a few more migrant birds arriving in the near future.

Wilson’s Warblers at Eldorado

In my endeavors to keep bringing you new and exciting images, I dug back through my files and came upon these photos a a Wilson’s Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla) that were captured near the water treatment ponds at Eldorado, Texas, several weeks ago.  One major difference between the Wilson’s Warbler and the Yellow Warbler in my post yesterday is that the Wilson’s has a dark patch atop it’s head.  The bottom photo is a juvenile, so the patch isn’t as dark yet.

Wilson's Warbler

Wison's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

All photos were taken with my Canon EOS 7D with 500mm lens with 1.4 tele-converter attached.  Hand-held at 1/640 sec, shutter priority, hand-held.

Yellow Warbler at San Angelo SP

The Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia), is not a permanent resident of west Texas.  They only make occasional appearances here during migration.  For that reason, I felt lucky to get to see this one at San Angelo State Park, back in September of 2009.  I was sitting in the blind there when it flew in and entertained me and Ann for a few minutes.

Yellow Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Back then I still owned my Canon EOS 40D.  I used my Canon 100-400mm zoom lens, hand-held.  Exposure was 1/500 sec. @ f6.3 with ISO 400, aperture priority.

A slow chilly day…

A beautiful sunshiny day, albeit a little cool with a strong north wind.  Didn’t get out to do any birding.  I had the sniffles a bit and didn’t want to catch anything.   I worked instead out in my shop and framed some pictures for display.  I do my own printing, mat cutting, and framing.   It’s all part of the creative process.  Pat Bales called and confirmed that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had cleared me to lead the Birding tours at the park starting in January.  I thought I’d put three of my favorite pictures on the blog today for your, hopefully enjoyment.

Yellow Warbler

White-faced Ibis

Red-tailed Hawk

Actually I have a lot of “favorite ” pictures.  I will be adding more.  By the way, thes “framed” images are just for digital display.   My actual frames differ quite a bit from these.  And they are for sale.  If anyone’s interested in owning one,  just contact me.

Happy Birding!!

more photos at www.zellertexasphotos.com