Sunday, April 5, 2020
Thursday, April 2, 2020
040220 Starring Eared Grebe and American White Pelican Convention
03-21-20
American Crow
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelicans
032420
Eastern Meadowlark
Double-crested Cormorant nearly
in full breeding plumage
032520
American Robin
03-26-20
Downy Woodpecker (female)
03-27-20
Eared Grebe nearing
full breeding plumage
Migration is clearly an event with several movements, including our late ducks and breeding plumage waterbirds. The one that I refer to especially in this arrival is the Eared Grebe, one of which I personally have never observed in breeding plumage. It was sleeping among a raft of Ruddy Ducks, including two others that I later spied. This grebe had rudely been awakened by a couple of American Coots that rudely ran noisily in front of it. The Eared Grebe made the attempt to return to sleep, but the ruddies awakened and decided to move. To my good fortune, the group swam closer to me and paraded right across me at a reasonable distance and I managed to get a fairly decent shot. At least it was enough to give a good look, since my observations in the past only included winter birds.
The Neotropic Cormorant has also been a fixture in the spring, having been visiting since at least 2015, when my original shots were obtained. We're hoping that it is breeding somewhere in OK.
The Eastern Meadowlark cannot be overlooked, as it is an iconic prairie bird in the great plains. Even though it has been losing population due to loss of habitat and pesticide use, perhaps we can manage to bring some of the numbers back with proper land management.
As of late, the Fish Crows have been more prevalent than the American Crow, and seem to be expanding their range more than the Black Vulture, which is being sighted in OK, too.
Several days prior to this photo there were nearly two dozen American White Pelicans around the Goose Island area. They stayed about four days, though numbers dropped. At one point, they were observed sleeping on the island. The Canada Geese didn't feel threatened, even with eggs in their ground nests.
Migration is clearly an event with several movements, including our late ducks and breeding plumage waterbirds. The one that I refer to especially in this arrival is the Eared Grebe, one of which I personally have never observed in breeding plumage. It was sleeping among a raft of Ruddy Ducks, including two others that I later spied. This grebe had rudely been awakened by a couple of American Coots that rudely ran noisily in front of it. The Eared Grebe made the attempt to return to sleep, but the ruddies awakened and decided to move. To my good fortune, the group swam closer to me and paraded right across me at a reasonable distance and I managed to get a fairly decent shot. At least it was enough to give a good look, since my observations in the past only included winter birds.
The Neotropic Cormorant has also been a fixture in the spring, having been visiting since at least 2015, when my original shots were obtained. We're hoping that it is breeding somewhere in OK.
The Eastern Meadowlark cannot be overlooked, as it is an iconic prairie bird in the great plains. Even though it has been losing population due to loss of habitat and pesticide use, perhaps we can manage to bring some of the numbers back with proper land management.
As of late, the Fish Crows have been more prevalent than the American Crow, and seem to be expanding their range more than the Black Vulture, which is being sighted in OK, too.
Several days prior to this photo there were nearly two dozen American White Pelicans around the Goose Island area. They stayed about four days, though numbers dropped. At one point, they were observed sleeping on the island. The Canada Geese didn't feel threatened, even with eggs in their ground nests.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
033120 Migratory and Unusual Spring Photos at Boomer Lake
03-18-20
Ruddy Shelduck vs. Canada Goose
Double-crested Cormorant
03-19-20
Blue-winged Teal
Savannah Sparrow
American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
More American Toads
View #2
American Toad #4 out of 11
Top picture of the Ruddy Shelduck includes a Canada Goose in the shot. The shelduck had been strutting around the area seemingly in an aggressive manner. Unknown what affront occurred or with whom, but it appeared to be enticing aggression. At this point, it mixed it up with the goose. The shelduck left a few minutes later.
Most of the winter, the Double-crested Cormorant males were much darker than normal, which made me believe that they were in breeding plumage most of the time. They were much closer in the second photo, and the tufts on the head or "crests," were definitely showing. but not in that photo. I got to a better vantage point, as north as I could get from Goose Island, and snapped a photo of the head, which proved my assumption.
The Song Sparrow photo was a singing bird, and as we now know, "Singing Male" designations in eBird have been replaced with "Singing Bird," since so many female birds have been proven to sing, as well. We are now out of the "male only" norm. It took a century to prove that point.
Hanging in the lowlands at the southeast corner of Boomer Lake, it took an hour to get photos of the American Toad. I'd been hearing them for years but never photographed them until the date these shots were made.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Birding On a Shoestring: SPI Conference Center and Laguna Atascosa, TX
Long-billed Thrasher
Black-necked Stilt
Common Gallinule
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Black Skimmer
02-28-20
White-tailed Kite
02-29-20
These photos, except the last one were taken at the SPI Conference Center on South Padre Island, Texas.
The final photo was taken at the Laguna Atascosa NWR of Los Fresnos, Texas. Writer has visited there several times over the past five years, and had never seen all of the property due to area closures, even during this visit. It comprises 120,000+ acres, and there are several rare birds and animals found there, the most rare of which are the ocelot and the Aplomado Falcon. A few years ago, a birding friend and I both witnessed an ocelot on the unpaved entryway that is now paved with speed bumps, which is a very rare occurrence.
The White-tailed Kite was photographed during a tram tour that took about 2 1/2 hours, very reasonably priced. We saw such wonders like the white tailed Kite, Crested Caracara, Gull-billed and Caspian Tern at Atascosa Lake, which was at the end of the tour and the grand finale. Take the tour and hope that it is led by Wanda. There were also exotic animals on the property. The area was closed as ocelots are there, rarely out during the daylight hours.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
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