Tag: Texas

My What Great Big Yellow Legs You Have

Welcome to December everyone!  I honestly cannot believe we are this deep in the year already.  Seems like a week ago we were prepping for the Halloween Trail and god knows where our warm temperatures went.  I had to bring out the running tights, stocking hat and mittens to make it through my recent runs without turning into an ice cube.  As depressing as the close of the year seems, the bright side of it all is we are under 50 days from a change in guard in our elected officials.  Trump isn’t even in office yet and already saved 1,000 jobs yet the socialist is already shouting to the press how disgusting that is – and they wonder why their asses hurt from the election.  I’m holding off on saying too much to give Trump at least a chance so let’s pivot back to a place that can at least give us memories of warmer times.

Greater Yellow Legs shot in Galveston, Texas in Nov 2013

That pile of feathers on stilts is a bit of an accidental find.  As with most of the birds as of late, this fine specimen was shot on our birding trip to Galveston, Texas.  I can’t express just how productive that trip has turned out to be.  It is hard to grasp just how many new birds were scored on that travel when in the heat of the hunt.  You are so focused on shooting anything that moves that you tend to lose track of what bird you were shooting the hour before.  Especially if there happens to be a secondary bird roaming in the same vicinity as a bird that immediately grabs your attention.  That is the exact case with this Greater Yellowlegs.  That prize bird has already made the blog spotlight (link here).

Greater Yellow Legs shot in Galveston, Texas in Nov 2013

Hit the jump to read a bit more about that Yellow find.

Continue reading My What Great Big Yellow Legs You Have

Score One for the Blotches

Welcome back everyone and since it is like an hour before midnight .. Happy Thanksgiving.;  Now that I am thinking about it, it might have been more appropriate to feature a post on those that probably don’t see the “Happy” of that day… the Turkey, but I’ve already featured them back in September (link here).  Instead, I’m going with Mr. and Mrs. Blotchy

Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013

While processing the pictures from our Texas birding trip back in November 2013, I came across these shots.  At first I wrote them off as female Mallards … well, because just about all ducks with drab female coloring look like… female Mallards.  It can be as painful as trying to identify juvenile Sparrows if you do not get lucky enough to capture a nearby male.  While processing them in the digital darkroom I became quite intrigued.  For some reason they just didn’t look like the standard Mallard or any other female brown duck that has made their way through the darkroom in the past.   I guess for starters, they didn’t have the classic colored stripe on the wing. Then there was that small black splotch on the base of the bill.
Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013

That prompted a visit to the reference bookcase.  Confirmed the wing stripe on the Mallard and sure enough no black splotch on the base of the bill ladies and gentlemen, this just might be a new check mark in the bird list!  It just so happens my brother Ron had recently brought up the topic of the Mottled Duck. Unfortunately, the reason escapes me – he might have gotten one in the tin on his trip to Ft Myers (went back in my emails and couldn’t locate a reference – Ron, if you remember please let us know in the comments).  Either way, I was super stoked to potentially  have one of my own so sent them off to Ron for validation.  He is a great reference whenever there are difficulties on the ID phase.  His assessment was a confirmation giving me another +1 for my list and ANOTHER +1 from my Texas trip.  That birding excursion is turning out to be a gold mine for new birds.  Sorry about taking so long to get these processed.

Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013
Unfortunately, these were the only shots of these two Mottled Ducks in the lot.  This means we need to get to the facts like right now hehehe.  The Mottled is a dull relative of the Mallard which attributes to the similarities and my original incorrect ID assumption.  There really isn’t much else of interest on the Cornell site beyond the fact they typically pair up in November which is earlier than most ducks.  Seeing as how we were there in mid-November, these two must have been embarking on their honeymoon.  Lastly, if you are curious, Mottled simply means having different blotches of color.

Well, that’s all folks – hope you enjoyed my new addition to my bird list.  Now be safe on the roads if you are out and about on the big T-Day.  I can’t afford to lose any loyal readers.

One Vicious Songbird

Welcome back safe and sound!  I was a little worried there for a bit.  Based on the crying all the pundits, pollsters and biased talking heads were apparently doing last night you would have to assume the end of the world was at hand.  Now, I say apparently because I chose to spare myself all the hoopla of a Hillary win based on the all the information coming at me around noon yesterday – the last time I bothered to check the news.  Instead, I worked on wiring my garage and watched a pretty good movie – fittingly, Purge the Election Year.  I gave strict orders for no one to give me any updates and to their credit they stuck to their word (even my wife who I know must have been dying to tell me by the time she went to bed).  At 5:40 this morning, Linda gave me the news and to say I was shocked is a huge understatement. I would put it more in the lightning strike to the head level made up of 50% jolt and 50% uncontrolled happiness.  Don’t get me wrong, Trump wasn’t my guy, but compared to the most corrupt candidate to ever run for the highest office in the land … he’s a godsend.  I have to give President Elect Trump credit.  He took on a boat load of challengers, fought back against the establishment (of both parties), paved his own path and came out the end a winner.  Flyover country has awakened (link here) and they are taking their country back.  Note, to all the hack celebrities, comedians and singers that promised to leave the country should the election turn out the way it did, your names are all on a list sitting next to my desk and recommend you order your U-Haul pronto – Cher might need a rocket to go where she promised.

Time will tell how this turns out, but in honor of Trump’s tenacity I give you today’s featured bird.
Loggerhead Shrike shot on Texas birding trip in November 2013
Some birds have an air about them that exudes confidence.  Eagles, Hawks, Falcons and of course Owls all leave you with the expression that they command the skies and can rain down death on whatever prey they happen upon.  They are built to kill and their features and capabilities are all perfectly constructed to be extremely efficient in that line of business.  Now, let’s contrast that with this rather cute looking songbird.  From afar, they simply look like a smallish but stockier bird

However, when you get a little closer..
Loggerhead Shrike shot on Texas birding trip in November 2013

Hit the jump to learn a bit more about this bird .. and, of course, a few more shots.

Continue reading One Vicious Songbird

Bloodletting for Checkmarking

Greetings everyone!  Decided I would give my loyal readers a break from all the Halloween posts as of late and bring you something new and refreshing.  Part of this is to buy myself a little bit of time because there is an upcoming Halloween post to cover the Haunted Trail night walkthrough – can you say a butt load of pictures!?! It took forever to get those images processed and queued up for publishing.   While those are aging properly in wooden barrels, feast your eyes on this intriguing bird.
White Ibis Shot on Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Pretty cool eh?  Kind of a cross between that spoonbill you saw previously (link here) and a Stork.  Wait… did that say Stork – that reminds me I have some Georgia surprises coming hehehe.  But I digress.  This colorfully paletted bird is a White Ibis.  Your probably could have guessed the first part of that name, but the second part might be a bit more difficult to pull out of the air.
White Ibis Shot on Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this bird and maybe learn a few interesting facts.

Continue reading Bloodletting for Checkmarking

Let’s Spoon

In case you are tired of Halloween posts, figured it would be a good time to throw in something different.  Don’t get me wrong, you have more posts coming about our Halloween Haunted Trail than examples of corrupt establishment career politicians coming out of Wikileaks on a daily basis – well, maybe not that many, but I had no idea how bad our representatives had become.  To help temper my disgust on this topic, let’s focus on a topic that always brings a smile to my face – a new check mark in my North American Birding List!Birding Texas November 2013

This fine specimen is what they call a Roseate Spoonbill.  I led with this image because it can be a bit deceptive when viewed from this angle.  If you are not familiar with this particular bird, you might not suspect that it has Spoonbill in its name.  In fact you might just think it was a Flamingo that saved up enough money to get that giant curve taken out of its bill.  Now, if you were to see it from a different angle, you would have no problem in the identification process.  An angle more like this one would definitely do the trick.
Birding Texas November 2013

Now that is a schnoz. For some strange reason I have an affinity for this pink hued beauty – not sure why, maybe it’s the cool feet hehehe.  This particular Spoonbill was shot on the Texas cost in Galveston.  We took a birding trip down there back in November to capture the very rare Whooping Crane in the wild (link here).

Hit the jump to see a read a bit more about the Roseate.

Continue reading Let’s Spoon

Black Death

Thought I would pull out a post today that represents how my run went Saturday night.  I’ll post in detail on the Midnight Half Marathon race I mentioned in the previous post.  Let’s just say for a tease that it was bitter sweet.  There was a high moment and a whole lot of BAAAAD that happened that night to the point that Linda brought out full scorn and I didn’t even switch to the full marathon (and thank god I didn’t!).  It was “black” out for the second loop and that is the loop I felt like “death” was calling me from the graves as I passed.  This all pales in comparison to the trip home but more on that later when I can stomach the recollection.

Based on that, I cannot think of a better post topic.
Black Vulture taken on Texas trip in Nov 2013

That my friends is what I believe to be a Black Vulture!  More importantly, that would be a Black Vulture that gives me a plus one on the birding list.  I actually had to spend some time looking at this particular bird  to really determine if it was a Black Vulture or rather just an immature Turkey.  Based on the reference books, the Turkey Vulture is like everywhere in the US more Northern in the summer and more Southern in the winter.  In fact, I’d be tempted to bet you no matter where you happen to be in the US, you will likely see one tomorrow soaring overhead.  Note, if there are bunch of them circling over just your head… you might consider checking your pulse or do and immediate safety check.

Black Vulture taken on Texas trip in Nov 2013

Hit the jump to read a bit more about the Black Turkey.

Continue reading Black Death

A Cornucopia of Cormorants

Well folks, by the time you read this I will probably either on my way down to my race or even in the midst of it.  This year’s Oak Ridge Cemetery Moonlight Race is going to be a solo event for me.  Due to lack of participation, they have canceled the relay prediction race which is the event my team took third overall last year – could have been better but thanks to cheaters we were pushed back to third. – (link here).   Instead, I’ll be running the half marathon solo – probably a good thing they canceled the relay since one of my team members is out with a foot injury and the other has struggled as of late getting his miles in.  Linda is at a dog show so once again sans event photographer.  Wait a minute, no friends to talk me out of it, no voice of reason from Linda…they are running a marathon at the same time … hmmmm.  Note the question isn’t to do or not to do.. it is whether I can withstand the post race scorn and anger from my wife.  What to do, what to do?  (I’ll probably stick with the half .. Linda’s scorn can be intimidating).  With the upcoming event approaching quickly, decided to just go with a short narrative post from our friends in Texas!

Cormorants shot on Texas trip in Nov 2013

Once again back on our trip to Texas back in November 2013.  One bird they have an abundance of are Cormorants.  I believe these are Double-Crested but to be honest, the Neotropic has an upper range that is right where we were (Galveston area) and they look very similar.  If you happen to think otherwise, please let me know – the Neotropic is not checked off my list as of yet.  We encountered these interesting waterbirds wherever we stopped.  Having them already checked off the list, I focused more on the behavior aspects than getting the perfect bird reference shot.  In some cases, I wish my F stop was pushed up (or down depending on how technical you want to get) to pull a bit more of the background in focus.

This particular Cormorant spotted something of great interest not too far away from where it was floating….

Cormorants shot on Texas trip in Nov 2013

Hit the jump to see more shots of these water bandits.

Continue reading A Cornucopia of Cormorants

The King of Texas

How is everyone doing today?  Hopefully better than I am at the moment.  It is rare for me to set a goal and fail miserably at it – I may not get it on the first try, but eventually with a bit of dedication the finish line is reached.  Today was one of those rare times thanks to some god awful heat and humidity that decided to greet us at the start of our training (not practice Ron) run today.  The plan was to knock out the final 13 miles before the taper down started for the two half marathon races coming up in about 2 weeks.  Based on last night’s weather forecast this should not have been that much of an issue besides being out in the rain.  Guess what.. no rain.  Once again the forecast wasn’t even close to being right which is getting to be waaaaay to common these days.  For an industry that declares success at the same level as a coin flip, not even getting that close is an embarrassment.  So instead, we got out of our cars and felt the stinging hot slap of high humidity.  After one loop around Springdale, Ryan and Sung threw in the towel.  Not wanting to give up yet, I opted to replace the three Springdale hills for one mega-hill up to Glen Oak Park.  At least at the top of that, it was flat going until time for the big downhill back to the car.  By the time the hill was conquered, there wasn’t much left in the tank – pounded out 10 and called it a day – sigh.  Let’s hope race day has mercy on us.

Thanks to zapping all the energy out of my body, figured it would be a good rest to get a quick post out.  Today’s featured bird is once again from the big state of Texas in November 2013.
Kingfisher shot on Texas trip Nov 2013

Unlike the last two posts, this particular bird isn’t a new check in the birding list.  However, it is a definite improvement over my previous shots in that it is finally close enough to make out the details and fairly crisp (link here and here).  Something about these Belted Kingfishers that make them difficult to photograph.  It isn’t like they are in constant motion or hyper by any means – more like Herons and Egrets as they simply stair at the water waiting patiently for dinner to arrive.  Once in motion they can be difficult to capture but no excuse for all the soft shots in the past.  Maybe we could harness this voodoo power they have on cameras and make a fortune embedding it into the paint of sports cars – be damned you evil stop light cameras.

Kingfisher shot on Texas trip Nov 2013

By now I can pretty much detect the presence of a Kingfisher by their distinct twilling sound.  Whenever we are by a stream the eyes are in continual scan of the banks outer branches looking for their distinct shape and coloring.  This particular one was easy to spot since it was just hanging out on a support line for a bridge.  It also happens to be a female based on the brown band on the top and side of the white breast.  Males are typically all slate grey and white.

Kingfisher shot on Texas trip Nov 2013

The other feature I really find interesting about the Kingfisher is the eye mark.  In case you are not familiar with these birds, that white spot near their bill … is NOT their eye.  These shots were intentionally left a little dark to obscure the real eye a bit.  The actual eye is all black and is found just back from the white mark.  Wonder if that works as some kind of light aid for their eyes – maybe like how athletes will put black under their eye to keep reflections down.  Crap, out of pictures.  One final fact to leave you with about this bird.  They burrow into the sides of riverbanks to build their nests.  Much like Muskrats and Beavers, they make the tunnel slope upward to help protect the nest from flooding. Tunnel length ranges from 1 to EIGHT feet long.  Wonder if they would be in the market for an underground mining vehicle – I just might know a company that could sell them one.

That’s all folks – time to get off my ass and finish staining my wood trim.  The Halloween party is approaching quickly and Linda isn’t going to stand for the basement not being done again this year.

Oh, before the hate mail gets too high, I probably should have said the Queen of Texas in the title but hey, just going by the name they gave it.

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Pretty Strutting in Texas

Greetings everyone.  True to form, I’m once again under the gun to reach my quota.  The saving factor is I already have the digital dark r4om work is complete so all that needs to be done is add a few of these wordy thingies and hopefully we’ll be good until next month.  Of course, that doesn’t make me feel much better because next month will be all about the Halloween party prep.. and two half marathons and finishing up the basement and and and – sigh, I’ll deal with that later.  For now, let’s enjoy one of the most beautiful birds in the world.

Peacock shot on Texas trip in Nov 2013

Even though the signature plumage isn’t up on full display, you can probably figure out what this colorful specimen is.  Like the Curlew in the previous post, this bird was shot in Texas.  In fact, it was shot on a side road not far from the field where that Curlew was hanging out.  First off, before I get scores and scores of hate male, I am perfectly aware this is not a native bird of North America so technically it shouldn’t be considered a real +1.  However, after long discussions with my brother, we decided it was not in captivity, free to roam about wherever it wanted so what the hell, we are going to put a check mark in the book anyway – woot!

Peacock shot on Texas trip in Nov 2013

I’ve actually photographed this bird a number of times in zoos and even have images from the Denver zoo of one that was just out walking around free of containment – that was pretty cool – was able to get within a couple of feet of it and experience just how beautiful that plumage really is.  Hopefully those pictures are coming up in the queue because that one would go full fantail for us.  I do not have a lot of pictures of this bird being as it was taken from the car while passing through to get to the Whoopers.  That means we have to get to the facts fast.  Starting off, only the mail is actually call the Peacock.  If you think about that a bit, it makes perfect sense.  Females are referred to as Peahens and the more general term is Peafowl.  There are three types of Peafowls – the more common one is pictured here and the one we are used to seeing at zoos etc, is labeled the Indian one and get this .. wait for it – is found in India (as well as Pakistan and Sri Lanka).  The other two are Green and Congo found in Southeast Asia and … you guessed it Congo.  With that kind of naming, who needs a reference book.   The Peacocks (which you now know is only the male) is the one pictured here, identifiable by the large color palette.  Peahens are downright boring but that is for a good reason – they need to blend into their surroundings in order to prevent predators from locating them while nesting.

Peacock shot on Texas trip in Nov 2013

To close out a couple more facts,  Peafowl babies are called Peachicks and a group of  the Peafowl are considered a party or a pride.  India considers them a sacred bird  in reference to the markings on their tail feathers which they attribute to the eyes of the gods.  They are ground-feeders preferring insects, plants and small “creatures” as my reference site refers to them.  I laughed at the last fact I found – apparently they are not the nicest birds to be around and tend to be a bit inhospitable to our native aviary.  The reason I laughed is I immediately thought of Ron and how domestic birds tend to attack him – if he ever gets  close to one of these beasts he’s going to have to pull out his Steer escaping sprinting abilities.

All I have for you today folks – have to hit the hay and get ready for a long run tomorrow …. probably in the rain so I get to relive the Illini Marathon conditions once again (link here).

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Lone Star Goodness

Welcome back to my blog ladies and gentlemen.  If you have been having some problems getting to this site over the weekend you can blame GoDaddy.  Not sure yet what is going on with them, but their availability has been crap for the last couple of days.  I was getting really worried, but found out that my brother Ron was having similar problems with his blog which is also served by GoDaddy.  He has been exploring the actual WordPress services and those appear to be working out quite well – his birding blog I mentioned previously is hosted there already.  Depending on how things work out, there may be a switch considerations coming in the future.  Until now, we’ll just use my current blog – which by the way, I have pretty much worked all the kinks out of already and has been working pretty good up to this point. Enough about the technical details, let’s get to today’s featured bird.

Texas Trip Nov 2013

How do you like the snout on that one!  For some strange reason I have an affinity for this species hehehe.  That there is a Long-Billed Curlew.  To be honest, was not entirely sure when I came upon it in the digital dark room.  Based on the key characteristics (yeah, the snout), it could have been a Whimbrel.  Decided to phone a friend (Ron) and get his opinion.  He pointed out that the Whimbrel has a stronger striped head, a dark crown with a white median stripe and generally less buffy look.  I have to agree – a Curlew it is!

Texas Trip Nov 2013

Hit the jump to see a couple more shots of this Curlew

Continue reading Lone Star Goodness