In a Cabin by a Wood

The Insurance Question

2011-09-17T14:49:00.000-05:00

With apologies to my readers -- I have been a bit lazy of late, and not much is going on here at the cabin. I have a lot of time to think, and this question has caught my attention. If you're not interested in politics, you can skip this one. :-)

[Stepping up on soapbox now]

As of recent GOP Debates, the "Insurance Question" has raised it's ugly head again. One of my acquaintances on FB posted a video from moveon.org of a woman whose brother had no job, no insurance and no "governmental assistance" because of his age (mid-late 50s). He came down with cancer and died in a lot of pain. The question is asked (and she admits it's a poor question, and it is), "Should people be allowed to die because they have no insurance?"

These kinds of questions, with relation to politics, really irritate me. Why? Because not only is it a "yes or no" question that doesn't really lead to discussion, but it is a leading question which plays on our emotions and tends to put a damper on any followup.

Obviously the answer to the original question is "No." But this has gotten me to thinking, what is the correct question? I think the question should be this:

"There are people in our nation who are unable to get a job and therefore, without insurance who are unable to get the healthcare they need. Many of them are dying without treatment. How would you resolve these issues and save these people?"

Let me start with an aside that I believe that our world and our lives are made up of series of systems and everything is connected to everything else. So the answer to this question is complex.

My first "off the cuff" answer to this is that it shouldn't be the problem of government to deal with this, except that it was the government that caused the problem (in my opinion). Now, they had help of course, but ultimately a lot of the problem stems from laws that have been passed over at least the last 150 years or so. All of these laws were enacted with the benefit of the people in mind, but some have had a negative effect on the people they were intended to help.

I think that we need to go back and review many of the old (and some not so old) laws that have been passed to see what the consequences of those laws have been and if those laws need to be completely or partially repealed, and/or rewritten. We need to look at Health Care, and the laws governing legal practices towards doctors and medical practitioners; at the laws governing the insurance industry (especially medical). We need to look at all sorts of business-related, economics and tax laws that effect businesses' ability to hire and retain workers. We need to review how we deal with illegal immigrants. We even need to look at welfare and how we deal with indigent people.

All of these issues are involved in why a person in their mid-fifties who has lost their job and insurance and comes down with a serious disease would end up dying in pain because they can no longer afford treatment.

I want, however, to reiterate one important point that I made above. Before doing anything, we need to look at the long term consequences of any changes we decide to make. It's called a "risk assessment." Most of our laws in the past have been made without any risk assessments (or so I would assume), and some have had consequences that have caused problems in the long term. But simply repealing a law that "went wrong" will also have consequences. We need to determine what those consequences are and rework the law such that it solves the original problem without causing additional problems, and transition those effected into the new situation with a minimum of "pain."

Unfortunately, I think the possibility of any of this happening with any politician is slim to none, because no matter what anyone does, someone is going to be unhappy and the politician will feel their ability to be reelected in jeopardy. So the other thing I think we need is term limits! But that is another topic all together!

[Steps down from soap box.]

Trip to the Big City Today

2011-09-13T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today, I drove into town to attend a funeral at the church where Marc and I were married. I saw a lot of people that I hadn't seen in years. I made it through the funeral pretty well until the last verse of "A Mighty Fortress" -- music always gets to me, and sometimes it's the strangest things... but I survived.

Afterwards, I went to the genealogy library and tried out the new camera I bought to take pictures (instead of photocopies) of the information I found. I don't think they turned out well. (I haven't downloaded them yet.)

On the way home, I saw the wildfire in the park -- not close to me, but closer than some of the other fires "nearby." I looked at the odometer when I got home -- almost 100 miles round trip!

Got home and discovered... yes, the hummingbird feeders were empty! Well... that's a day in my life.

Saturday in the Woods

2011-09-10T19:30:00.000-05:00

So I was particularly lazy today. I purposely slept in, and awoke to find the humming bird feeder empty AGAIN! I refilled it, only to have it empty again by 3:00 pm. So this time, I filled two. I've had lots of hummers in the last few days -- I think perhaps it is the beginning of migration season. If so, it seems slightly early. I wonder if that indicates that we might have a particularly cold winter?

I did get out for my walk this morning, but it was a little late, so I didn't walk a whole mile. One good thing I noticed is that at 10:00 am, my garden area was wholly in the sun!

Even though I spent most of the day inside listening to the Tri-County EMS scanner, I did notice a few interesting things. A couple of times, I saw Grackles (large black birds) on my seed feeder. I also noticed that my thermometer got up to 101 degrees this afternoon (for only a moment). Then the temp dropped quickly, vacillated a bit, then settled on about 96. Strange, if you ask me. I wondered if a bird or something was sitting on the sensor?

Tomorrow, as I'm sure everyone knows, is the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks. I have received only one email, but saw several posts on FaceBook of remembrances of the event. While I too feel that we should "never forget," I found quickly that I am not up to reading through all the stories. However, my choir sings tomorrow. I think the song I have chosen is appropriate to the day, both for the lessons of the day, and the remembrance of the tragedy. It's the song It Is Well. The person who wrote the song had lost his daughters in a tragedy at sea, and yet, with God's help is able to go on with his life. Here's a link to a version of this song sung by three young siblings that one of my choir members sent me.

"When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, "It is well, it is well, with my soul."

Wildlife on the Homestead

2011-09-09T17:02:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of wildlife in my little woodland sanctuary and that is a concern when I review my plans for developing a garden and livestock (probably chickens at this point). Since we've cleared the area, the deer have been munching on my bananas, the squirrels have been eating the birdseed and several other animals have remained unseen, but I know they are there.

I will have to protect my garden and livestock from the animals listed above and from raccoons, possums, skunks, armadillos, coyotes, and possibly foxes. Oh, and wild pigs! I'm afraid this will be a case of "if you build it they will come!"

I visited a friend for lunch today, then ran some errands on the way home. Driving through the country, I saw something I don't often see: a dead coyote on the side of the road. Sadly, I drove around the corner and saw another one! I think the combination of the drought causing scarcity of food and water, and the fires to the north of us are likely driving animals this way.

Hummer Wars!

On the positive side, I probably have a dozen humming birds around my feeder. I filled it up this morning and it's almost empty now (about 5pm).

2011-09-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

The fires in Texas are a big concern right now. I am particularly worried because I not only have a lot of dead trees, but a lot of dead brush. Fortunately, the fires are about 30-40 miles away (maybe closer "as the crow flies"). But still everything is so dry. We're in the path of the smoke, so things are a bit hazy, and you can smell the smoke from time to time. Weather Underground has the option to select "fire" from their radar maps. You can also have it show the smoke in the area.

Here's a really Impressive Video from Texas Parks and Wildlife. It's labeled as "Scary" and it is, but not in a horror movie sort of way. The whole video is 50 seconds, and shows the fire moving right across an area of ... maybe 50 feet? I'm not a good judge of distance, especially from a video, but wow! You can see the trees that are NOT dry are surviving well enough, but those that are go up like matchsticks! Scary, indeed.

I have a couple of trees that are dead from last year (or before) that are going to be cut down -- hopefully today. One is where it would fall on the garden/yard area and another is over the driveway.

Dead tree at the front of the driveway

Another tree that is dead is the one where my driveway splits off to the house. This tree partially blocks the view to the house, so I hate to lose it. It will be complicated to cut because the power line is in the way (click on pic to see the powerline). However, this winter, I plan to plant several brushy type trees to create a "hedge." I'm hoping to get fruits and nuts from the hedge, if the birds and squirrels don't get them first.

Dead tree at the back of the driveway

Here is a picture of the dead tree at the opposite corner of the circle driveway. I'm not going to cut it anytime soon, but it's sad to see it go. And below that are other trees that have died or are dying along the pipeline right of way.

Dead trees along the pipeline ROW

2011-09-07T10:38:00.001-05:00

This morning is starting off cool again like yesterday. When I checked around 8:30 am, it was 65 degrees. The hummers are out -- I've seen 5 or 6 the last couple of days. Tried to get some pictures, but they move so fast. My biggest problem is squirrels in my bird feeders! And when I scare them off, they launch off the feeders scattering more seeds than they eat!

Dang Squirrel! Sitting below the bird feeder.

I wish I could get started in my garden. I'm waiting to find the buried electrical lines, and the water line as well, but I may just have to guess at that. Need both of these to determine where to set the fence posts. I want to have raised beds, but I might just put in amendments and such in the areas I want. I can't afford to spend much more money until I get a job. But the cooler mornings are really nice.

2011-09-06T10:37:00.002-05:00

It's been almost a year since my last post. Several things have happened since then, and my life has changed significantly. I've decided to get my blog going again, but it will be less about birds and more about my "Cabin in the Woods." Part of my problem with the previous blog was the time it took to edit the photographs so they would load quickly (and the birds would be visible). Well, my old computer died, and I bought a Mac. Surprisingly, it did not come with photo editing software (or if it did, I haven't found it).

I did not mention it in my last post, but Marc was not well on that trip. His health continued to deteriorate. In March, we "officially" learned that he had Pancreatic Cancer, and he passed away the day before Easter in April. Needless to say, things have been ... well, different. My neighbors, family and friends have been wonderful and very supportive and I'm grateful!

I'm planning to turn my Cabin in the Woods into a homestead. I'm going to plant a garden (with a fence -- the deer are already eating Marc's bananas!!). This will be quite a challenge, because besides the animals (not just deer), the area is largely shaded. I'm also considering getting some chickens, so I'll hopefully be more self-sufficient.

Before of the area where the garden will be

I'll still talk about birds some (not just chickens!), but I'm planning to make this more a journal of the homestead. This is the area where the garden will be. The "lump" in the center left is the "old" 4' square of garden with it's fence. It was "mowed over" by the tractor.

After of the same area.

Here is the "after" version. If I have chickens, the coop will go by the tractor shed, now clearly visible in the photo. Of course, I no longer have a tractor, so I may need to call it something else.

Galveston/High Island September Birding Trip

2010-10-02T13:36:00.013-05:00

We just returned from a quick trip to Galveston and High Island. As a birding trip, it was a bit disappointing, though we did add three new birds to the Life List (so that was really good). The bird below is a juvenile Red Headed Woodpecker. For some reason, I thought I already had that one (maybe I hadn't written it down).

I was a bit disappointed in High Island's Smith Woods. I guess we just go there at the wrong time of year. The site was so grown up, I had a hard time getting to the major water area. Most of what I saw were Neotropic Cormorants (and an alligator). There was some sort of hawk which I heard, but was unable to identify. And, of course, this woodpecker, which was the highlight of the trip.

We travelled across to the Bolivar Peninsula across the Ferry -- one of my favorite things to do. I kept seeing a lot of birds that I did not think were Laughing Gulls. One might have been a Bonaparte's Gull, but I couldn't be sure. This bird, caught flying, is a Sandwich Tern. I knew this was a new one for me, as I hadn't recognized the white tip on the bill.

This pic is not the best quality, but the bird was flying high and far away. It's a juvenile Magnificent Frigate Bird! My friend Susy had seen one at Galveston several years ago, and I have been wanting to add this to my list ever since. This one, along with 2-3 others were flying off the Bolivar Peninsula coast, closer to High Island than to the Lighthouse end.

Back on the Ferry... we kept seeing sea mammals (I tend to call the dolphins, but I believe that in Galveston Bay they are actually Porpoises). Every time I would see one, they would go under again before I could take a picture. I was a bit surprised to see that I had actually captured a few on film. I also have a lot of pictures of blank water. :-)

In Galveston, we drove down Strand Street and back up Harborside. Some of the businesses have changed, but things looked mostly the same. We drove out to East Beach, which was a bit of an eyeopener. Along the road to the official "East Beach" there used to be several eating places and bars. Now there is nothing (thanks to Ike, I'm sure). There are signs marking the area as a future wildlife preserve. Not surprising, this is where I took most of the rest of my bird pics.

My favorite is this Reddish Egret. These birds are not overly common, compared to their white cousins and the Great Blue Heron. I saw more than one of these on the trip, but this one was a real ham. He was obviously chasing a fish or something.

Of the rest of the Egret family, my favorite is the Snowy. I think it's because they have black legs, but bright yellow feet. And like most Egrets and Herons, have that wispy quality to their feathers. This Snowy was across the road from the Reddish Egret.

Thursday - Birding Aransas on the Skimmer

2009-12-02T13:11:00.019-06:00

Sorry, I've been delayed on this last post of our Fulton/Rockport trip. On Thursday, we joined Captain Tommy Moore on the Skimmer for a water-side view of the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. It was a great trip (as usual). We didn't see a lot of Whoopers, and those we did see were at a distance, but they all decided to fly, so I got a few good flight pics. It's early in the season, and last year was particularly bad for the whoopers (mostly due to drought and shortage of blue crabs). I think they lost 23 birds last year.

On the way to the refuge and on the way back, we often see a lot of other birds -- I was able to add three new birds to the life list -- I even have pictures! (Some are not so good). One bird we saw a lot of and that is new to our list is the Dunlin -- they seemed to be everywhere. I got this great pic of one flying.

We also saw Royal Terns (as opposed to Caspians). The main difference is that the bill is more orange than red. This is another new addition to the life list. I love their "hair do's" -- reminds me of Groucho Marx.

And the last "new" bird is the horned lark. These were at a bit of a distance from the boat and they were running across an open stretch of land, so the pic is not so good -- but it works for documentation. ;-)

Captain Tommy is a great birder, with a great sense of humor. He makes a point to identify all sorts of birds along the way -- not just the whoopers. For example, he reminded us that the American Oyster Catcher is misnamed. It's not like it's all that hard to "catch" oysters.

Kingfishers are common around water -- though I'm more used to seeing them inland. They have such a prominent crest shape that they are easily identified on a post or wire, but not necessarily when flying. Fortunately, I saw this one on a post first.

Something new that I learned from our esteemed guide. There are two kinds of cormorants in our area: Double Crested and Neotropic. The differences according to Sibley's are mostly a little white at the corner of the eye. I wasn't particularly sure how to tell them apart. Captain Tommy pointed out that the Neotropics are darker and smaller. There are both in this picture.

If you've viewed this blog in the past, you'll know that I'm especially fond of birds of prey. Most of the "hawks" that I saw were at a pretty good distance. At first I thought this bird was a hawk of some sort (seen from a distance without optics), but it turns out it's a Black Crowned Night Heron. I've seen one before, but this is my first chance at a photo.

Usually, we see a lot of Ospreys in the area. We saw a few, but most were far away, flying or the boat was moving. This was my best osprey shot of the day.

But my best sighting of the day -- even better than the flying whoopers (IMO) was this Peregrine Falcon. This one was on a nesting platform, so I'm hoping she has a nest there -- but maybe it's just a lunch stop.

Okay, I saved the best till last. We saw about three sets of whoopers this time around. One set was a family. The bird with the brown splotches is the juvenile.

And finally, we saw a pair of whoopers, who also flew. Here they are, below.

Wednesday at Port Aransas

2009-11-23T16:12:00.013-06:00

Wednesday morning we drove out to Port Aransas to visit their Birding (and waste management) Center. OK, they share a parking lot -- but it's really a nice place. When we were coming in, we were told there was a lot of Red Headed Ducks -- but if they were, they were in a huge group at the far end of the pond.

There were a lot of Teals (both blue- and green-winged) and a lot of turtles, but other than that, not a lot of the birds we usually see. In this picture, you see a couple of Ibis, a lot of turtles, and a bunch of "brown" ducks -- they might be redheads, but I couldn't tell.

We did see one Spoonbill flying over (too quick to get a picture), and there was some sort of heron off in a corner "dancing" around, but I could not get a clear picture of that one either.

However, of the pics I got of some of the birds, this is my favorite: a male Blue-winged Teal in his breeding plumage, among rippling water with stray feathers and a great reflection.

This is a Ruddy Duck, whose breeding season is March to August. You can see that his blue bill is almost back to gray (no, it's not all mud).

I took a pic of a Ruddy at this same place back during the summer. Who knows, it might even be the same duck! But you can see that he is much brighter and his whole bill is blue!

We often see Nutria at Port A -- this time, we only saw one and he was a small one. They are often considered pests in many parts of the world (like Louisiana). I wonder if they're edible? (Marc says they're pretty nasty -- they're like rats.)

Fall trip to Fulton, TX - Tuesday

2009-11-23T15:17:00.008-06:00

Well, we finally made it back to the coast to see our favorite coastal birds, and whoopers. We got up early in the hopes of catching the afternoon birding boat tour, but they didn't sail on Tuesday afternoon, so we drove around a bit. I took lots and lots of seagull pictures, but they're pretty much all the same, so I'm not including them here... We did get some interesting shots, though:

In addition to the seagulls, I took several pics of Brown Pelicans -- my favorite sea bird. This is a good shot of an adult coming out of his breeding plumage. I think this was taken by the Convention center, where Marc likes to feed the gulls.

As we drove further down Fulton Beach Road, almost to the Kontiki resort, we saw this interesting trio of birds:

From left to right, a Snowy Egret, a White Ibis and a Little Blue Heron.

Here's the view from the back. It took us a while to figure out the ibis, as he had his bill tucked under his wing!

Across the street from this location are two ponds, which will usually yield an egret or heron. This one was standing at the side farthest from the road when we went by, but on the way back, he had moved closer to the middle, and was giving us a showy walk. Not sure whether to call this "Walk this Way" or "Walk Like an Egyptian". Either way, with his neck jogged to the side and his toes curled, he makes an interesting sight.

Which Pics?

2009-04-22T12:33:00.004-05:00

My church in Pattison, Texas has an annual German Sausage Dinner the first Saturday in May (this year, that's the 2nd -- if you're in the area, it's served between 11-2, come on by!).

We always have a silent auction and I usually print and frame a couple of pictures to donate. I find that some pictures go better than others, and I'm wondering if you all could help me by suggesting any photos that you might be willing to buy (no, I'm not asking you to buy anything, but if you were, what would you choose?).

I'll probably do 3-4 shots, and I'm seriously considering the Krider hawk in the post below and possibly the Swainson's as well. I love pelicans, but they don't seem to sell well. I might pick one of Marc's Whooper pics, or a good Caracara, if I have one (I'll have to look again). If you have any you particularly like, please comment on this post and let me know.

Thanks!

Update: Here's the Caracara pic I'm thinking of...

This will need a bit of editing (there was also a vulture in the original). I find that I need to do the editing at the camera store, as I can't get the size right with my photo editing software, and it defaults to 72 dpi (yes, I can fix that, but it's a pain).

Birds of Prey on a Gloomy Day

2009-04-11T16:08:00.007-05:00

OK, I know that I promised the whoopers, and I was trying to update my posts in the order that the photos were taken, but I'm behind, and today was a "good birding day".

The weather has been gloomy and overcast all day, but we wanted to get out of the house, so we made the "loop" down Woods Road -- our favorite birding locale. The birds were low to the ground -- sitting on fence posts. We saw this bird first. It took me a while to identify it, but I think it's a Swainson's hawk. When it flew, I could see the mostly white underside, with a dark "chest".

Almost exactly across the street on another fence post was this beautiful Krider's Red Tail Hawk.

CORRECTION: This is a juvenile Swainson's hawk. Thanks to Jonah for setting me straight!

Marc finally honked the horn to get it to fly, but I missed that shot. He flew a ways down the fence-line and was there when we back-tracked, but those shots were too far and turned out blurry. This will probably be one of my Photos for the silent auction at this year's Sausage Dinner.

Around the corner on Hwy 359 we saw another of our favorite local birds -- a Crested Caracara. The bird is looking directly down at the camera -- it has a very intense glare!

Here's a close-up so you can see its face!

November Fulton Trip -- Mostly Shore Birds

2009-04-03T17:35:00.008-05:00

I focused on the pelicans in my previous post, and I will do a special post on the Whoopers that we saw on the trip, but we see a lot of other birds, and some are really special!

Every time we go to the coast, Marc loves to feed the seagulls -- they are excitable birds. Taking shots of the feeding frenzy can produce some great vignettes, like the one below.

In Fulton, there are a lot of wetland areas, full of herons and egrets. Here is a great, reflective shot of a Great Egret. He (or she) has caught something -- I'm not sure if it's food, or just a reed and maybe lunch got away.

This pic of a Long-billed Curlew was taken from the Skimmer, Captain Tommy Moore's boat, in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Another great reflective pose. These birds are rather large, standing 23 inches. Sibley's says this bird favors drier habitats, but I guess this one is an exception.

This Ruddy Turnstone was posing for me. This is the non- breeding plumage. I have a shot of one in breeding plumage in my post of one of our first trips to Port Aransas. If you click on the link and scroll down below the Wilson's Phalerope, you will see the extreme differences in breeding and non-breeding plumage.

This little guy is a Spotted Sandpiper -- again in non- breeding plumage. (He gets spots during breeding season -- what a surprise!). This was another bird for the life-list.

Pelicans

2009-04-03T16:43:00.006-05:00

I think of all the sea and water birds, Brown Pelicans are my favorites. They are much more colorful and prettier (IMO) than White Pelicans and a lot more interesting. They hunt from the air, diving down into the water head-first to come up with dinner. This shot was taken on our November trip (continued from below, just a few months later :-). I think it is one of the best shots I've taken -- I didn't have to do any adjustment except resizing to upload here.

This is the same bird, shortly after takeoff. I left most of this picture, including the Laughing Gull in the water, just to show you how large these birds are. And the Brown Pelican is the smallest of the Pelican species.

For contrast, here are a couple of White Pelicans. The one on the right is showing some of his wing-tip feathers, which adds a bit of contrast, but really, I think the white pelicans are rather boring, and plain. You can see, however, that they like these rocks as a perch.

To give the White Pelicans some credit -- they look really nice when they are flying. Black wingtips seem to be common on a lot of white water birds -- pelicans, cranes, ibis, storks all seem to exhibit this trait. I think these flying pelicans contrast nicely with this lovely cloud, and with the perched pelican below.

ANWR Boat Tour

2008-11-23T20:40:00.007-06:00

Here are a couple of Pix from Aransas. More to come!

Daddy Whooper, and

Whooper Chick.
========================
So to keep some of these pictures in order, I've decided to edit this post instead of adding a new one. One thing that may not be obvious from these pictures is that Whooping cranes are really big birds. They stand five feet tall -- that's almost as tall as me!

On this last trip, we saw about 26 whooping cranes on the single trip. Captain Tommy said it was a record for him! We saw these magnificent birds really up close -- as the pictures above show. We also got to see a great little drama.

One of the adults captured a snake! I can't be sure, but I think this may be the female -- you'll notice that she's really shaking things up.

It's not too long before Junior comes over to investigate. You'll notice that the snake isn't real excited about this idea -- it's wrapped itself around a bit of brush and is hanging on for dear life!

But in the end, Mom relents and Junior has lunch!

Western Canadian Geology

2008-10-21T18:14:00.010-05:00

As mentioned before, I'm a bit of a geology buff -- but far from being an expert. We began our two-day train trip across Western Canada on the dry side of the mountains. That will be obvious enough from these photos. I was impressed by all the outcrops, upthrusts and places where erosion shows us what lies beneath the surface.

In this picture, notice the different colors in the rock: iron and copper for sure, but there are probably others. Marc's the chemist in the family, I'm sure he could tell us more.

Here, you can see a bit of outcropping where the soil has been eroded away to show the rock beneath.

Here's another example.

Mountains are formed in a couple of different ways. These are "upthrust" mountains formed when two tectonic plates press against each other and causes "wrinkles". You can see how the rock has been pushed up at an angle.

I love this shot that shows the different types and colors of rocks exposed by the water's cutting path.

Why I love living in the country

2008-10-20T20:53:00.004-05:00

I had a really pleasant surprise today. I was sitting out on the front porch, enjoying a really fine day when a gray fox trotted across the driveway. Of course I didn't have my camera handy (sorry). So I searched the web and found information on the Gray Fox -- with color pictures. What a really handsome animal!

Gray Fox (Desert USA)
Gray Fox - Wikipedia
Wild Animals of Crestwood -- scroll past the Red Fox, for a very nice photo

Western Canada by Train - Day 1

2008-10-18T12:38:00.012-05:00

A portion of our trip to Canada included a two-day train trip from Vancouver to Banff. We were in a "domed" car, which means that we sat at the top of a two level car (the dining area was on the bottom). The top part of the train car was domed glass which, combined with the height, allowed for excellent views. Unfortunately, it did not necessarily make for excellent photographs.

There were several reasons for this. One was the glass -- reflective and curved. A more common reason was that we were constantly moving, and along the tracks were old telephone (or perhaps even telegraph) poles and of course trees. I took over 500 shots on this trip -- here is an example of what a lot of them looked like.

OK, I'll try not to show too many of these, though there is one more below.

If we were to count up how many birds of a given species, probably the two that would come to the top are Bald Eagles and Ospreys. (OK, and Canada Geese and probably Common Mergansers.) Along the train tracks, however, we were able to see a lot of nesting Eagles and Ospreys. Take a look at this Eagle's nest -- when you compare it to the length of the pine needles, you can get an idea of how huge it, and the bird on it, are.

This next shot is one of my most disap- pointing shots of the whole trip, and I plan to inflict it upon you, regardless. [grin] This had the potential to be a great shot, even through the telephone wires. Unfortunately, because we were moving, and I was trying so hard to take shots quickly, I used autofocus on my camera (something, I usually avoid). Well -- you can see the results with this Bald Eagle.

The Osprey is a "fish eagle" much like the Bald Eagle, though they are often listed as a separate species. I heard once on a PBS nature program that fish eagles are usually black and white. Like the Bald Eagle (ok, it's really a dark brown), the Osprey is mostly "black and white" in coloring. I especially liked this nest with all the colorful strings hanging down -- even ospreys and eagles like colorful, soft bedding for their chicks!

This next shot gives an idea of the territory we were going through. Transportation -- both trains and vehicular, travel through the lowest parts of the mountains. So you will often see a stream to your left or right. Here you get the tracks, the road and the stream all in one shot.

In my next post, I will include a lot of "geology shots" for all my rock-hound and geologist friends. But suffice to say that there are some areas in the mountains that were difficult or dangerous to put a track through, so tunnels were often necessary. Here's a spot where we had a nice curve coming up to a tunnel ahead.

All through the trip, we would travel along a stream and sometimes come to a wide spot, where there were lakes. I kept seeing these black and white birds floating in the water. It took me a while to identify them as common mergansers -- another bird for our life list.

"Whale Watching" Trip

2008-10-15T17:04:00.013-05:00

Part of our trip included a whale watching tour. This was something I was really looking forward to, though we were only likely to see Orcas, not any of the larger whales -- but that was ok. I just wanted to see whales!!

Of course, the first thing we saw were Bald Eagles -- a lot of them on this trip. However, as I was later to discover, we were mostly moving the whole time, so not all of the photos turned out this well.

We saw three types of "seals". These are Elephant Seals. Awww, what a sweet picture of cuddly seals.

This next bunch are Harbor Seals. They really blend in with the rocks. I call this "What I did for my summer vacation" -- just lay around and blend in with the surroundings. [grin] Note the one seal in the water -- if you can find him!

The third type of seal we saw was the Northern Sea Lion. I have cropped out this one individual from the herd on the rocks. It may not be obvious from the photo, but what really impressed me was the coloring on these beautiful animals. From their dark brown flippers (and wet underbellies) to the very light tan on top, they seemed to display every shade of a rich brown. I just thought they were really beautiful.

We were able to add another bird to our life list. I saw these birds everywhere, but couldn't quiet identify them, so I got some help from one of the crew. These are Pigeon Guillemots. Note the red feet!

And of course, leave it to me to spot the raccoon climbing up the rock face.

Here's a close up.

Now, if you look through all these photos again, you'll notice that there is something missing. Yep, that's right. We did not see a single whale of any kind on our "Whale Watching" tour. Sigh. Well, sometimes that's just the way it goes.

Butchart Gardens

2008-10-15T16:06:00.015-05:00

Our first day activity on the island was to visit Butchart Gardens. These gardens had been the personal project of a wealthy Victorian lady to cover up an ugly quarry that was the family's business. Over the years, the gardens grew to become the new family's business.

April is still early spring in Canada, so few of the mid-summer type flowers were blooming, but there were lots and lots of tulips and other bulb-type flowers. Red, of course is a popular color, here matched with white bachelor buttons.

I also found these black tulips to be interesting. As you are probably aware, black flowers do not occur naturally (that I know of). Most "black" flowers are a very dark blue, red or purple. Either way, they catch the attention.

Something you find in a lot of formal gardens are fountains and statuary. Butchart Gardens is no exception. I particularly liked this statue of a boar. It is considered good luck to rub the boar's snout -- that's why it's remained so shiny.

Fish always make a good match of statuary with a fountain. Though I must admit, the boar is still my favorite.

I took this next picture in the original garden designed to cover the quarries. I love the juxtaposition of nature and technology. I call this photo: "Nightshade Unplugged".

Here's a shot of the "Rose Garden". I was a little sad that we were too soon to see all the roses in bloom. The fences around the garden were all "rose fences" with the rose canes trained to follow the fence wires. I'll bet this garden is spectacular in mid-summer.

Here's an overall shot of another of the gardens at Butchart. Hmmm..., I don't remember exactly which garden this is -- it's lovely, though!

Finally, as we were finishing our garden tour, we looked back at the last garden (the Japanese Garden, if I recall correctly) and could see the harbor through a break in the trees. This sudden jolt of real life in the midst of the idyllic gardens really struck me. It seemed to bring about a completeness. I think it also reminded me that the next day we would go whale watching -- something I was really looking forward to! But that's for the next post...

First, an apology

2008-10-15T15:59:00.002-05:00

Well, hello. Yes, I'm still alive and I wish to apologize to everyone for taking almost 6 months to continue the blog. I've been struggling with some real motivation issues -- not that it's an excuse, I suppose I've just been lazy. Of all the photos I took on the trip to Canada, I picked about 100 that I want to share. Unfortunately, I'm an average photographer with a lot of help from my photo editor. So I'm looking at about 100 photos that need to be edited to share with you. That may have had a bit of an influence on my motivation. ;-)

So, after being chided by some of you to "get with it" -- I decided that I need to do just that! Fall migration is happening, and we're about to get more birds in the area to photograph, and I really need to get all my trip pictures online first. So following will be another engagement of the Canada trip photos. I won't promise that I'll get them all up right away, but it's a start!

Thanks for your patience!

Trip to Canada -- Ferry ride to Vancouver Island

2008-05-10T17:44:00.015-05:00

The next day we took the ferry to Vancouver Island. These ferries are not like the small boats we have around the Gulf Coast -- these are ships! They have multiple decks for vehicles and two for people. The windows all the way across the ferry in the picture are Deck 5, the lower of the "people decks".

This is a picture of one of the British Columbia (BC) ferries entering "the pass".

The pass is a narrow straight with a lot of shoals that ships pass through between the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Island. On both ends of the pass are tight headlands where ships have to turn into and out of the pass to get through.

The portions of our vacation where we were out on the water, were where we saw the most birds. Unfortun- ately, the movement, distance and bright reflections off of the water (even with a polarized filter) were less than ideal conditions for getting good shots. Here is a picture of a juvenile Bald Eagle flying across the pass. I included the entire shot to show the majesty of the scene, and a somewhat blurry close-up of the bird.

We saw several smaller birds, that were difficult to identify (even once the photos had been enlarged!). These birds are probably Pigeon Guillemots (I'll have better shots of them later on).

Another -- less than fabulous shot is a new addition to our life list -- the Common Loon.

Of course we saw lots of seagulls. While we were told that there were 17 different species of Gulls in the area, I was only able to identify two: Glaucous Gulls and Thayer's Gull. I am fairly certain this juvenile gull is a Thayer's. This is probably one of the best bird shots of the trip! Below is a series of shots of an adult Thayer's flying by.

Trip to Canada - Vancouver

2008-05-10T13:45:00.004-05:00

We've been home from our trip for about a week. We were both sick when we returned (though thankfully not during the trip!), so it's taken us a while to get around to posting the pictures!

We spent our first day in Vancouver and did almost nothing! We stayed in the hotel and Marc fed seagulls from the hotel room!

We did stay in some pretty nice and architecturally interesting hotels on our trip. The Vancouver Fairmont hotel had some nice Gargoyles on the corner of the building opposite of our room.

So as I said, we were pretty lazy the first day (it was a vacation, ok?). These are the only two pictures I took (I know Marc got more). I promise more pictures to come.

Woodpecker Update

2008-04-14T12:49:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't seen the Pileated again, but I did see a female Red Bellied Wood- pecker, and this time I was able to get a shot!

You can't see the reddish blush that gives the bird it's name, but you can see the white central tail feathers that distinguish this bird from the Yellow Fronted (along with the more red instead of yellow on the head), and the gray atop the head that identifies this as a female.

Signs of Spring

2008-04-14T12:37:00.006-05:00

We are well into the Spring season here -- rice has been planted and the preacher is praying for rain!

In our woods, the blackberries are starting to bloom

and in the fields we're seeing Scissor tailed flycatchers ... and not much else!

On the roads, however, we see all the animals who have gotten out along with the cars and trucks and met with a bad end. Yesterday, there was a large dead bird on the road -- it looked like an owl. My guess is a barred owl -- it was basically brown, and I didn't notice any "ears" -- though it's hard to tell when you're driving by.

Pileated Woodpecker

2008-04-11T13:19:00.002-05:00

I just saw a pileated woodpecker in the yard! I was so excited, but I was also on the phone. By the time I got outside with the camera, it was out of range. Rats!

A few years ago, we had a pair that nested in the yard and raised a family. It was really cool to watch them. That was before we started taking bird pictures. I'd really like to get a shot of this awesome bird!

Saturday Birding

2008-03-22T15:25:00.005-05:00

Spring is here! The trees are leafing out and the wildflowers are starting to bloom. The last several days have been beautiful -- sunny and pleasantly warm. I have no excuse for not have gotten out earlier in the week!

So we took a drive today, but saw very few birds. Another sign of Spring, alas! Right by the high school, I saw this meadow lark. I usually only see them flying away.

As we headed out along FM 362 (the back side of our larger loop), we saw this pair of Caracara (would that be a ParaCara?). They were very cooperative and let us take several pictures. But after I got out of the car, one of them got a bit nervous and flew away.

We saw several ducks and herons in a soggy field, but they were too far for pictures. The other sure sign of spring in my area was seeing a Scissor-tail flycatcher on the wing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

Anniversary Weekend Birding Trip -- Day 3

2008-02-24T17:42:00.021-06:00

The third and last day of our trip was spent at the King Ranch near Kingsville. We took the half-day birding tour -- with a great bunch of birders and our guide Jim. This tour was mostly driving and viewing birds from the van, but when a special bird was sighted, we would get out to get a closer look. "Closer" in this case was a somewhat relative term, and binoculars were much more effective than a camera. I was not able to get as many "good" pictures as I would like, due to the tinted windows and distances -- but maybe that's a good thing. ;-)

I'll try to list the birds somewhat in the order that we saw them, though I've grouped common types where I don't have a photo. I've left a few common (to us) birds off the list like Mockingbirds and Loggerhead Shrikes. Birds listed with an asterisk (*) are new birds for our life list.

One of the first birds we saw were Crested Caracara, and Red Tail Hawks, which I did not photograph due to distance. We started off in search of the Masked Duck*, which I was able to get a view of through the spotting scope, but unable to get a photo.

We then saw a Harris Hawk* (note the white tip on the tail). We later saw another pair of Harris Hawks as well. This was really exciting. I had seen Harris Hawks at hawk demonstration shows, but never in the wild. We had some great hawk sightings on the trip in addition to the Harris'. We also saw a White-tailed hawk (which I've previously listed in our life list, but it may have been a mistake), and we saw a Ferruginous Hawk* -- that was really exciting!

We saw lots and lots of ducks including Blue Winged Teal, Green Winged Teal*, Cinnamon Teal*, Redheads, a Ring-Necked Duck* (very similar to a Scaup), Ruddy Ducks, Shovelers, literally hundreds of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a Fulvus Whistling Duck * (pictured along with a couple of American Coots), which was a new one for me, and Marc saw a Canvas-back, but I'm not sure I saw it myself.

We also saw several Grebes: Least*, Eared, and Pied-Bill (see previous posts for pictures of the Eared and Pied-bill), and a lot of the common wading birds, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tri-Colored Heron, White-faced Ibis, juvenile White Ibis (without their parents), Neotropic Cormorants, Anhinga, and Black-Necked Stilts. I was able to get this great photo of a Green Heron. I also saw a juvenile Green Heron -- it was a very pale version of the adult!

We saw all sorts of Blackbirds. One interesting specimen was the Bronzed Cowbird*. This bird is distin- guished by its red eye (not very visible here), and the ruff of feathers across it's neck that makes its head look wider. We also added the Brewer's Blackbird* to our list. I looked for the Yellow-headed blackbird, but did not see one. But with all the wonderful sightings we did have, I won't complain!

We saw a lot of Sparrows: Savannah Sparrow* (pictured), Olive Sparrow* and Lincoln's Sparrow* -- all three new for our list! We also saw a Song Sparrow*. There was some question whether or not we saw any Vesper Sparrows -- they look a lot like Savannah Sparrows. I think the sparrow I photographed at Anahuac was a Vesper Sparrow.

We also saw a rare ground bird, the Spragues Pipit*. This bird is tiny and really blends in with it's sur- roundings (as you can see in the photo). Along with the Pipit, we saw several Least Sandpipers* on the ground, and Common Snipes* (all flying away).

Next, we saw one of the birds I was hoping to see, the Pyrrhuloxia*! Unfortunately, he was in the shade. I tried brightening and adding contrast, but it "blew out" the background. Then I tried doing some selective editing. The result is awful, but I think you can see the bird pretty well. They are very similar to their cousins the Northern Cardinal, but mostly gray with red at the tip of the crest, around the wings and around the yellow bill.

We drove a bit further on and saw a Juvenile Great Horned Owl. GHO's are always such awesome birds -- even the young ones. This one still has it's "baby feathers", but it will grow up to be a skilled and silent hunter. What an awesome bird!

And then we saw the bird that I had really wanted to see -- the Green Jay*! We saw a lot of them (especially after our guide put some seeds in a feeder), but I had a difficult time getting a good photo. Here are a couple. This first one is the clearer shot, but it's from behind!
This second shot is not quite as clear, but it shows the bird's colors -- green back and wings, a blue head and black throat and yellow under-sides! You can tell this is a tropical bird. Our guide told us that with the changing climate, a lot of the Southern birds are being seen further North. The Green Jay was counted in San Antonio for the Christmas Bird Count this past year.

At the feeders where we saw the Green Jays, we also saw a Black Crested Titmouse -- I didn't get a picture again!

At one point, we saw some Turkeys. Our guide explained that this is a variation of the turkey, and it was some place in Mexico, but I can't remember the name. These are certainly attractive birds -- too bad we couldn't get the tom to display for us (I think that's him on the right)!

Finally, I'll finish up with a couple of flycatchers, though I should mention we also saw a family of Barn Owls, but the photos didn't come out. One of the specialty birds for South Texas is the Great Kiskadee* -- one of the largest of the flycatchers. All the other shots of this bird were blocked by branches -- so you can't see the black band across the eyes.

The other flycatcher, was the Vermillion Flycatcher*. This is one bird that really stands out! But like many other flycatchers, it's a pretty small bird. This photo turned out a bit fuzzy through the tinting of the window, and excessive cropping -- but it's colors still show through dramatically!

So, I may have missed a few of the birds on the list -- but all I can say is this trip was amazing! It was really exciting to see so many birds in one trip and be able to add so many to our life list. I listed 53 birds on the list, and close to 30 are new! What a great trip!

Anniversary Weekend Birding Trip -- Day 2

2008-02-24T15:41:00.010-06:00

By the time we settled for the night, everything was totally foggy. So, while the early morning was pretty gray, we were glad to see the fog was fairly light.

We started our Birding Boat Tour with Captain Tommy Moore on the Skimmer. And of course, one of the first birds we saw was a Great Blue Heron. If you see these birds on a pier or grass, you can see that they can be very colorful -- but in their natural environment along the shore, they blend right in.

Of course the goal of these birding tours, in the winter at least, are to see Whooping Cranes. These rare birds were down to something like 15 birds, before efforts were made to protect them. On this trip, we saw lots of Whoopers -- and some of them really up close!

This set of birds is a special family. The most obvious reason is that there are two chicks! (The juveniles are the two on the outer sides -- with a little brown still around their heads.) What makes this special is that Whooping Cranes rarely have more than one offspring, as the stronger chick will usually kill it's sibling, ensuring that it gets enough food to grow to adulthood. The second special thing about this family is that the male is the oldest known living Whooping Crane in the world. Pretty cool!

A bit further on, we encountered a pair of whoopers that were really close to the boat and did not seem to be worried by our presence. The male of this pair is a descendant of the pair discussed above. However, I believe this is the female.

We were close enough to these magnificent birds to get a decent portrait shot. Because these birds are looking in the water for food (especially blue crabs, their favorite!), every picture shows the water dripping from her bill!

Here you can see her making her way across this small pond. Whooping cranes stand 5 feet tall (almost as tall as me!). Their bodies are 52 inches long, with a wingspan of 87" (according to Sibley). They have black tips on their wings. Captain Tommy told us that the black feathers on their wingtips are stronger than the white feathers.

After a great day of viewing whoopers, this Long- Billed Curlew, walked right by us in the parking lot -- as if saying, "Take a picture of me too!"

Anniversary Weekend Birding Trip -- Day 1

2008-02-24T14:44:00.007-06:00

We decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a birding trip. Since we were over our colds, ready to be over some daily challenges, and having a reason to celebrate, we decided to make this a bit more "planned" trip than some of our past trips.

Our planning included driving to Fulton (one of our favorite places), taking the boat tour which we have enjoyed in the past, then heading to Kingsville and taking the 1/2 day birding tour at King Ranch in hopes of seeing some of the South Texas specialties that we had yet to see.

Thursday was rainy and gray -- so were the few pictures we took when we arrived, however we did come up with a less than usual bird -- the Redish Egret.

I'll have to admit that most of our pictures came out gray as well, so a bit of lightening was required.

We saw several birds out on the pier grooming themselves, including these Brown Pelicans -- a juvenile and an adult. The juvenile has a dark neck -- though it looks more bare than dark. Maybe it moults, and then grows in the adult white feathers.

After our quick trip down Fulton Beach Road to Rockport and back, we decided to settle in and plan for our dinner at "The Boiling Pot" -- Cajun-style shrimp, crab and crayfish. Yum!

High Island, Anahuac and San Jac

2008-02-17T15:08:00.012-06:00

We made it to High Island on the second day of the trip. However, the sanctuaries apparently become active in March. We saw a few cormorants and a Tri-colored heron (but I didn't get a good picture). Then we decided to head over to the Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, where we had more interesting sights.

When we arrived at the refuge, I discovered some sparrows in the grass. When I looked this one up, it appears to be a Vespers Sparrow, a new one for the life list!

This Great Blue Heron was standing among the reeds. I suppose it is some method of camouflage, but these birds are so big, I would think it would be difficult to hide!

Along the way, we saw hundreds of Coots, and along with the Coots, plenty of alligators. This one reminds me of an ancient dragon! (Especially in the reflection.)

Onthe back side of the marsh we saw several of these Pied-billed Greebs. These are small birds, but they can dive and stay under water for quite a while. With these little guys along with the coots, you can see why the alligator was smiling!

By the time we left the wildlife refuge, my cold was getting the better of me and I was ready to take I-10 straight home. However, Marc talked me into stopping by the San Jacinto Monument. We visited the museum, saw a video on the Battle of San Jacinto and the events leading up to it, and went up to the top of the monument. It was quite enjoyable, and I am glad we went.

This trip required another ferry crossing. The Lynchburg ferry crosses a much shorter distance than at Bolivar, and the boats are smaller. As we were waiting for the ferry to head back to I-10, I saw a lot of dusky little sparrows. I thought they were dirty! But, no, they are Seaside Sparrows. We have them marked in the life-list, but now I have pictures!

Bolivar Ferry

2008-02-17T14:51:00.008-06:00

Last weekend we headed out for High Island. We took the long, indirect route down to Freeport and along the coast. We drove the entire length of Galveston Island to take the ferry across to Bolivar Peninsula. This has always been a favorite pastime of mine, since I was a child. Unfortunately, as we headed out, I started coming down with a cold. When we got on the ferry, I did not even get out of the car.

Here is the other ferry launching in a cloud of gulls.

At each end of the ferry, the flags are flying. In the previous picture, you see the US flag, and here is the Texas flag, with an attendant seagull.

While the overall trip was a little disap- pointing, both because of my cold, and because of the limited number of birds -- we actually did add several birds to our life list this trip. This one is the Red-breasted Merganser

New Year's Day -- 2008

2008-01-01T16:56:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! We decided to get out and do a bit of birding today -- it's a good thing, since we didn't do much else today. ;-)

We started off Morton's road where we saw a lot of vultures, with a pair of Caracara among the crowd. Unfortunately, they were shy of us and we didn't get any pictures. We went around the corner and saw several ducks and geese along with some sort of small heron-like bird in a tree. We thought to backtrack to look for the Caracara (no luck) and saw this White Throated Sparrow.

We headed south then around to Cardiff road by the new airport and I noticed some strange shapes in a tree there. When we stopped to look, we saw that it was two great horned owls! The one on the right is easier to see -- notice the redish color of the eye disks, which suggest this is the Eastern sub-species.

Here's the one on the left. I think it was the more alert of the pair, though it 's difficult to tell due to the great number of tree limbs in the way.

As you can see the one on the right was still "snoozing" -- however, over several pictures, you could see that it sometimes turned it's head the other way. Marc hooted at them to get their attention.

Since we were "parked" on the street, we had our flashers on. A sheriff came up to see if we were ok. He noticed our cameras, and asked if we were just taking pictures. We assured him that was what we were doing. I told him there were two owls in the tree. He was friendly, but didn't seem too impressed.

From the excitement of the owls, we went over to our usual haunt along Woods road. There we saw a lot of hawks near to the ground (along with lots of geese and Sandhill cranes). This one was a real surprise! When I startled him, he took off with his kill -- a large rat. I have a picture, but thought you might not really want to see the gory part.

All in all, a good birding day!

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

2007-12-30T17:44:00.000-06:00

I should probably not start this segment off with a snake picture -- but this was one of the first things we saw when we stopped at Jones Lake at ANWR. This is not your typical "snake in the grass" -- this is a water snake (Marc thinks this is a Florida Green Water snake). It's also curled up among old Cattail leaves. It had a friend stretched out nearby.

These ducks were also on Jones Lake -- I am almost sure they are Lesser Scaup -- a new one for the life list!

Heading up the path to the lake, I tried to get a picture of a little bird that was flitting all over the place. I was never able to get a picture, but on the way out I saw it well enough for an identification. It was a Ruby Crowned Kinglett. I've seen one before (at home!), but wasn't able to photo that one either. Instead, I caught this "white" butterfly, and my white balance went out the window! [Thanks to American Woman who identified this as a Great Southern White.]

We went up to the viewing platform, and saw lots of wading birds: Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills, and a family of Whoopers -- but the distance was way too great for pictures. So we headed out on the Auto Loop Tour.

We saw this duck in a little pond (probably a flooded hog- wallow) by the side of the road. It kept diving -- so I think it's pretty safe to say it was a "diving duck". However, when I looked at all the pictures in Sibley's it really looks like a "dabbler" (maybe Mottled or a Gadwall?).

Here's a close-up of the head. (Sorry, it's a really bad picture). If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'm leaning more toward a Gadwall, even if that is a dabbling duck instead of a diving duck.

Along the way, I caught this Eastern King Bird. Again, not a really great shot -- I apologize. I guess I'm just out of practice getting clear shots (that blow up well).

And finally, a Loggerhead Shrike. We have a lot in our area, and I don't normally photograph them, but this one was really posing, and I couldn't resist.

Day 3 - Parting shots of Fulton

2007-12-30T17:35:00.000-06:00

Of course, before we could leave Fulton, we had to feed the Seagulls one more time. I see a lot of injured birds when we feed -- mostly missing feet, but this little guy, with only half a beak, caught my heart. Most sea birds are carnivores, and I suspect this little guy received his injury from another bird while he was still in the nest. That's a guess of course. He was smaller than the other birds, and I don't hold out good chances for a long and prosperous life for him, but you never know...

Of all the pictures I took on this trip, I think this one might be the best. ...and of course, I love pelicans! He almost looks like he's just laying out on the air currents.

Another sharp looking fellow, hanging out on the bulkhead next door to the convention center. With the coloring on the adult brown pelican, I think they are so much prettier than the larger, white pelicans.

OK... off to ANWR

Wind-Blown Heron

2007-12-30T16:19:00.001-06:00

On the way back from the boat trip, we drove around some and saw this wind-blown Great Blue Heron at the edge of someone's yard. At first, I thought it was some sort of yard ornament.

But of course, you can see that he looked at me while I was taking his picture. He doesn't look too happy. :-)

Day 2 - The Skimmer

2007-12-30T15:56:00.000-06:00

This is the second time we've taken the Skimmer bird-watching boat tour of Aransas. It's also the second time we've gotten great sights of Whooping Cranes. But the cool thing about this tour is that Captain Tommy Moore is a real birder -- and he points out a lot of other birds along the way. I only have a few pictures, but a lot of birds. Those displayed in the photos are highlighted in Bold Red print.

While I don't have pictures of all the birds we saw, and I tried to check only those I saw, my list included: Eared Grebe,

White and Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Heron and Great Egret, White and White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black and Turkey Vultures, Gadwall and Mottled Duck, Northern Pintail, Common Goldeneye,

an Osprey,

Crested Caracara, Sanhill Crane, Whooping Crane, Black Bellied Plover, American Oyster- catcher, Long-billed Cerlew, Ruddy Turnstone, Laughing Gulls (of course), and Forster's Tern.

After Christmas Birding

2007-12-30T14:58:00.000-06:00

As you've seen by Marc's great Whooper pics below, we made a trip to Rockport-Fulton and the Aransas Natural Wildlife Area. It was a great trip for birds, but less great for me. I was feeling a bit off all week, and now that I review my photos, I'm really disappointed in the outcome. However, there were a few good shots -- and I'm sharing them here.

On Wednesday, when we arrived, we started out by feeding the gulls as usual. The interesting thing about the gulls that gathered at our usual spot was the large juvenile bird, which I am pretty sure is a herring gull.

While feeding the gulls is a lot of fun, and I enjoy taking pictures, they all tend to turn out the same. So here's a couple of Laughing Gull portraits.

You'll notice that they have lost most of the black coloring on their heads -- this is their non- breeding plumage.

And of course -- one of my favorite sea-birds is the Brown Pelican. Here is one sitting in the classic perched pelican pose on a piling.

And here's another in flight -- this particularly shows some of the focus problems I'm having -- maybe I need to adjust my eye piece.

Aransas-ANWR Birds

2007-12-29T17:27:00.000-06:00

Whoopers!

Year end trip was a success! We watched Whooping Cranes! Lots more too.

Another of this close pair.

Catching Up

2007-12-22T17:28:00.000-06:00

I apologize for not posting much lately. Things have been very busy and somewhat stressful at work, and that effects what I do at home (like blogging, or not...). Add to that, I have been both disappointed with most of the shots I've taken over the last few months, and somewhat lazy with working on the good ones (it takes a while to convert to something I can put on the blog).

In November, we took a trip to visit friends in Hunt, Tx. We drove from Hunt to Bandera, but saw very few birds of note. The few I have were taken at my friends' birdfeeder.

I was not particularly happy with this picture as it blurred when I zoomed in. In the very center is a black crested titmouse -- a new one for the life list. We have tufted titmice here at home. The black crested is a "Texas only" variation -- mostly West Texas, I guess, because we don't have them around the cabin.

This is a House Finch (on a house). I remember seeing these when we visited our friends when they lived on a ranch in the same area. I have actually seen a House Finch in Katy, Tx., but I don't think they're really common to our area.

And finally, I kept looking at the birds that seemed to be Goldfinches (and still gold!), but there was something not quite right. These are Lesser Goldfinches (another one for the life list) and different from the American Goldfinches we see at home (and only in their winter plumage).

The Freedom Trail - Part 1

2007-10-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

I've been traveling lately, and have more travels coming up, so posts may continue to be thin for a while. This past week I've been in Boston. I did see a few birds, but was unable to get any good pictures. Most were gulls -- Herring Gulls, I think -- they were really large. I also saw a hawk in the Boston Commons. The bird was no more than 10 feet in front of me and flew up from the ground (and quite startled me, I must admit). At a guess, I would say it was a ubiquitous Red Tail (which, of course, is one of my favorite birds). It was quite an impressive sight!

I had a half-day on Monday, so I took a guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail. I will share my photos by topic, and not necessarily in order. In this post, I will focus on the Granary Burial Ground.

This shot of the burial grounds was taken quite quickly. The area was mostly quite shady, so I was pleasantly surprised by this play on light and shadow, monochrome and color.

It is estimated that 5-6,000 people are buried here, though there are only a couple of thousand stones. And while the locations of the many patriots buried here are known, most of the rest of the graves have lost any connection to the stones set in the ground. Our guide told us that before the buildings which now surround the grounds were built, water would often rush down the site and wash out the grave stones. The care takers would simply collect them and place them somewhere on the grounds. People were often buried one atop the other (usually family members) -- and some were buried vertically to save space.

One of the patriots buried here is James Otis -- the persona taken by our tour guide. Our tour guide had a dry wit, and a lot of great tales to tell about the Patriots and early days of the American Revolution. James Otis, the Patriot, was an orator and lawyer who argued against the "writs of assistance." It was Otis (or so our guide tells us), who actually coined the phrase "Taxation without Representation".

The Granary Burial Ground is the resting place of "more famous people than any other small graveyard in America," according to "The Complete Guide to Boston's Freedom Trail by Charles Bahne. It holds three signers of the Declaration of Independance (John Handcock, Samuel Adams and Robert Paine), 9 governers of Massachusetts, the victims of the so-called Boston Massacre, Benjamin Franklin's parents and Paul Revere.

The patriots have monuments that were erected later in their honor. One such is Paul Revere -- but his original gravestone is also present.

So, there were many sights to see along the trail... I will share more later.

Friday Birdwatching

2007-10-07T18:55:00.000-05:00

I took a vacation day on Friday and we made our normal route looking for birds -- now that migration is starting. Right off, we saw a Crested Caracara on a telephone pole. I took several pictures, but none came out well. We went on down Woods Road (our favorite bird haunt), and saw several Egrets, small Herons and Ibises. We also saw a couple of smaller hawks that I was unable to photograph. One, we are pretty certain, was a Cooper's Hawk.

On the pass back, we saw the same Caracara -- on a pole a bit South of where we had "spooked" him before. He's pretty tolerant -- but you can see by the photo to the left that he wasn't too happy being watched.

It wasn't long before he decided to fly -- I did a quick point and shoot (and pray!). I'm amazed (and thrilled) at the results.

Pictures from the Porch

2007-10-07T18:47:00.000-05:00

After a really hectic week at work, I was relaxing on the porch and saw this dragonfly on the antenna of my truck. It's covered with spider webs, so I'm not sure if it was eating them or what. It sat there for a long time and let me take several pictures.

And then there was this little lady humming bird, coming by for a snack. She visited our "flower" several times, while I was only sitting a few feet away. She was pretty nervous though.

Here she is at the "flower".

Baby Raccoons

2007-09-15T18:27:00.001-05:00

Here's this year's crop of baby raccoons. That's mom in the back. This was one of their first trips to the cat's dish (in addition to our kittens, we feed a stray cat -- but he's a real coward when it comes to 'coons). I believe there are actually 3 babies, but we only see two here.

[Correction -- there are 4 babies.]

In this picture, mom is planning to run off with the bowl of cat food. These may be her babies, but she has no intention to share with them. Of course with a baby in the bowl, she's not likely to make a clean getaway. You can see where this is heading...

And here's mom on the left and junior on the right, picking up the pieces.

We have a neighbor who really likes having raccoons around -- so we're planning to try to trap these babies and take them over to him. Don't worry -- it's a cage trap, they won't be hurt.

Kitten Update

2007-09-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

As you know, we adopted a pair of kittens back in April. They are now about 6 1/2 months old, and they have certainly grown! This picture was taken in July -- they are still very close.

Pixie, the little female, is the most difficult to photograph as she tends to blend into one big blur -- especially at night, and even with the flash. This is a particularly good shot (I do get a few). One thing about Pix -- I think she's going to remain small and petite. But not her brother -- Specs is going to be a big cat!

Here are the two of them -- I distracted them from looking out of the window. Unlike Pixie, Specs is very photogenic. This is a good shot of him, though I have to be careful not to get too much of that pink nose! Our front window has a shelf on it just for the cats. It's been really hot out, and really cold in -- so our cheap windows fog up regularly....

...as did my camera lens as I made a quick "shot in the dark" out the front door to catch our neighborhood "bandits." They had been climbing on the treadmill (with the white cover in the previous photo) and trying to get at the birdfeeder. For a while they were nose to nose through the glass with the kittens. It was quite interesting, but they all moved too fast for me to get a picture.

More raccoon pictures coming...

Spiders -- two types

2007-09-15T11:11:00.001-05:00

OK, if you don't like spiders, I suggest you skip this one!

The brown spider to the right is a "Writing Spider," Argiope aurantia.

It used to be that these were about the only large spiders we saw on our property. We might see two or three around our place and other places. And then a few years ago, the "Golden Orb" spiders arrived and seemed to largely displace the writing spiders. This year, we had two writing spiders on our front porch -- those are the only ones I've seen.

Acording to the link above, the white "writing" in the web is called stabilimenta. This extra thick webbing helps prevent birds from flying through the web. But apparently also helps insects (a.k.a. "dinner") from flying into the web as well. Perhaps that is why we see fewer writing spiders than golden orbs, who do not use stabilimenta.

This lovely lady (left) is a Golden Orb spider, Nephila clavipes. I have recently discovered a bit more about these spiders. The "Orb" in the name describes the type of web they weave -- the big circular type. In fact the writing spiders also weave orb-type webs.

In this picture, you see the same spider and her mate. You can also see the golden strands in the web. The Wikipedia article, referenced above, suggests that these spiders weave a golden colored web, but Marc suggested that some of the strands (the sticky ones) have attracted bits of pollen. This makes more sense to me, as only certain strands of the web are "golden". Another interesting thing is that these spiders use multiple-strands to create the anchors of their webs. Sometimes the anchors are not attached to something fixed, but to a bit of broken branch or large leaf. It is a bit of a shock to be driving out of the driveway early in the morning and have a small floating branch suddenly smack your windshield!

Fall Migration is Beginning!

2007-09-13T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a long time since we've posted to the blog. That's because, just as the birds fly south for the winter, they also fly north for the summer. We're South -- so around here, we just don't have a lot of birds to take pictures of during the summer.

But lately we've been seeing ducks. Lots of ducks flying by. No geese yet, but they'll come. And very soon, we should start seeing more hawks. There is a spot near Corpus Christi where several hawk flyways converge. We went last year (won't be going this year). We were a week late to see any great numbers of birds, but we found out that the best week to be there is the third week/weekend in September. That's next week.

My work schedule is going to be pretty hectic for the next month or so, but we're planning a trip to near West Texas, probably in November and we'll be going Coastal around that time too, with the hopes of seeing Whooping Cranes. So things should pick up again soon. Stay tuned!

The Lexington, Part Dos

2007-07-23T21:14:00.000-05:00

I will present these photos with few comments. I love airplanes, and wish I could have flown many of these. I did get a chance to fly a T-34 when I was a puppy! No takeoffs or landings, just in the air stuff. The recruiter navy pilot escorting me did a few barrel rolls and G turns, and was amazed that I didn't get sick. Much fun. Wound up in the AF instead. Never did get to fly anything. Bummer.

Tom Cat, my favorite, Retired like me. Too old I guess.

I spent 4 years working around the F-4 above. Really fine air craft. Retired like me.

Above center, is a gunship from the VietNam era. Below are more shots.

I watched them in action at night.

Awsome firepower in such a small aircraft! In the lower center is an electric motor powered Gattling Gun.

They also used electricly primed rounds. They shot a mix of HEI, slug, and tracer Ammo. (HEI=High Explosive Incendiary)

You wanted these pilots to be your friends

Back then we had rockets of the shoot and pray type, completely balistic after firing. Today we have the HellFire and more Guided Rockets and other munitions.

That's Stormy to the right, unsuspecting. Ha!

The Blue Ghost-Lady Lexington

2007-07-23T15:59:00.000-05:00

The Lexington played a large role in our defeat of the Japanese Navy in WWII. She was almost sunk by Kamakazi's, but was repaired and lived on for many years. Now on display at Corpus Christi, Texas, she is now a link to the past for anyone wanting to see how our Sailors and Airmen lived during the war. The flight deck would be much too short for our modern Fighters, but is a good display ground for many aircraft, as you will see.

First, the Lex:
To the left, the super structure. Not a good place to be when you are taking incoming fire. It was a long way down to the Poop deck!

If the south Texas coast is in your travel plans, you need to visit this grand old lady. She served us well, as did the life blood of our nation who served on her. She stands as a tribute to our resolve in WW II. God bless our Veterans who served!

Here is a good history link for those of you interested.

Next, a good front shot. A bit patched and dented from war, but a good and faithfull ship.

The above views were from our balcony across from the beach about 1000 yards away.

We were on the top floor, so the view was wonderful.

Back to the Lex

The AA Guns were inreresting to look at.

In the foreground, 20MM cannons. The pods to the far right are life rafts. Seems a precarious location to store inflatibles. The ship also had a few 40mm cannons (5").

Next the aircraft on (and under) deck. New post coming up.

King Ranch mansion fly by

2007-07-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

And in front of the KR Mansion, we have the Parking Dog.

And a nice cannon to warn off the bad guys.

Engineer's and Cowpokes automatic gate (Sorta)

2007-07-08T21:27:00.000-05:00

This gate was designed by Humble Oil Engineers in the '20's ??? because they hated to get out, open the gate, drive through, get out, close the gate, and ditto on the return trip.

To the bottom right of the gate, there is a wood bumper strip. To pass through the gate, the driver eases up and taps the gate with his front bumper, and the gate swings open to the left, winding the chain around the pole ( hopefully not so hard as to to swing it around and wipe out a left tail light). If he didn't tap it hard enough, it left a nice scratch down the side of his truck.
After passing through, the gate swings closed on it's own when the chain above unwinds. It works the same going out.

Longhorns and BBQ beef

2007-07-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

I got some good shots of some of KR's purebred longhorns. The one above has Character.

And below, some BBQ on the hoof, Santa Cruse breed. ( Developed by King Ranch)

They are all saying " Eat moo chiken".

King Ranch

2007-07-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

This is the best part of our King Ranch tour. A pair of Crested Caracara. Not as clear as I would like through the tour bus window, but "OK".

We saw a few more while driving down here, but they either spooked when we stopped, or were flying and we couldn't get a clear shot.

As Stormy commented below, they had a young one on the ground that we didn't see untill we were under way. I fired off a shot, but it didn't turn out well.

Trip to Corpus and Beyond...

2007-07-08T15:10:00.000-05:00

We decided to stay home on the 4th (to avoid reckless drivers) and headed to the coast on Thursday. We headed off for Fulton/Rockport as usual. I was a bit worried that we had not made reservations in advance -- but it was a good thing! Due to all the rain, the road that ran by the Aransas Wildlife Reserve was flooded. We were only planning to spend the night in Fulton and head on to Corpus, so we ended up skipping Fulton and went on.

As it turns out, it had been raining the night before, so the Indepen- dence Day fireworks display was held on the 5th! Shooting fireworks was a new experience for me. Lesson #1 -- ALWAYS use a tripod! As you can see, it's hard to hold still for multiple seconds. This is one of the better of the shots.

I didn't take a lot of pictures on Thursday -- it was pretty soggy everywhere. But I did get one really great shot of Marc -- very introspective.

The next day we visited the USS Lexington -- this was Marc's goal. He wanted to get some good airplane shots with his new camera. I'll let him post those, I only took a couple. The one really good picture that I took on the Lex was a shot of my favorite Veteran in front of the flag on the bow.

Kingsville

2007-07-08T14:55:00.000-05:00

On Friday we headed for Kingsville with the hope of seeing some Green Jays -- this is the bird currently at the top of my wish list. I was a bit excited to read that Kingsville has named the green jay the "official bird of Kingsville" -- cool! They can be seen at feeders throughout the winter, and in trees and brush year-round... or so they say.

We went to Kleburg Park -- a possible good site. We saw lots of mocking birds (as always), sparrows, night jars (of some sort), and another bird that we couldn't identify (at the time).

It turns out the other bird was a Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (a new one for the life-list!). The golden front seems to be on it's forehead, as the breast is a creamy white. This first shot (above) may be the male, while the second (on the right) is the female.

King Ranch

2007-07-08T14:38:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, we took a tour of King Ranch -- a very little bit of it! It was very interesting -- the largest ranch, still owned and run by the original family.

This was my last chance to see the Green Jay -- but I was disappointed. The day wasn't a total waste (from a birding perspective), however. On the tour we saw two Crested Caracara in a tree. A third was on the ground. Of course, when we stopped the tour bus to take some pictures, the two in the tree flew off. We didn't notice the third one until we were leaving. It was a bit smaller than the other two, so I'm guessing it was a juvenile (though juvies are not always smaller in birds of prey).

It was challenging to take pictures on the tour bus -- and many of the shots I took did not come out well. We saw several wild turkeys, like this tom. One was actually displaying, but I was unable to get a shot of that one.

In addition to the turkeys, we saw an egret rookery, with some tri-colored herons and a spoonbill thrown in for good measure. I might have seen a black-crested titmouse, but I'm not sure. The one bird we were able to add to our life-list was the Groove-billed Ani -- unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that one either. On the grounds of the residence we saw a pea hen, and later a peacock -- they like to get on low branches so their tails can hang down.

Since the King Ranch is a working ranch that specializes in cattle and quarter horses, there were plenty of both around. I did not get any shots of the Santa Gertrudis or Santa Cruse cattle, and the longhorn shots I took did not come out well. However, this beautiful foal is a lovely picture of a future quarter horse.

More Rain

2007-07-01T13:46:00.000-05:00

My apologies to everyone for not posting much recently. We've been out a couple of times, but more often than not it's raining, or certainly darkly overcast. We're pretty lucky to live up on a hill with a creek running through our property, so it picks up the local rainwater and carries it off to the river. But the Brazos river takes the outflow from a huge water shed.

During low water times, you can often see sandbars in the river. I don't think this is quite to flood stage, but it's getting close. If you look right down the middle from the joint in the bridge rail, you can see lots of debris being carried downstream.

We took our cameras with the intention of getting this shot from the I-10 bridge, but there is a lot of traffic and I didn't feel comfortable having us stop (even on the shoulder). So, while you can't tell it, I've taken this shot from a much more interesting (or at least historical) location. This shot was taken from the bridge on FM1458, just outside of San Felipe, Texas, looking south. San Felipe was the home of Stephen F. Austin and his original 300 settlers to Texas. Just west of this spot is the Stephen F. Austin historical area, which contains a house and a store (or the old buildings at least).

I read recently, that the settlers to the east of the river had a lot of trouble getting to the official settlement where business and legal transactions took place. When you see the river like this, you can understand why!

For more information on this historical area, search for "Stephen F. Austin" or "Old Three Hundred".

Yellow bird

2007-06-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

Captured this bird on June 8th. Good for a first post here.
A crop duster spraying either fertilizer or bug spray. You can almost see the grin on the pilot's face. They love their jobs.

Dragonflies

2007-06-09T16:18:00.002-05:00

I saw these two different dragonflies in the same place -- along with a butterfly, that I was unable to catch!

I have no idea what kind of dragonflies these are. This one might be a Great Pondhawk, E. vesiculosa

This spotted-winged dragonfly was found in the same place. I think this is a "Prince Baskettail" - Epitheca Princeps

Shiny Cowbird -- I think...

2007-06-09T16:14:00.000-05:00

I believe this is a male shiny cowbird. We saw quite a few today. I was commenting to Marc that we were seeing plenty of individual male Red-winged blackbirds, but not the large flocks that we saw in the winter. He commented that was because they were breeding.

I think that's a good explanation for this bird. The female blackbirds are off tending their nests, and the female cowbirds are laying their eggs in the blackbird's nests, for the blackbirds to raise!

Killdeer

2007-06-09T16:12:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to get a shot of a killdeer for quite a while. They are very common around our area. This one was very cooperative and mostly just stood in that one spot. I'm guessing there was a nest nearby.

Lucky Shot!

2007-06-09T16:08:00.001-05:00

We saw this Snowy Egret along Morton's Rd. Suddenly, I noticed that he was flying off. I didn't have time to re-focus, but simply turned and clicked! It's a little fuzzy, but I think it came out pretty well under the circumstances!

Coming Home

2007-05-28T15:45:00.001-05:00

We had been worried about leaving the kittens alone for a long weekend -- we weren't sure what we would find when we returned! Well... the kittens were nowhere to be seen. The food had hardly been touched and there was still plenty of water in the dish.

Then we heard a tiny "mew" and found them. They were on the top kitchen shelf. Our cabin is a bit rough and unfinished in places -- they were able to sneak up the attic stairs and over the kitchen wall. This shelf is about 7.5 feet off the ground! There's no telling how long they had been up there, and unable to find their way down. After we helped them down, they figured it out quickly enough, so we had to block the stairway so they couldn't get up there any more. (Especially as this is where I store my teapot collection!)

Oh, and here's an idea of what I've been going through the last couple of weeks while trying to process my pictures. (Not my kitten, but you get the idea -- oh and multiply that by two!) Thanks to TedTam over at LST for the link!

Visit to ANWR

2007-05-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

When we first arrived at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, we were attracted by the profusion of wildflowers right by the entrance. We both started taking pictures.

Here's a shot of a bit of the flowers -- notice the globe seedheads of these pretty maroon and yellow flowers. And of course, where there are wildflowers, there are butterflies!

This butterfly was about two inches across. I don't have any butterfly books, so I bought a "quick reference" card at the park's gift shop. That was a mistake, because this butterfly doesn't seem to be on it!

I'm guessing from the size, shape and "design" that his might be a member of the "Brushfoot" family of butterflies, and a possible cousin of the "Painted Lady" -- but I think this one is different.

On the other side of the road were several swallowtail butterflies. From my reference card, I think these are Anise Swallowtails. This first one is a bit "worn".

This shot gives a better view of the head -- the body is also black with yellow stripes. That wasn't clear on the reference card.

I chased this little guy around for a minute or two before he landed long enough for me to get a shot. He was really tiny, no more than an inch across if you stretched it out!

Dragonflies

2007-05-28T15:13:00.001-05:00

In addition to butterflies, I also saw a lot of dragonflies. I have no idea what species each of these are (comments are welcome). I have discovered that Dragonflies (who rest with their wings out to the sides) and Damselflies (who rest with their wings behind them) are members of the order Odonata, which means "toothed ones".

Update: I found a great site with lots of dragonfly plates and pictures that is helping me ID these creatures. See: http://public.fotki.com/gstrick3/. The first dragon fly appears to be a "Blue Corporal," Libellula deplanta.

I was able to get at least three (maybe 4) different species. This one (on the left) appears to be an Eastern Pondhawk. All of these are dragonflies. I did find a great site to provide an overview: "Odonata: Dragonflies and Damselflies".

This dragonfly to the right seems to have a "tiger striped" body.

And this last shot of a dark blue dragonfly looks like it's body is "furry" -- but it's hard to tell for sure.

If anyone can recommend a good book on Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies for the Texas area, I would appreciate it. Texas is in an awkward spot between "East" and "West" as most wildlife books are divided into Eastern US and Western US, and it's hard to tell where we fall.

Lazy Afternoon on Fulton Beach Road

2007-05-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

We made our trip to Port Aransas in the morning, then came back to Fulton for lunch. And then, of course we had to feed the leftovers (mostly french fries) to the seagulls. (Marc's favorite pastime -- well, one of them, anyway.)

I love having the birds hovering just a few feet away -- it's the only time I get really good "flying" shots.

After we fed the gulls, we drove down Fulton Beach Road, and saw this wonderful heron sitting on a pier.

A little further down, we came upon a group of birds having their mid-day nap. This juvenile pelican with the big yawn adds new meaning to the phrase, "Open wide!"

Here's another shot of the same pelican, possibly with a sibling.

There were several birds resting on that pier.

I especially like the geometric pattern of the pier at this angle as shown in this last pic.

The "Bird Walk" at Rockport

2007-05-23T20:42:00.001-05:00

Just south of Rockport proper, they have set up a long boardwalk that goes out into the wetlands. There were a lot of big waders (Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, a Tri-colored heron and a Reddish Egret (pictured below). But what really caught our attention was "Momma Stilt". This stilt had obviously build it's nest near the walk way and was trying to convince us she was wounded to draw us away from the babies.

Here's another shot of her with some good reflective action going. (Are reflections active? Maybe not.)

We saw a lot of flying birds that I'm fairly certain were sandpipers. Here are two different sandpipers. The smaller one is probably another white rumped (see the flying sandpipers below). The taller one looks like it might be an Upland Sandpiper.

These are both new birds for our life list!

Parting Shots

2007-05-23T20:09:00.001-05:00

A last couple of shots from Port Aransas. While we were there, this skimmer (right) was really working the tidal pool (it's a large pool, but probably not a pond as I said before -- it's pretty shallow, I think).

This skimmer went back and forth -- skimming! You may or may not be able to tell that the bottom beak is longer than the top -- that enables him to skim the top of the water with this lower beak in the water. He was really flying fast, and it was very difficult to get a good shot.

There were a lot of black necked stilts there as well. This one was walking right below the walkway, and I was able to get some close shots. This one's legs are not as bright red as some, but you can see that it's eye is right below the white spot on it's head. Curious...

Spoonbills!

2007-05-22T20:56:00.000-05:00

When we first arrived at the bird viewing area, we saw two juvenile spoonbills. They were across the pond from us, and we didn't realize they were youngsters at first. The one on the right was trying to perch on a long limb.

It was humorous to watch this young bird's balancing act on the limb -- but these antics were what first caught my attention. This young 'un wiggled and wobbled every which way until it settled down on that limb.

Meanwhile, it's sibling was napping. These two pretty much stayed put most of the time we were there.

About the time we were thinking about leaving, an adult flew in. I'm guessing that this is a parent of the two juveniles because after it came in and fed a bit, it flew away again and the two youngsters followed. Well, one did -- and the other finally woke up and joined them.

I'm guessing this might be "Mom" -- look how she's posing -- just like a model on a New York Runway. And she's dressed in the height of bird-fashions. This year's hot color -- PINK! Now if she could only do something with that schnoz.

Tomorrow, I'll continue with the skimmer and a few stilts.

Great Blue Heron

2007-05-22T20:14:00.000-05:00

I think there were probably 2 or 3 Great Blue Herons at the Bird Viewing Area in Port A. All were pretty calm. Herons are grouped together with several species of wading birds (but not cranes). The Great Blue and the Great Egret are both of the genus Ardea.

I was really excited to get some good flight pictures of this bird. One advantage to the big waders is that they fly rather slowly. We saw several large waders at Port A. My picture of the Tri-Colored Heron didn't come out well (it was too far away), and the only Ibis I saw were flying way overhead.

Sandpipers

2007-05-21T20:50:00.001-05:00

The next thing we saw at the bird viewing area were Sandpipers. This one was right by the entrance. After a lot of looking through the bird book, I think this might be a White Rumped Sandpiper (white something back there, anyway).

This bird was very cooperative, but I discovered two things. One is that most sandpipers look very similar and the second is that it's hard to identify a specific bird when his legs and bill are covered in mud!

OK... that's enough for tonight. I'll have more Port A pictures tomorrow -- we saw a lot of species at the bird viewing area! Then it's back to Rockport for more birds! This could take all week.

Water Rats

2007-05-21T20:14:00.001-05:00

Well, you'll have to read these backwards, because Blogger does last in at the top.

Anyway, we went over to the bird viewing area in Port A (it's next to the water treatment plant!) And the first thing we saw was not a bird, but a "Water Rat". Now at first glance you might think this is a beaver, but it's not.

I have other pictures "going away" that shows the long bare tail -- just like a big rat. (But they're not very attractive from that direction.) These animals are cousins of the rats -- they're Nutria. They are very common in wetland areas.

Friday trip to Port A

2007-05-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

On Friday we got up and after our usual "Rockport Breakfast" at the Duck Inn, we headed for Port Aransas -- fondly referred to as "Port A".

I love ferry rides -- but I must admit that this one is WAY too short!

Usually ferry landings are good places for birds to perch. At Port A, there are almost always a row of cormorants atop the landing gear, but not this time. Instead, we had this highly photogenic Pelican.

As we pulled into the landing, the pelican looked straight at me for this great "Head On" shot. Notice the colors on the tip of his bill.

A little further on, and he decided to look the other way. I must admit that I'm particularly fond of Brown Pelicans -- I love the colors and pattern on their heads and necks. White Pelicans are pretty when they are flying, with the black on their wing-tips, but otherwise, they're just plain! And besides, they go somewhere else in the summertime -- we didn't see a single one this trip!

New Birds for the Life List

2007-05-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

We have about 4-5 birds to add to our Birding Life List from this trip. A couple of those are Sandpipers, but I was unable to get good photographs of these. I think Marc had better luck and may include some pictures later (he has decided to post his pictures on this blog as well).

The two new birds that I do have pics for are the Wilson's Phalerope and the Ruddy Turnstone. We saw both of these birds in Port Aransas. The Phalerope (right) was at the Port A Birding Center.

We saw the Ruddy Turnstone on the mainland while waiting for the Ferry. We both looked at it and said, "What is that?!?!?" Marc said, "Get a picture!" -- but the bird was on his side, so I handed him my camera. So Marc gets the credit for the Turnstone!

The last picture is not exactly a new bird, but one we've only seen a couple of times. The first time was on the boat tour when we finally saw our first whooping cranes. This is a "Reddish Egret". We did see one on the road heading up to the ferry to Port A, but this picture was taken back at the Bird Viewing area just south of Rockport. I apologize it's not a good shot -- the bird was quite a distance away.

Bath Time

2007-05-20T15:03:00.001-05:00

While driving back toward Fulton we came upon these pelicans. A juvenile and an adult, with a gull that seemed to be following them around.

It was obviously bath time, and I was able to get this great shot of the adult splashing around for it's bath!

Osprey and Injured Birds

2007-05-20T14:36:00.001-05:00

One of the first things we did after we checked in to our cabin in Fulton was to take our normal route down Fulton Beach Road. At the Connie Hagar Wildlife Sanctuary, we saw an Osprey -- I think it may have been the only one we saw on our trip (maybe we saw one other).

I took several pictures of this bird -- from two locations (these two are from the closer location). It was not until I was closer that I realized that this bird had only one leg. It possibly has an injury to it's shoulder (see the ruffled feathers?). While many birds often perch on one leg, I don't think that's the case with this one -- along side of the good leg appears to be a stump. And yet, this bird seems to be surviving -- it looks otherwise healthy. And in fact, when we drove by later in the day, it had flown to another location.

For some reason, I noticed several injured birds on this trip. We enjoy feeding the seagulls, and we often see birds with missing legs (sometimes both!) and feet, as these gull pictures show.

I've seen many injured birds in the past and wondered what might have happened to them. Of course there are plenty of dangers, such as fishing lines and such, but I think that most birds who are caught in a fishing line do not survive. I suspect that, especially in the case of the gulls and the osprey -- they went after prey that fought back -- or though of themselves as the hunter instead of the hunted -- a shark, barracuda, or other such predatory fish.

Now after saying that, I wanted to show this heron. I'm not exactly sure how it's injury came about. I took this picture on our second day, at Fulton Harbor. I remember seeing this bird last year. In spite of the broken leg (which improperly healed, so is forever useless), this bird does well. It probably has a lot of handouts from fishermen and folks at the restaurant, but I've also seen this bird stand on the dock with the water two feet below, and pluck out a fish. Pretty awesome, I'd say.

Gone Coastal!

2007-05-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

We've just returned from a trip to Rockport/Fulton, Port Aransas and Aransas National Wildlife Reserve (our own ANWR!).

We took lots of great pics and had a great time. We added some new birds to our life list and verified a few that were on there from a previous birding tour.

I don't have time to post much more right now -- and there's a lot of processing that I need to do on the pics. It might take me a few days to get everything posted -- so stay tuned! I'll get started this afternoon or evening...

Little Boy Kitty has a name!

2007-05-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

Isn't he cute? If you take a close look, you'll see that his eyes are rimmed in black and he has a black mark going away from the eye on either side. So we decided to name him "Specs". We'll probably call him "Speckles" as a nickname. But "Specs" goes with his reserved nature -- he likes to think about things. He's finally settled down some. In fact, I've had both kittens in my lap for much of the weekend. Marc says they're going to miss me when I go back to work tomorrow.

Tyrannus Tyrannus

2007-05-13T17:50:00.000-05:00

We saw several of these birds today, but this is my best shot. We got off without a bird book, so was unable to identify this bird in the field. When we returned home, I looked it up to see what it was.

Marc was commenting as I was thumbing through the book that it was probably some kind of flycatcher. He was right. This is the Eastern Kingbird.

The bird book calls these birds Tyrant Flycatchers (family Tyrannidae) because of their "bold aggressive behavior..., notably [in] kingbirds."

Besides the coloring, the identifying mark for this bird is the white stripe at the tip of the tail.

Beleaguered Hawk

2007-05-13T17:41:00.000-05:00

We saw this same hawk a couple of times. The first it was being pestered by a Mocking Bird. Later it was chased by a Red-winged Blackbird. I'll admit to editing that picture a little (I removed the blackbird and a pesky power line).

Mr. and Mrs. Quail

2007-05-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

While we were driving around today, we got out several times to get pictures of various birds. Often we would hear the Bob-White Quails singing. But I never saw them. As we rounded a corner on Woods Rd. we saw this pair. They flew into a low tree, and I was able to get these shots.

The bird above is the male, and this one to the left is the female. A really nice pair.

Kittens

2007-05-11T13:28:00.000-05:00

We have two new members to our family. Earlier this week, we adopted a couple of new kittens. I really wished we could have taken all four because the others will likely end up in a shelter. But two is really enough for us.

Marc wants them to be indoor-outdoor cats (once they're older, of course). We'll see... We decided not to name them right away because we wanted to see their personalities.

The little black kitten is the female. She's lively, inquisitive and has warmed up to us quickly. I worked from home today and she has slept beside me all day (when she wasn't walking across my laptop!) Marc decided to name her Pixie -- it's a really good choice!

This is "Little Brother". I love his markings -- he's a beautiful cat. However, he's very wary of us and runs at every chance. I think Pixie will bring him around. But we still haven't gotten to know him well enough to give him a name -- so he'll just have to remain Little Brother for a while.

Hummers!

2007-05-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

The hummers have finally returned! We've had several at our feeders already. I also see them perched in some of the bushes around the house. (Our new feeders don't have perches.)

Today as we were returning, I saw this hummer in the tree at the corner of the porch. When I "processed" the shot, I noticed a lot of feathers on the branch -- maybe this one is considering this spot for a nest site!

Scissor Tailed Flycatcher

2007-05-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

We saw a lot of scissor tailed flycatchers today. This one was on Woods Road. It was a really windy day and he was struggling balancing on the barbed wire fence.

I took several shots of him balancing and looking around. After a while, he had a bit of an itch, and after scratching, some of his peachy under-wing feathers fluffed over his wing. The peach color is very visible when they fly.

Cone Flowers

2007-05-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

Snowy Egrets

2007-05-06T17:36:00.000-05:00

Snowy Egrets fascinate me. I especially love their yellow feet. It's like they're all dressed up and wearing fancy shoes! We saw this fellow (or lady) not far from the duck below. There were two of them and they would flit away whenever we got too close.

It was a rather windy day, and once the egrets flew up above the protection of the ditch, their wispy feathers began to blow. It gives them an even "fancier" appearance -- only improved by those yellow feet!

Unidentified Duck

2007-05-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

We saw a pair of ducks in a drainage ditch (not a great background for photos!). The male immediately flew, but the female stuck around for a few pictures.

She flashed a bit of blue as she was walking around, leading me to think she might be a blue-winged teal.

And when she flew, I saw the flash of blue, and I was sure that was what she was. However, once I got home and checked out the bird book, I began to have doubts. One is that her bill is dark, and she doesn't have a "white crescent" at the base of the bill. Also her legs are orange -- not yellow. The pictures suggest that she may be an American Black Duck. This duck has blue along the trailing edge of the wings, orange feet and white/gray on the inside of the wings. The only "gotcha" is the "dark olive bill" -- this duck's bill seems a bit darker than that.

Here's a bit of an artistic shot of the wings.

German Sausage Dinner and Woodpeckers

2007-05-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our annual "German Sausage Dinner". This is a fund-raiser and community event sponsored by my church. Most of the churches in our small community have similar events where the community can come together to eat and visit. Of course, when you're the sponsor there's a lot of work involved (but it's a lot of fun too!).

One activity that everyone enjoys is the Silent Auction. This year I submitted three photographs, two Northern Cardinals (see "Yard Birds" for similar shots), and "Hawk on a Cross" (another view of the bird in "Sunday Birding"). All three sold well, which was really exciting for me, and good for the fund raiser as well.

The other interesting thing that happened was some of the folks there told me that there was a large red-headed woodpecker out front just before I came. I asked, "Was it big? Was it a Pileated?" Of course they all said yes! Well, I should know better than ask two questions at once. ;-)

I've been reading about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker lately. I doubt I'll ever see one (since they may or may not be extinct), but we had a pair of their cousins, the pileated woodpeckers nesting in our yard a few years ago. Of course, we weren't photographing birds back then, so I don't have any pictures. I would really like to get some shots of some pileated woodpeckers -- who knows, I might make a discovery and find they are actually ivory-bills! (One can dream!)

Anyway, this morning after church, I was visiting with some folks when I saw a woodpecker on a tree. It looked like a red-bellied woodpecker. I was disappointed (though I shouldn't have been, I don't think I have that one on my life-list!!). Even so, I'll have to keep an eye out. Maybe I'll get a shot of it soon.

Crested Caracara

2007-04-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

For those of you who visit this blog regularly, you will realize that I am particularly fond of birds of prey, and you might think that the Red Tail Hawk is my favorite. But the truth is, the Red Tail is #2 on my list. This bird is #1.

One of the first uncommon (to me) birds that we saw when we moved out to the country was a Crested Caracara. I have always wanted to get a good shot of one, and yesterday on our brief outing, we saw this fine fellow. While he was sitting on the telephone pole, he gave us several great poses.

But once he decided to fly, he was particularly difficult, putting his back to us, and putting several poles and wires between himself and the camera. Still they are such majestic birds! (We try not to think of the fact that they are carrion-eaters, who only rarely hunt.)

Dickcissel

2007-04-29T17:59:00.000-05:00

The other day, Marc told me he had found a whole flock of little birds with yellow chests and a "little black spot" right in the middle. I could hardly imagine what this bird really looked like.

However, yesterday, even though we were on a pretty tight schedule, we spent 30-45 minutes on one of our favorite birding haunts, Woods Rd. And there we found these lovely birds!

Across the road from the first picture, was a pair. The bird to the right (obviously a male) gives us a bit more of a side view, enabling us to see the yellow eyebrows and rufus shoulders.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this might be a female. They lack the black patch, and the yellow eyebrows are fainter. She has her back to us and you can see the plain patch on the rump.

Marc and I both struggled trying to find this lovely bird in our bird book. With all the yellow, the obvious place to start was the warblers, but no joy... I had noticed that the beak was a bit thicker, and when I turned over to the Cardinals and Grossbeaks -- there it was! The classification of this bird is Spiza americana. Sibley makes this comment, "Dickcissel may belong in the family Icteridae or here in the Cardinalidae, but is not clearly related to either."

Either way, it's a new one for our lifebook -- and we're really excited about that!

Spring and Life

2007-04-20T17:35:00.000-05:00

Wow -- it's been 20 days since I last posted. My apologies to all!

A couple of interesting things have happened. One is that I have a new position at work... along with the old one -- so I've been doubled up on work of late and pretty tired by the time the weekend rolls around. The other interesting thing is that around here, all the birds fly north for the summer. Those are my excuses, and I'm sticking to them! ;-)

Well... not all of the birds have flown north...

It appears that the really light-colored (Krider's) Red Tail is still around, suggesting it is a resident. We also saw a broad-winged hawk in a bush right beside our driveway. Marc thinks it might have been injured. And we've had an Indigo Bunting at the feeders lately. We've put up a hummingbird feeder, but have had very few takers so far.

We're kind of stuck at home lately trying to get our washer repaired -- so I'm not getting out much to do bird pics. Hopefully we'll have some this weekend if the repair guy comes early enough!

Blue Birds

2007-04-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

After complaining about my inability to get any good shots of bluebirds, a friend told me that she had bluebirds in her yard and they often nested in her birdhouses. Yesterday she called to tell me that a pair of bluebirds had babies and invited me over. The light was bad, so I put it off until today. And it was a perfect day for it.

I was able to take several really great shots of the birds (the parents only, the babies are only a few days old). The first shot is the female. And as you can see, I was having some fun with PSP and the frame tool.

Here's the male. The birds would often wait outside and look around to be sure there were no predators waiting before going in. They would also peek out the entrance for several minutes before "zooming" out to get more bugs for the hungry babies.

This has to be my favorite of all. The birds were so fast, that most of the flying shots were merely a blur. I was thrilled with this one. One interesting thing, if both birds came together, the female would wait until the male fed the babies before she went in with her catch. In fact, sometimes she would wait for him even if she arrived first. No feminist movement among bluebirds!

Sparrow

2007-04-01T17:54:00.000-05:00

Not the greatest location for this shot (around the bird feeders), but that's where you'll often see sparrows, when they're not on the ground! This is a great action shot of a Chipping Sparrow, taken while visiting at a friend's house.

He's hopping from a feeder to a bracket, which I removed to show the bird better. You'll notice, I've also been playing with the text tool. Hope it's not too much of a distraction.

Wildflowers

2007-03-31T15:56:00.000-05:00

We went out today in search of bluebonnets and other wildflowers. It's getting toward the end of the season, so finding some good fields of bluebonnets was a real challenge.

We did find this one field of mixed bluebonnets and other wildflowers. I liked the combination of gate, flowers and clouds. I had to do a bit of adjusting, because the light was poor today.

Change of Seasons, Change of Species

2007-03-28T17:10:00.000-05:00

"Spring has sprung."

In Texas, this is the season for wildflowers, and especially for Blue Bonnets. The stand on the right is from my neighbor's yard. We don't have very many ourselves, because we have mostly trees, as you can see from the picture of our driveway, below.

It's been pretty cloudy (and in some cases, rainy) the last few days, and by the time I get home, it's pretty dark. My blue bonnet pictures have been a bit challenging. This macro shot was taken with a flash. As was the top photo, but that one required a lot of brightening.

Another flower that we see along with the Blue Bonnets, is the Indian Paint Brush. These lovely flowers on the right are a bunch of Paint Brushes -- the mixture of red and white and blue and white seems somewhat patriotic.

With all the rain we have been having, it's not a surprise that we are seeing a lot of lilies. This "round" of blossoms are called "Spider Lilies". My mother-in-law used to grow these in her yard. We had a few at our old house that we got from her. We may need to collect a few and see if we can get them to grow in the shade.

The bird species have been changing as well. Today is the first that I've seen Scissor- tailed Fly catchers this season. And we saw several.

Another bird that we have been seeing over the last couple of weeks that we hadn't seen since early fall is the Black Bellied Whistling Duck. These are interesting ducks as they are mostly seen in pairs or small family groups -- at least in our area. At Aransas, we've seen them in somewhat larger numbers. The photo below is one of my favorite of whistling ducks -- it was taken in Rockport last year.

Columbian Birds

2007-03-25T17:33:00.000-05:00

I wasn't able to get any pictures, but in my peregrinations around Bogota (mostly heading out to lunch!), I saw about 3 different birds.

The first was a brown-gray bird about the size of a cardinal or waxwing. It looked like it may have had a black crest that was lowered. It had a quite complex song with a couple of different phrases. I am unable to find an example after a quick foray online, so I'm not sure what it might have been.

I also saw some doves. From the "Birds of Columbia" site, I found some pictures which suggest it might have been a ruddy ground dove.

The last bird was a large-ish black bird with a yellow beak and legs. It looked like some type of Myna. However, I looked up mynas and they are defined as an "Asian bird". Another possibility from "Birds of Columbia" is the Great Thrush. But I'm not 100% sure on this one.

It was really disappointing that I was unable to get any pictures.

Travel Travails

2007-03-25T17:15:00.000-05:00

I spent the last week in Latin America. It was supposed to be two weeks, but I’m home early – what a trip! And I don’t really have any photos to show for it.

I arrived in Ecuador on Sunday just before midnight. For some reason, I had it in my mind that the driver would pick me up at 6:45, so I set the alarm for 5:45. Now I’m a person that needs a lot of sleep and 5 hours or so is not enough! Add to that fact that Quito, Ecuador is high in the mountains where Houston, TX is at sea level! Add to that a couple more factors like airplane food, new medication and that I’m simply not a good traveler anyway and you have the recipe for disaster!

I had barely made it to the office (yes, this was a business trip), before I became ill. I was a bit surprised to discover that my company had a doctor on-site. He recommended that I go back to the hotel and sleep. I thought that was a great idea! Unfortunately, half-way back, they called the driver and told him to take me to the hospital. Well, better safe than sorry, I guess, so I spent half the day in the hospital receiving fluids – but certainly not resting! Finally, about 2pm, I went back to the hotel and slept the rest of the day! I must say the Marriot in Quito was really nice – it had a feather mattress on the bed. I’m allergic to feathers, but with all my other problems, for some reason they didn’t bother me – and so the bed was pure luxury!

[As an aside, I'm told that President Bush was sick from the altitude on his trip to that part of Latin America as well!]

The next day, I was better, but feeling a little weak – I had only had liquids on Monday. That night, my coworker and I traveled to Columbia. (Thank heavens I was not alone, and thank heavens more so that she could communicate in Spanish!) When we arrived in Bogota, we found her luggage, but not mine! As we were filling out the missing luggage forms, one of the airport guys comes running with my suitcase. Whew!

In Bogota, we had a greeter at the airport who took us to the driver. He was worried because it took us so long to come out from the flight. So we take off and arrive at the hotel, only to discover that we’d been booked in two separate hotels. It turns out the reservations had only been made that morning, and all the hotels were full. I had to wait 30 minutes for my room. It was a really nice room – not quite as wonderful as the Marriot in Quito, though.

I had no idea when the driver would be coming, but I decided to make the assumption for 7:45. It was another late night, but not as bad as previously, so I had enough sleep. There were 3 people going to the office, so I had to wait for them – but it wasn’t too bad.

My 3 days in Columbia were nice. Both Bogota and Quito are set in lovely surroundings (though I didn’t see much of Quito!). Bogota seems to be a bit better off than Quito from the little I saw. I missed the office-sponsored dinner in Quito, but in Columbia, we were treated to both lunches and a really nice dinner. I actually had a glass of wine (hadn’t had any for several months – and it was wonderful!). My coworker and I were gifted with pre-Columbian necklaces and matching earrings.

In the Columbian restaurants, I discovered some great things. The second day we went to a place that specialized in coastal dishes. I had grilled shrimp, kabob-style with bacon wrapped bananas – something pretty mild (I avoided most of the bacon), but served with coconut rice – now that was really tasty! After meals, we were offered coffee or a drink called “Aromatica.” This is a type of tea made with different types of fruit and herbs, steeped, and then filtered. It’s mostly fruity hot water, but was very tasty. At this restaurant, it was mostly citrus-flavored. The next day we went to an Asian place and I ordered Aromatica again. This time they brought out the little glass tea bottles with the water still over the fruit. This one was made with apples, raspberries, mint and another herb, maybe angelica? It was also tasty, but different.

The Columbian segment of the trip was great, both socially and work-wise. We arrived at the airport a couple of hours before our flight to head off to Rio de Janeiro. The agent at the check-in said something and my co-worker translated: Where is your yellow fever certificate?

Huh? I don’t have one. Well – it turns out that if I was traveling to Bogota and back to the US, and was only staying in the city, I was OK. But it was not OK to go from Bogota to Rio without this. Ooops. I would need to get the vaccination, and then stay 10 days in Columbia. NO WAY! So I asked, can I go back to Houston? The answer was yes, but the next flight was in the morning. Long story short, I had to get a hotel (near the airport, please!) and be back at the airport at 5am to purchase my tickets.

I had to un-make all my arrangements for Rio, and thanks to the administrator in Bogota, I had a little help. I had planned to get some Columbian coffee, and maybe some more Inca jewelry, but all the shops were closed at 5:30 am. Oh well, I was going home! I finally got here about 2pm on Saturday – and my driver was nowhere to be found. I had to call. But finally, someone came and I made my way home. Whew! What a trip. I’m glad it’s over!

Bird among the Green

2007-03-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting sight. Red tails are not usually "forest" birds. These trees line a creek that runs along the back of a new sub-division (with few houses yet). So admittedly, the area in front of this bird was cleared. But isn't it handsome? This location is close to our house -- even closer as the hawk flies.

And of course, this hawk did. This picture to the left is actually the second in sequence -- the picture below was taken first.

Here's a hawk that we spooked along McAllister Rd. -- not far from the rice dryer.

And today's "pole bird" was found along Morton Rd. It was pretty cooperative, though watching us closely. I only got a couple of shots as another vehicle was approaching.

Thistles

2007-03-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

Today might not be the best day for thistle pictures (as the thistle is the symbol of Scotland), but I find these to be fascinating plants.

This picture to the right is a seriously cropped section of the reduced picture below. I was playing with my photo-editing software. I will admit that most of my pictures are cropped, though a few are only resized (for uploading). I have found that the program will also do a good job of adjusting brightness and contrast. I use the clone tool to remove the spots on my sensor that show up on many of the bird pictures. That's about all the editing I do.