Last Time to Bird at Port Aransas, Texas

This should be my last post from my trip to Texas last May/June. It’s taken awhile to get caught up on my blog.

Birding in Port Aransas this last time was bitter sweet in many ways. First off I knew it was most likely the last time I would be visiting there. I lived in Corpus Christi from 1982 to 1994. With my parents living in San Antonio, it was an easy drive for us to go to the beach whenever I visited them. The last time I posted about birding in Port Aransas, my dad was still alive and me and my parents had taken a 5-day trip to the beach. It was in May during spring migration. I had plenty of time there to explore all the bird sanctuaries. All the wonderful boardwalks into the marshes and estuaries were so much fun to explore.

Since that last visit, I had forgotten that Hurricane Harvey had come through and dealt a lot of damage to the coastal towns of Padre Island. So while I was excited to visit the beach, I was sad to know my dad wouldn’t be there to join us and that all the bird sanctuaries had been destroyed.

Demolition and construction was still ongoing while I visited. This restaurant still hadn’t been addressed.

Going to cost a pretty penny to get this boat fixed.

Birding this year was tough. I believe a lot of the birds did not linger during the spring migration because the usual areas they visited were completely destroyed. Also, I think a lot of the local birds had left and not returned. Needless to say, it took a lot of driving around to find any birds. But I did manage to find a few good spots.

The first evening we were there I drove to the ferry and the walkway along the intra-coastal channel. The damage from the hurricane was very evident here. Huge pieces of concrete were lifted like they weighed very little.

Destruction from Hurricane Harvey

While here I enjoyed the antics of several dolphin getting dinner. It was interesting to watch them herd fish toward the wall so they could catch them. I spotted a mother and her calf working the wall.

Mother dolphin with calf looking at me

The sunset was gorgeous!

Beautiful!

The next morning was when I realized all the local birding hot spots were destroyed. Thankfully I saw signs saying they already had funding in place to repair all the boardwalks. It looked like their plans were even going to improve what was originally there. Someday if I make it back there I will have to see what they did.

I headed to the beach and jetty where I knew terns had gathered in the past. Thankfully, this spot was still favored by the terns. The surf was rough and the birds were gathered in big numbers fishing.

Terns and gulls fishing the rough surf at the jetty

I found an area where the birds were resting and grooming after tackling the rough waters. I was able to get several good pics of the terns resting.

Black Tern Juvenile

Black Tern

Forster’s Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

From there I headed down the road toward the big bridge going to Corpus Christi. There is a marina there. I’ve seen birds hanging out there in the past so had high hopes I would see some that morning.

Along the highway I saw a hawk looking for breakfast in the coastal grasslands. I had to take a second look as I realized it was a new bird for me! A White-Tailed Hawk. Gorgeous!!!

White-Tailed Hawk

I saw a Roseate Spoonbill fishing the shallows not far from the marina. I pulled into a construction area to get closer for pics. I managed a few photos before I was run off by the foreman. 🙂

Roseate Spoonbill

As I was driving into the marina I spotted a beautiful Osprey hanging out on the electric wire. He let me take a few pics before flying off.

Osprey

The marina was not a disappointment. There were several birds hanging out hoping for a free meal.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Great Blue Heron

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Brown Pelicans

Near the marina is an area that shorebirds have liked in the past. I drove over there to see if I could find anything. I was thrilled to see a pair of Willets with two young babies. I’d never seen Willet babies before. Adorable! I sat for some time just watching this little family. You can’t help but smile and enjoy new life.

Willet juvenile

Soon though the parents grew nervous and started telling me to move along.

Willet telling me to move along

There were also some Black-Necked Stilts and a Reddish Egret enjoying the shallows.

Black-Necked Stilt

Reddish Egret

The next morning I decided to go the Horace Caldwell Fishing Pier. Not sure if I would see anything here, but it was fun to go there at sunrise.

Horace Caldwell Pier

Beach at Port Aransas, Texas

I came across these two children fast asleep on the pier. Their parent must have gotten them up really early to fish. 🙂

Too early of a morning for these kids

The only birds I saw were White-Winged Doves and Pigeons. What I found curious though, was a cross between these two species. Interesting bird.

The Rock Pigeons at the pier had very dark plumage. Doesn’t make sense at a hot beach!

Rock Pigeon and White-Winged Dove Cross Breed

After the pier I drove to the lone surviving boardwalk that overlooked a salt flat. Most of the birds were too far away for photos. I managed to see one bird closer to me. And to my surprise it was a lifer! A Black-Bellied Plover Juvenile. Too bad it wasn’t an adult. They are beautiful birds. Even better, this is a rare sighting for the area! I wouldn’t have believed I identified this bird correctly if it hadn’t been sighted by other birders on eBird.

Black-Bellied Plover – juvenile

I spotted a few birds flying over and managed to snap a couple of photos on the fly. 🙂

Black Skimmer

White Ibis

During this trip I decided to take a ride on the Red Dragon.

While waiting to start the boat ride, I saw the local offshore fishing tour boats had come in as well. They were hanging up the catch of the day. Lovely Red Snappers with a few other interesting fish mixed in.

Nice haul for the day

It’s was fun sailing with the pirates!

Kelly sailing on the Red Dragon

Arrrrrr…there be Pirates!

Beautiful boat ride

The Captain at his helm

I took the sunset tour. We boated along the intra-coastal and made it to the lighthouse. We got there just as the sun was setting. So lovely!

Sunset over the lighthouse

Gorgeous sunset!

One day at the ferry I spotted a juvenile Laughing Gull trying to swallow a whole fish. He tried and tried to gulp that fish down.

Laughing Gull juvenile

I love people watching. I think most people do. While there I captured a few fun moments of people watching.

Skateboarding buddies

The waiting line for the ferry was so long and slow, this girl had time to get into the back of the car and get cold drinks for everyone. It was fun to watch her walk along with the car while digging in the cooler.

I saw lots of turtles about while birding. I had never really seen turtles there before so it was fun to see several on this trip.

Turtle moving along

I had a great time at the beach birding and spending time with my mother. We enjoyed sitting on the beach, enjoying the warm summer days. And we had fun shopping and eating delicious fish and shrimp dinners. I’m so glad we took the time off to relax after all the stresses.

San Antonio Summer Birding

At the end of May I drove my mom back to San Antonio so we could get her house cleaned up to sell. I stayed for about 2 weeks. Summertime in Texas is HOT and HUMID. Ugh! Because of this, there weren’t very many birds about during the dog days of summer. All of the migrants were gone leaving only the local birds.

In order not to die while birding, I got up at 6 am every morning to head out before it got to 100 degrees. Yikes! I drove to several locations during my stay. I found the best opportunities for birds was if I visited the small lakes all around San Antonio.

On of my favorite birding spots I discovered was Live Oak Lake in Live Oak, Texas. It was only about 7 miles from mom’s house. It had a nice path all the way around the lake. Believe me, you don’t want to wander off path into the grasses there. That lake was loaded with snakes!

They even had signs saying so!

I thought it was a joke until I saw this!

Needless to say, I tread carefully wherever I went. Yikes!

The resident Northern Mockingbird greeted me when I pulled into the parking lot. I have never found a shy Mockingbird.

Northern Mockingbird

Live Oak Lake is home to lots of herons and egrets. They are used to people walking around the lake, so they just seemed to ignore me and go about their business…as evidenced by this Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. He caught a monster crawdad!

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

While I was photographing him, he quickly lunged and came up with the huge crawdad!

It’s like the size of a lobster!

There was a juvenile looking on with envy…

Juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

There lots of Green Herons about. In Albuquerque I’m lucky to come across one here and there. But at this lake, there were so many they constantly chased each other trying to keep a preferred fishing spot to themselves.

Checking me out 🙂

Needed a better look LOL!

The resident Great Egret was fishing along the edge of the lake. I saw him intent on something in front of him.

Great Egret

Then all of a sudden he lunged! Fortunately I managed to get a great pic of him diving for his prey. Sadly, he missed on that attempt and decided to move to a different part of the lake for better luck fishing.

Great Egret fishing

There was a pair of Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks watching all the goings on around the lake. I think they are beautiful waterfowl.

Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks

The Muscovy Ducks had some babies while I was gone for several weeks. I saw this one mother with a huge brood!

Muscovy Ducks

All the while I’m photographing birds, Scarlett was kicked back relaxing and watching all the people and birds.

Miss Scarlett

And Squirrels!!! She was on high alert when she spotted the squirrels!

Scarlett keeping a sharp eye on the squirrel nearby.

The squirrels kept on eye on her as well.

Staring contest between the squirrel and Scarlett

There were some other small birds about. But overall it was pretty quiet for them. So I ventured over to Converse Lake. It’s a more wild lake. You pretty much can only walk along one edge of the lake. The rest of it is overgrown. Because of this, the smaller birds tend to hang out here more. I got 2 lifers at this lake!!! A Rusty Blackbird and a Couch’s Kingbird.

Rusty Blackbird

Couch’s Kingbird

The Mute Swan I saw last time I visited was joined by his lady and their two new babies. Adorable! I’d never seen baby swans before.

Mute Swan male

Mute Swan female and babies

Here are some of the other small birds I saw around this lake.

Kildeer

Scissortail Flycatcher

Black-Crested Titmouse enjoying a bird drip fountain

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

House Sparrow

Brown-Headed Cowbird female and male

Painted Bunting

Eastern Phoebe

While photographing the little birds, I heard a commotion behind me. I looked across the open field and saw a Red-Tailed Hawk had caught a White-Winged Dove. Surprisingly a Northern Mockingbird harassed the hawk until it took its breakfast elsewhere.

Red-Tailed Hawk being attacked by a Northern Mockingbird

One delight while visiting Converse Lake was that the water lilies were in full bloom. Just beautiful!

One of my favorite photos of the visit

One thing I noticed about San Antonio is that there is a huge population of Black Vultures. These birds are huge and were everywhere I went in great numbers.

Ewwwww……

Black Vulture

mmmmmm…armadillo

Must be tasty as a squabble broke out over it

There are always lots of White-Tailed Deer around the San Antonio parks. I really liked this photo I took of a doe enjoying the wildflower field.

White-Tailed Deer

There were a few other blooming flowers about, but not many as San Antonio was experiencing a drought.

Honey bee enjoying the clover blooms

This squirrel appreciated the water put out for the birds.

ahhhhhh…..

While driving around, I came across this sign. I had to turn around to take a picture. Don’t you wonder how this creek was named???

Really?????

One morning I arrived well before sunrise. I came across this Little Blue Heron fishing. I loved the colors and lighting of this photo.

Little Blue Heron

It was nice getting out early every morning and seeing some fun bird sightings. I actually got a 3rd lifer, but sadly my photo is just too poor to post. I saw a Brown Boobie. I never dreamed I would see this bird in San Antonio. It was a rare sighting indeed. Sadly, it was on the far side of a lake with no way to get closer. My lens just couldn’t get a clear pic, though the markings are clear enough to identify it for me. Someday I might see one to get a better photo! 🙂

This doe found a nice place to sit out the day’s heat

San Antonio Birding – Dedicated to my Dad

In mid-April I went to visit my parents in San Antonio, Texas. My dad had been getting weaker and weaker. I knew I needed to go see him sooner rather than later. Sadly, two days after I arrived he passed away. I’m so thankful I was able to visit him before he passed.

One of my favorite photos of me and my dad. My wedding day on October 18, 1996.

I wanted to dedicate this post to my dad. He always looked forward to reading about my adventures and looking at my photos.

I had taken Scarlett with me. She was upset when dad died at the house. And she was upset that mom and I were grieving. So to help her and me both cope with the loss, I got up early every morning to walk and bird. When I am out in nature, I find it a balm to my soul and a time to talk with the Lord.

There is a greenbelt near my parent’s home that I walk whenever I visit. The first morning I was there, I took a walk on the familiar trail. Since it was April, there were still a few Texas Bluebonnets blooming.

Scarlett walking in the greenbelt.

Texas Bluebonnets

It was quiet for the most part, but I did find a couple of good birds. One bird was singing his heart out and it took me awhile to find him. Eventually I located him and was happy to see a White-Eyed Vireo.

White-Eyed Vireo

A further ways down the trail, I saw a movement in a tree. To my delight it was a Red-Shouldered Hawk. He didn’t seem to mind me watching him hunt for breakfast. So I got lots of beautiful shots of this gorgeous bird.

Red-Shouldered Hawk as I first saw him.

He then moved to this great perch and posed nicely for me.

I love the beautiful color and pattern of the feathers on his wings.

Success getting some breakfast.

The next morning I went to a newly found spot called Lake Converse in Converse, Texas. It’s a pretty little park with a semi-wild lake. One of the first things I saw was a pair of Egyptian Geese with 10 goslings. I think they had hatched within 48 hours.

Egyptian Geese with 10 goslings

Adorable baby

One of my favorite shots was of a Mute Swan. Such an elegant bird.

Mute Swan

A lot of the birds preferred to stay on the far shore of the lake – really testing the limits of my long lens. I had hoped to get closer to the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, but no such luck.

This is the best photo I got of a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Pied-Billed Grebe

American Coot

Great Egret

Great-Tailed Grackle

As I walked around the lake, I saw quite a variety of birds. The air was filled with birdsong.

White-Winged Dove

Barn Swallow

Common Yellowthroat

Savannah Sparrow

Eastern Kingbird

Killdeer

Eastern Phoebe

Clay-Colored Sparrow in the foreground and a Chipping Sparrow in the back.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Carolina Wren

Northern Cardinal with an inchworm

One special treat was a Martin House that was in use. Purple Martins were occupying most of the holes.

Purple Martins

As I was leaving one day, I watched this Northern Mockingbird busy looking for insects. I watched him use his wings to try and flush out bugs.

Northern Mockingbird flushing out bugs

Another lake nearby called Live Oak Lake was another treasure for birds. It had a more park-like feel to it. It didn’t have as many birds, but was still a great place to visit. I got there very early one beautiful morning.

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck at dawn

Lake Converse at sunrise

There was a very tame Great Egret hoping for a free breakfast from a fisherman.

Great Egret

One a later visit that Great Egret was fishing along the lake shore. I thought it made for a beautiful photo op.

Great Egret

Small catch but tasty!

There were a several other waterfowl on the lake.

Mottled Duck

Mottled Duck babies – so adorable!

Blue-Winged Teal

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck baby – beautiful markings!

I watched a Green Heron hunt for fish. He didn’t care that I was only a few feet away. He got so close that I couldn’t focus my long lens on him. I had to keep backing up!

Green Heron

While walking around this lake, I briefly saw a Cooper’s Hawk try to catch some Blue Jays. I heard the Jays squawking about it, but never got any photos.

Cooper’s Hawk

There were some other birds around the lake that allowed me to take their photos.

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker

Northern Cardinal

Western Kingbird

One of the highlights for me at this lake was a very sociable Spotted Sandpiper. He let me get within a few feet and take a number of photos while he groomed. In the past when I’ve seen these birds, they fly away before you can get a decent shot. So this was a real treat for me!

Spotted Sandpiper

One morning I walked along Mud Creek. It’s only about a mile from my parent’s house, so I got there at sunrise without much effort. I loved this sunrise shot with Texas Bluebonnets in the foreground.

Texas Bluebonnet Sunrise

The foliage was thick in this area, but I managed to get a few bird shots here. Mostly there were Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens. But a Black-Crested Titmouse was busy singing from the tree tops.

Black-Crested Titmouse

On my last day in San Antonio, I visited McAllister Park. What a wonderful place. Miles of trails in a park consisting of over 750 acres in the heart of San Antonio. There were lots of birds but very difficult to spot them. What I saw the most was White-Tailed Deer. They were everywhere!

Scarlett just couldn’t believe her eyes!! 🙂

Look mom! A deer is right there!!!!

While hiking along a road in the park, I was passed by a man riding a bike. He stopped in front of me and threw out grain for the deer. I think he does this often, as they seemed to recognize him. One in particular let him pet her. When he rode off, several of them followed him for awhile. What a wonderful connection with nature!

White-Tailed Deer

How sweet this deer trusts this man and calls him friend.

At the southern end of the park is where I got most of my sightings and photographs. A beautiful Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher posed for me then flew and showed off his seldom seen red feathers under his wings.

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Beautiful coloring under the wings.

Here are the other treasures I got at the southern end of the park.

Carolina Chickadee

Northern Mockingbird

Summer Tanager Female

Black Vulture

The highlight of my bird sightings during my visit was at McAllister Park. While trying to photograph a Carolina Chickadee, I heard a noise behind me. When I looked, I saw a Barred Owl sunning himself in the top of a tree. A lifer sighting for me!!! And so beautiful!!!

Barred Owl

My last birding opportunity of my trip was a stop in Clovis, New Mexico, to check on the Great Horned Owls in Ned Houk Park. They had successfully raised two young ones, and they were far enough along to leave the nest. They kept a sharp eye on us.

Great Horned Owletts

Just before leaving I managed to find one of the parents. Such wonderful birds owls are.

Great Horned Owl

A Lark Sparrow and a Western Meadowlark were singing happily for us.

Lark Sparrow

Western Meadowlark

Scarlett enjoyed her visit at the park. 🙂

My sweet Scarlett

So while it was a sad visit to San Antonio, I found solace walking among the beauty God has created and seeing so many of his wonderful creatures. I know my dad would have loved to see these photos. The Texas Bluebonnets were always a personal favorite. I know he is at peace now and waiting for me in Heaven.

In memory of my dad:

Joseph Mathew Welch, Jr. Born April 28, 1935. Died April 18, 2018.

Blood Moon and Birds

Well…it just doesn’t get any better than that!

On January 31 there was a lunar event that hasn’t happened in 150 years in the United States: A Blue Moon, Super Moon, Blood Moon Eclipse. What does that mean? A Blue Moon is a second full moon in the same month. A Super Moon is when the moon’s orbit is closest to the earth making the moon appear 14% larger and 30% brighter. And a Blood Moon Eclipse is when the moon moves directly behind the Earth’s shadow where it cannot receive any light from the sun causing it to appear red in our atmosphere.

Of course, seeing as I wouldn’t be around for the next one unless I lived to be 203 years old, I just had to photograph this event. I got up a 4 am to drive into town to a predetermined location. I was fortunate that our local camera club had scouted out a great area that gave an elevated vantage of the city below. When I arrived, I saw the temperature was 27 degrees. Brrrrr! It was going to be a cold photo shoot!

As I hiked to the earthen dam at the northeast end of Albuquerque, I could see the eclipse had already begun. At the time the moon was still white but was starting to show a hint of red. I quickly set up my camera gear and started shooting.

Moon over Albuquerque

The eclipse happened fast. Just a few shots later, the moon was becoming mostly red.

Eclipse well underway

Then it finally happened! It was a Blood Moon. I zoomed as far in as I could and it was a beautiful sight!

Blood Moon

The full eclipse was to be a 6:30 am. My last shot was around 6:15. The sun was rising and the sky had really started to lighten. I quickly changed lenses and took a picture of the Blood Moon hanging over Albuquerque. As you can see, I was definitely shooting in the “blue hour” by this time. But I thought the photo was so beautiful.

Blood Moon over Albuquerque

After that last shot, the sky just became too light and the moon had dipped into the hazy horizon above the city. So I packed up my gear and hoofed it back to my car.

I figured since I was already in town and it was dawn, I should take the opportunity to go birding. Logical train of thought right??? 🙂

I headed over to Alameda Open Space to see what might be around at the pond and along the river. I had heard a Mew Gull has been sighted among the Ring-Billed Gull flock. That would be a lifer for me if I could find it.

I started systematically taking photos of the flock as they rested on the sandbar in the Rio Grande. I figured I could look through photos later to see if I captured the Mew Gull.

Ring-Billed Gulls with rare visitor California Gull in the middle

I had snapped a few photos working my way down the line, when all of a sudden they all erupted into flight. Startled me good!

Ring-Billed Gulls

I had wondered what frightened them. I was thinking maybe a coyote had tried to sneak up on them or something. No sign of any ground attack, I looked up for a possible aerial attack. And right above me was a Bald Eagle! Beautiful! We get them here every winter, but you just don’t see them that often.

You can see the size difference of the gull to the Bald Eagle

Look at that wingspan!!

He soon caught a thermal and soared higher and higher until eventually he was gone. Since now the gulls were all stirred up, I figured my chance to see the Mew Gull were pretty much nil. So I started hiking along the river to see what other goodies might be about. Here’s some pics of my finds.

Common Merganser female

There are 3 Black-Crowned Night Herons in the trees

Great Blue Heron

Common Mergansers – 2 males and 1 female

Black Phoebe

Wood Duck pair

Mallards with a Killdeer

Western Bluebird – so beautiful!

We came across a giant beach along the river and Scarlett decided it was a great place to run and play in the water. Even though that water had to be freezing she wanted to play. I had fun capturing some photos of her while she played. Goofy dog!

Scarlett having fun in the water

So much fun to run in the shallow water

She likes to bite at the water as she plays

My beautiful girl

Isn’t that a look of pure joy! LOL!

After a couple hours of hiking, we headed back to the car. I stopped briefly at the bridge crossing the bar ditch next to the parking lot. There’s usually some good small birds in the area. I heard a constant buzzing noise. It took me a minute to narrow down where it was coming from, but eventually I fount its source. A Marsh Wren – in plain sight! Now many of you know those Marsh Wrens can be a real challenge to photograph as they mostly live deep in cattails. So I was thrilled to be able to watch one work along the edge of the water for a little while. He was deep in shadows and at a little distance, so it was a challenge getting a good image. But I was pleased with what I got.

Marsh Wren

Hmmmm…anything good under water?

I had a little time left before I needed to head home and get back to work. So I stopped in at the Embudito Trail parking lot. There’s been sighted a Golden-Crowned Sparrow among the White-Crowned Sparrows feeding at a feeder next to the parking lot.

When I arrived I saw a Cactus Wren singing in a tree. I can never resist photographing these beautiful birds. And their song is the epitome of desert birdsong. I think it’s the most used birdsong in commercials and movies depicting the southwest.

Cactus Wren

I then saw a bunch of White-Crowned Sparrows fly in to the bushes next to the feeder. I was hopeful the Golden-Crowned Sparrow was among them.

White-Crowned Sparrow

I searched and searched and finally! there he was! By this time the sun was bright and trying to get a good pic was a challenge. But finally I managed one that showed his beautiful gold crown even though it’s muted in his winter plumage. A lifer for me!

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Now it was time to go home and take a nap!!! (work could wait LOL!)

Mallard feather on the frozen beach of the Rio Grande

Last Birding Trip of 2017

During the last week of December, I was able to take a trip to Bosque del Apache. I try to visit there every December as that’s when the winter bird count is pretty high.

I left well before sunrise. As I was driving down, I started getting into thicker and thicker fog. At one point I had to slow down to 40 mph on a 75 mph interstate.

It was difficult to bird first thing due to the thick fog, so I took a few scenic shots.

Boardwalk through the marsh

A lone American Coot walking through the marsh area

Quiet solitude

I was pleased to see a beautiful coyote in his handsome winter coat.

Beautiful coyote among the hoarfrost

Fortunately, the fog cleared up once the sun rose and I was able to start hunting for birds.

I first noticed a Great Blue Heron grooming.

Great Blue Heron

There were lots of raptors about. Most of them seemed reluctant to move from their morning perch.

Northern Harrier

Cooper’s Hawk

American Kestral

Northern Harrier

American Bald Eagles

Red-Tailed Hawk

I started driving around the ponds to see what waterfowl was about. I happened to notice two Northern Harriers squabbling. They were quite a ways away but I managed to capture a pic.

Northern Harriers fighting

I was surprised to find that there really wasn’t very many waterfowl about. I had to really search the ponds to find any. Not sure where they were all hiding.

Bufflehead – male

Northern Pintail

Bufflehead – female

Pied-Billed Grebe

Ring-Necked Duck

Northern Shoveler

Of course there were lots of Snow Geese about. But every time I made it around the circle to see them, they were flying.

Snow Geese

I always hear there are wading birds that winter at the refuge, but I rarely see them. But on this day I saw three Lesser Yellowlegs feeding in the shallows of a pond.

Lesser Yellowlegs

I saw a few songbirds about that day. There were a couple of rare sightings for the area, but I never saw them. Drat!

Song Sparrow

Gambel’s Quail

Marsh Wren

White-Winged Dove

House Finch

One of my favorite sightings of the day was a Crissal Thrasher singing his little heart out atop a bush. Surprisingly he let me get pretty close singing the whole time.

Crissal Thrasher

I sat and watched a roadrunner look for lunch. They are always entertaining. He hunted for awhile before he noticed me watching. I took this pic the moment he realized he wasn’t alone. 🙂

Greater Roadrunner

My last sighting of the day was a grebe off in the distance. When I zoomed in and took a pic, I was delighted to see it was a Clark’s Grebe. These are considered a rare sighting for the area, so that was a real treat.

Clark’s Grebe

I left around noon and decided to drive a different route home. I took the Quebradas Scenic Route home. I had heard a lot about this road. But to be honest I couldn’t really see why it was considered so beautiful. But there was one place on the road I found very picturesque, so I got out a took a pic.

Quebradas Scenic Route

Just before leaving that highway, I came across some deer feeding in the fields.

Mule Deer

I still had some light left in the day, so I stopped in at the Bernardo Refuge. The Sandhill Cranes seem to prefer this area over Bosque del Apache.

I got there near sunset, and all the cranes were coming in to the pond to drink. It was a beautiful sight seeing and hearing the cranes flying overhead in the soft light of sunset.

Sandhill Cranes

While photographing the cranes, I happened to notice the Super Moon had risen. It was big and blue!

Super Moon

I had a wonderful day birding. It had been quite some time since I had been able to take a whole day to bird.

Just beautiful…

While hiking the trails, a train came through. 🙂

Summer Birds and Other Goodies

With my several trips this year and busy work, I haven’t had time to blog as often as I would have liked to. So I thought I would combine several sightings over the summer into one post. Now that fall is officially here, many of these birds are gone or will be gone soon.

During the summer I went on several day hikes within a couple hours of Albuquerque. Partly to see something new in scenery and partly to see some birds I don’t normally see around home.

One hike that was new for me was the Cave Creek hike in the Pecos Wilderness. It’s about a 5-mile round trip hike to some caves that were created by water eroding through limestone. It was a beautiful hike in thick forest along a creek. Of course, Scarlett enjoyed the water immensely!

So much fun at the water crossings!

Lovely stream to hike along.

The caves were very interesting. There were several that were big enough to walk inside of. I didn’t go very far in as it got dark quickly and I wasn’t sure how deep the water got. But lots of fun to explore. Scarlett was curious about the caves as well.

Unique caves created by water erosion.

Scarlett exploring a smaller cave.

On this hike I saw a flock of Dusky Grouse. This is pretty much the only grouse specie New Mexico has. I’ve only seen this bird a few times of the past 20 years and never very close. But I was lucky on this hike. When I startled them, they flew into a nearby pine and sat very still – which was perfect for a great photo.

Dusky Grouse

Another day I ventured to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains next to Santa Fe. It was a very cloudy day and the birds were few, but I managed to get a few nice sightings. A favorite – Green Tailed Towhee – came close to check me out so I was able to see his colors nicely.

Green Tailed Towhee

Williamson’s Sapsucker – Juvenile

Dark-Eyed Junco

One of the highlights of this hike was seeing lots of mushrooms. I’ve seen photos of the red and white polka dot mushrooms, but never have seen one in person. It was a real treat seeing and photographing them. 🙂

Poisonous mushroom – but so pretty!

Aspen Vista is a beautiful hike at about 8,000 feet above sea level. As you know Scarlett loves water. But she also loves culverts. She’s always looking inside them to see what might be hiding. On this hike, she found a culvert that was big enough to run through and it had water flowing through it. Bonus!

Scarlett having a blast!

I walked along the Rio Grande several times. Most of the colorful summer birds love the Bosque. It’s so much fun looking for and photographing these beauties!

Blue Grosbeak

Summer Tanager

Neotropic Cormorant

Downy Woodpecker

Great Blue Heron

Say’s Phoebe

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird enjoying the summer mimosa blooms!

House Sparrow

House Finch – partial orange morph

Orange-Crowned Warbler

One day while hiking along the river, I came across a Cooper’s Hawk enjoying breakfast. You could tell it had caught a songbird by the foot hanging out of it’s beak. Poor thing….

Songbird for breakfast anyone???

While reviewing my photos, I realized I had captured a lifer bird on one of my outings along the river. I love it when that happens! In this case, I had mistaken it for a Summer Tanager. But when I reviewed the photo more closely, I realized it was a Hepatic Tanager. Yay!!!

Hepatic Tanager

Of course, Scarlett always enjoys a visit to the river!

Look at that big grin on Scarlett’s face!

One day I took a drive out to Stanley. I hadn’t been there for quite some time. I saw a lot of the usual residents there. I never tire seeing a Western Meadowlark or the many hawks that live there. 🙂

Cliff Swallow

Red-Tailed Hawk (juvenile) – I love the coloring of this particular bird

Western Meadowlark

Around home I’ve had several new birds visit my yard this summer. It’s so exciting to see something new show up. I hope they find me again next year! Some were easy to photograph, while others were very elusive. The birds I was unable to photograph but saw were Yellow-Headed Blackbird, Brown-Headed Blackbird, Northern Saw-Whet Owl, and Green-Tailed Towhee.

Pygmy Nuthatch

Curve-Billed Thrasher

I love their orange eyes.

Along with the new birds I’ve seen this year, I’ve had plenty of the resident birds stopping by the feeders and bird baths.

Western Bluebird

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

A very shy Ladderback Woodpecker (hence the blurry photo)

Wilson’s Warbler – coming to enjoy my bird bath

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

Hairy Woodpecker

Mountain Chickadee

Holding down a sunflower seed to extract its goodness.

Bushtit

Lesser Goldfinch

Black-Headed Grosbeak

Juniper Titmouse

Virginia’s Warbler

Rufous Hummingbird

Bewick’s Wren

This summer New Mexico saw several forest fires in the Jemez Mountains. Because of this, a lot of the bird life has migrated south to new habitats. This summer we saw a large number of Lewis’s Woodpeckers in the greater Albuquerque area. We normally don’t see them here, so it was a real treat to see one only a couple miles from my house. It seemed to prefer this telephone pole as it was sighted there often. And it didn’t like the squirrel using its pole.

Lewis’s Woodpecker

Get off my pole!!!

I drove down to the Monzano Mountains a couple weeks ago hoping to see the fall colors starting in 4th of July Canyon. Though the colors still haven’t begun, I did get to see several birds.

Steller’s Jay – so beautiful!

Red-Tailed Hawks

I saw a Brown Creeper – always a delight. They are very difficult to see against the bark and they move quickly.

Brown Creeper

Plus I got a lifer! A Golden-Crowned Kinglet. I’ve been looking for this bird for several years and just happened upon it on this trail. Yay! This guy was way up in the canopy shadows and moving so fast!

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

Among the many bird sightings I had over the summer, I came across some other interesting things. I thought you might enjoy seeing them. 🙂

Cool bee on a beautiful summer sunflower

Ahhhhhhhh……

Southwestern Fence Lizard

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New Mexico Birder

Birding & Photography in New Mexico & the Southwest

Category Archives: heron

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