This was easily as good of a photo session as I've had in weeks. Three solid hours in the blind gave me over 485 images exposed. Great way to cap off a good week in the park.I spent about 3 hours at the park this week with the Day Camp they were having at the park. There were about 30 or so pre-teens that were taking part and I volunteered a couple of weeks back to teach them a little something about birding and bird photography. It was surprisingly a very enjoyable morning with 28 very well behaved young people. As for the other two, well, we can't all be perfect.
Beyond sharing this addiction, it was also a good opportunity to do some scouting. In between my last visit and my visit mid-week there has been a population explosion of Cottontail Rabbits. We saw probably 4 or 5 with the campers mid-week, and I saw another 2 or 3 walking up the trail to the blind this morning. They're still not in the mood for being photo subjects, but give them so time and they'll come around. In the blind this morning the species spread was very good and the numbers were, well, different. First the laundry list...
Species List
Bewick's Wren
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Titmouse
Boat-Tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Male & Female)
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male & Female)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (Male, Female, & Juvenile)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Male & Female)
Pyrrhuloxia (Female)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Scissortailed Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
White-Winged Dove
Some other notes... I saw a couple of Jackrabbits on the way into the park. Pipevine Swallowtail, Variegated Frittalry, and Hackberry Emperor butterflies seen inside the blind and some variety of sulphur butterfly (need to do some more research).
No repeat of the Ladder-backed Woodpecker this morning, but the Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers were very active. On the full-size of the attached image, he has a sunflower seed in his bill and you can see his tongue plainly in between his upper and lower beak. He would take those seeds, put them into a previously drilled hole, and then beat the heck out the shell. Very cool behavior opportunity. Red-Winged Blackbird and House Sparrow numbers were way down (though I'm being invaded by House Sparrows at my house just 5 minutes away). Bronzed Cowbird, Titmouse, and White-Winged Dove numbers were up. Also saw my first juvenile Northern Cardinal of the season.
Wish all trips to the blind could be as productive as this one.
Image: Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller
No repeat of the Ladder-backed Woodpecker this morning, but the Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers were very active. On the full-size of the attached image, he has a sunflower seed in his bill and you can see his tongue plainly in between his upper and lower beak. He would take those seeds, put them into a previously drilled hole, and then beat the heck out the shell. Very cool behavior opportunity. Red-Winged Blackbird and House Sparrow numbers were way down (though I'm being invaded by House Sparrows at my house just 5 minutes away). Bronzed Cowbird, Titmouse, and White-Winged Dove numbers were up. Also saw my first juvenile Northern Cardinal of the season.
Wish all trips to the blind could be as productive as this one.
Image: Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller
No comments:
Post a Comment