Recent news…

Been a bit slack with the blog lately, so here’s a quick photographic update.

Over the Mayday bank holiday weekend, I had an early start in the Brecks one morning, and found a small number of these gaudy creatures:

Then headed out to the coast to twitch a Woodchat Shrike and this White-winged Black Tern, amongst commoner spring migrants:

… and then a small detour on the way home took in these four cracking Black-winged Stilts.

More recently, I’ve spent a lot more time than is healthy here:

Yup, that’s Cley (and one of its specialities). The less said about that the better, though, so let’s move quickly on to a showy Shore Lark.

Common Nighthawks at Anahuac

Couple of photos that I meant to post earlier… we saw at least half a dozen Common Nighthawk one afternoon at the far end of the Anahuac reserve. They were roosting on the gravel road, presumably having recently come in off the sea, and with a bit of patience allowed fairly close approach. The intricate patterns on each feather are extraordinary!

What do you get if you cross a tame Treecreeper with a mint humbug?

Answer: lots of nice photos! As if you couldn’t guess, this is a Black-and-white Warbler, photographed in Port Aransas as it fed contentedly no more than a couple of metres from a small group of impressed birders.

Suzanne’s Favourite Lumix Photos from Texas

I thought it was about time I shared some of my photos from the trip before I head out to the Birders’ drinks to drive all over East London dropping the Boozy Birders home…

They are certainly not my favourite birds and I also took lots of flower and dragonfly photos but these are the ones that I want to share for now. They’re the ones that remind me what Texas was like for me. There will also be lots of links to my bird videos to follow. I discovered that this was the one thing that I could definitely do better than David. I think they’ll have to wait until my time is my own again once the kids go on study leave next Friday though.

Brazos Bend – my favourite placeSnowy EgretYellow-crowned Night-heronSome kind of Swallowtail!Aransas National Wildlife RefugeMenacing Croc…Wild TurkeyBrown PelicanLaughing GullRoyal TernParadise Pond, RockportBlack and White WarblerUnimpressed Great-tailed GrackleGreen JaySwamp RabbitWe really wanted to know what the Pelicans do but alas they did not perform for us…Tricoloured HeronSanta Ana National Wildlife RefugeRuby-throated HummingbirdLost Maple State ParkConcan Bat Cave187 miles on one long straight road to HoustonHoustonRoseate SpoonbillEastern KingbirdCommon NighthawkWilletMulberry-stained Blue JayMulberry-stained Lizard!WG Jones State Park, managed woodlands for Red-cockaded, Red-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers

Meep, meep!

Remember this?

Well, in Texas we saw the real Roadrunner – and they’re almost as charismatic as the cartoon version. Here’s a selection of their many poses…

PS – here’s a very long distance hazy record shot of Mr W. E. Coyote. And no, he didn’t get the Roadrunner in real life, either.