Wednesday 18 May 2011

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:

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

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

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

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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.

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Saturday 7 May 2011

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!

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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.

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Friday 6 May 2011

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 placeP1020661_smallSnowy EgretP1020667_smallYellow-crowned Night-heronP1020672_smallSome kind of Swallowtail!P1020768_smallP1020795_smallAransas National Wildlife RefugeP1020806_smallMenacing Croc…P1020818_smallWild TurkeyP1020834_smallBrown PelicanP1020850_smallP1020873_smallLaughing GullP1020881_smallRoyal TernP1020882_smallParadise Pond, RockportP1020913_smallBlack and White WarblerP1020921_smallUnimpressed Great-tailed GrackleP1020924_smallGreen JayP1020943_smallSwamp RabbitP1020954_smallWe really wanted to know what the Pelicans do but alas they did not perform for us…P1020983_smallTricoloured HeronP1030022_smallSanta Ana National Wildlife RefugeP1030131_smallRuby-throated HummingbirdP1030215_smallLost Maple State ParkP1030298_smallP1030305_smallP1030310_smallConcan Bat CaveP1030360_smallP1030371_smallP1030372_small187 miles on one long straight road to HoustonP1030403_smallHoustonP1030407_smallRoseate SpoonbillP1030420_smallEastern KingbirdP1030489_smallCommon NighthawkP1030494_smallWilletP1030500_smallMulberry-stained Blue JayP1030537_smallMulberry-stained Lizard!P1030567_smallWG Jones State Park, managed woodlands for Red-cockaded, Red-headed and Pileated WoodpeckersP1030664_small

Wednesday 4 May 2011

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…

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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.

coyote