Texas Nature: birds

Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2013

Life Bird

I went out this morning to see what new wildflowers I could find blooming. But instead of finding wildflowers I spotted a Crested Caracara, which is a life bird for me. I rushed the shots trying to make sure I didn't miss, so there not that great, but at least I got it. Caracaras are do nest in the area, but are uncommon, so I was really excited to see it.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Parking Lot Birds

When I think about going out to photograph nature, I am usually thinking about going down to the coast, a local marsh, or perhaps a wooded nature trail. I sometimes forget that even though we are surrounded by all the trappings of civilization, nature is all around us. One of the things I notice everyday is the birds. Many birds like the ones in this blog have adapted well to city life. The bird that probably comes to mind most often is the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia). Around here the pigeons seem to be a bit more shy that the ones you see hanging around park benches of larger cities.

Rock Pigeon

Even though I live about 20 miles from the coast I still see quite a few seagulls. You can find them hanging around on just about any day, but they seem to be most plentiful on windy overcast days. Some days I arrive at work early with some stale bread to feed the grackles that are plentiful, and there will be no gulls in site. But as soon as I throw out some bread, I will be surrounded by dozens of gulls. Ring-billed Gulls are usually the most common, along with a few Laughing Gulls.

Laughing Gulls

seagulls, laughing gull, ring-billed gull, birds

Ring-billed Gulls and one Laughing Gull

Last but not least the ubiquitous Great-tailed Grackle. A year round resident of Texas, it is often seen around parking lots, lined-up on power lines, and filling trees.

Two male Great-tailed Grackles in the foreground.

A group of female Great-tailed Grackles

Filling the trees.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Great Blue Heron Cam

In the last post I talked about the Hawk Cam that Cornell University has online, now they have a Great Blue Heron Cam posted. In 2009 Great Blue Herons started building a nest at this site and early this year the university put up a couple of cameras which are online now. The herons returned about 10 days ago and the female layed her first egg just yesterday. Even though the Hawk Cam operates 24/7 it is hard to see what is going on after nightfall. With the Heron Cam one of the cameras takes good night video, so you can check at any hour and still see good pictures. To Check out the Heron Cam follow this link.
Heron Cam

Below are a couple a pictures of the nest. The video is much better than the screen captures below.

Great Blue Heron on nest.

Night shot of Great Blue Heron on nest.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Hawk Cam

There is a pair of Red-tailed Hawks that have had a nest above Cornell University's athletic fields and the university has installed a live web cam over the nest. As I write this there are 2 eggs in the nest. You will be able to watch live stream as the hawks take turns incubating the eggs and raise their chicks. There is also a chat for watchers to discuss what is going on in the nest as it happens. Below is a screen shot that I captured this afternoon. To check-out the birds go to http://www.livestream.com/cornellhawks. The camera operates 24/7, although there is not much to see at night.

Nesting Red-tailed Hawk at Cornell Universtiy

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Pleasure Island Part 4

The fourth part of my series on Pleasure Island takes us to the North Levee. So far this area has been the least productive in my trips to Pleasure Island. Although it has not been as good as the other areas, it still provides plenty of opportunities to view and photograph nature. I suspect that part of the reason for it being less productive is that the levee road is surrounded by water on both sides with very little land to attract wildlife or grow plants. On the southeast side is Sabine Lake, where the road is protected by a rock barrier. You will see various shore birds walking on the rocks or floating on the lake.

View of Sabine Lake along north levee.

Willets along the north levee of Pleasure Island

Great Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

The northwest side of the levee road is also bounded by water. There are narrow channels on either end of the road with a much wider area of water in the middle section. Unlike the lake side, the is a strip of land the can support a variety of plant life, including trees and shrub. In addition to shore and water birds this area should attract a variety other birds and wildlife that use the plants for food and shelter. Also this area should be of interest to those of us interested in wildflowers. I hope to have some photos of the wildflowers of this area in future post. For those interested in Texas wildflowers you can view some of my photos on my other blog and website at http://wildflowersoftexas.blogspot.com/ and http://www.wildflowersoftexas.com/

One of the channels on the northwest side of the levee road.

Large body of water in the middle section of the levee road.

Northwest side of levee road.

Great Egret standing in the road.

Great Egret

Red-breasted Merganser

Laughing Gulls

Friday, March 16, 2012

Great Backyard Bird Count 2012

The Great Backyard Bird Count took place on February 17 - 20. This is the first year the I participated in the count and had a great time. I only had one day off during the count but I also made a quick count during my lunch break on another day. I chose Cattail Marsh and Beaumont Botanical Gardens for my count locations. Both are located in Tyrell Park in Beaumont. I had a total of 308 birds and 19 species. I also added 5 life birds to my list, bringing that to a total of 53 birds. Below are photos of the 5 life birds that I spotted during the count.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Pleasure Island Part 3

Continuing south along T. B. Ellison/Martin Luther King Jr. Drive you find photo opportunities on both sides of the road. The left side of the road away from the ship channel is mostly high reeds and some areas of stand water. The photo below was taken in this area.

Snowy Egret and Common Gallinule hiding behind it.

For about a mile and a half, past the hurricane damaged road mentioned in the last post ( see Pleasure Island Part 2 ) the road moves away from the ship channel. Then it parallels the channel all the way to the Causeway Bridge. The pilings, barricades, rocks and mud flats attract shore birds.