Category: Birds

Except for that One with the Yellowy Eyes

I’m  in a bit of a clean up mode at the moment.  During the last couple of months of last year (wow, that seems so long ago as opposed to the reality of it being less than a month) the digital lab was working overtime trying to pop a number of items off the photo queue.  The thought of going 3 years behind was too much to take so gave it a scouts try to give me some buffer.  This meant there were a lot of posts prepped with all the shots worthy of posting from the processing blitz – all put in draft mode just waiting for the special day when they get the call to the big league.

Osprey on our Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Unfortunately, my prep work exceeded my publishing capability leaving me a basket full of potential posts.  Most of these were results of the Texas trip we took back in November 2013.  It is time to flush those out of the system or I am going to do something stupid like forget they are there – a total waste of the all the effort to get them to this point. So, as a step in the right direction, here is one of those drafts.
Osprey on our Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this killer.

Continue reading Except for that One with the Yellowy Eyes

The Horn of Alton

Greetings everyone from the Midwest Tundra.  In the midst of some bitter cold, sleet and snow at the moment in direct defiance of Never Colder’s who are still crying from the loss of their precious hockey stick graph.  Don’t you hate it when the data doesn’t align to the narrative.  Speaking of crying, anyone see the last press conference by Bumbles this week.  Let’s see, it is the press’s fault, no wait, it is the talk radio pundit’s fault, nooooo I remember now, it was the Ruskies fault for exposing a rigged DNC nomination process, collusion with the mainstream media, forcing CNN to give Hillary pre-debate questions and for brainwashing the Hillary election committee to ignore fly over country – the sneaky bastards even hijacked Hildebeast’s speech and stuck the word deplorables in it.  Them be some sneaky cold war enemies.  Tell you what, let’s throw in some Bush blame and just give it to Hillary – that way, everyone will be happy. I couldn’t write better comedy if I tried.

How about we move to a count that can’t be debated.  My North American Bird Life List count has been incremented by one thanks to this lonely specimen.
Horned Grebe Shot near Alton IL 3/29/2014

Truth be told, I am jumping the gun just a bit here since my validator has yet to respond to my identification request.  Fortunately, this particular waterbird is pretty easy to identify.  Here’s a better angle that gives a good view of the key feature they are named for.
Horned Grebe Shot near Alton IL 3/29/2014

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of this intriguing water bird.

Continue reading The Horn of Alton

A Horny Songbird

I received an email from my brother Ron yesterday regarding an email highlighting a Harris’s Sparrow that was spotted at the Crabtree Nature Center.  It was recommended by the originator of the email to avoid scaring it away by standing INSIDE the WARM nature center and looking at the FEEDERS through window (my emphasis).  This, of course was met with great joy and in fact it was actually referred to as “Perfect” by Ron. This brought a big sigh from me when I read it.  I think we need a collective vote on this.  Should we add a new birding rule that disqualifies birds taken through a window at a nature center!?!  Please leave your votes in the comments and I’ll tally them up and make an official ruling.  In stark contrast, today’s post is featuring a bird that required me to drive out in the middle of the tundra, get out in single digit, wind howling weather and risk frostbite on the shutter finger to add this fine specimen to my North American Bird Life List.

Horned Lark shot North of Galesburg Feb 2014

Well, it might not have been the Tundra, but it was a single digit temperature day in the snowy countryside north of Galesburg, IL.  Oh, and I might not have been driving and I might have shot the bird from the car, but the window was down and it was still damn cold.  Ron’s email actually reminded me I could bird from the warmth of my house too – I have such a backlog of shoots I simply went back to February, 2014 and went virtually birding through my queue.  Linda and I were out that particular day hunting down a Snowy Owl (link here).  That was one awesome Valentine’s gift from my wife!  I wonder if Ron has a Snowy Owl yet… guessing not since that would require going out in the cold (ha).  I had already processed the Owl pictures, but remembered taking a few shots of a group of birds hanging out in the country roads.  It was  overlooked at the time due to the excitement of the Snowy.  During my formal pass through the pictures (yes, I’m finally up to February of 2014) the unique horns and coloring of those birds caught my attention.  Those feather horns make for an easy identification – I had a Horned Lark in the tin!   Sorry, let me restate – I had a +1 Horned Lark already in the tin!  How cool is that!?!
Horned Lark shot North of Galesburg Feb 2014
Admittedly, these are not the crispiest shot in my collection.  This is likely due to already having frostbite on my shutter finger from tracking that Snowy in 2.5 feet of snow.  The first shot is clearly the best of the three, but I included the shot from the back (above) and the shot from the side (below).  I like to give my readers a good perspective of the featured bird to provide people a better feel for each bird’s characteristics and help in the ID process.  Due to the very unique horn like features of this specimen the ID was a no brainer.
Horned Lark shot North of Galesburg Feb 2014
Unfortunately, I did not get a lot of pictures of this bird.  Linda was driving which meant every bird on the road was in danger for its life.  You can almost see the horror this specimen was experiencing in the expression in the first picture.  I haven’t seen that much fear on a bird’s face since that Snowy Owl was slaughtered on Linda’s Jeep window… and that Goose that got a feather shave from Linda’s fairway wood – seeing a theme here.  No fears this trip, no birds were harmed in the taking of these shots, promise. Better get to some facts.  First of all, they cover almost all of the US during the winter (odd since I never saw them before and haven’t really seen them very much since).  During courtship the female simulates a dust bath to win over a potential mate – apparently males get horny for dirty females.  If you thought I was going to pass up that joke you do not know me very well hehehehe,  The only other interesting tidbit is the gathers up pebbles, and such to place beside their nests.  This arrangement resembles a paved walkway … but Cornell notes they really don’t use it as such.  Cornell’s hypothesis is that it could be used to hold nesting materials in place during the construction phase.

All I got for you today – hoped you enjoyed this new bird to my list.  Wonder if Ron is noticing my bird count is in overdrive as of late?

A Forster’s Takes Its Tern

How’s it hanging out there.  Obviously we survived the first snow of the season but maybe just barely.  I did get to test my slide control skills coming down one of the larger hills on the way back from my run.  Not sure what was going on there, but my 4 wheel drive truck decided that the rear wheels wanted to race the front wheels down the hill.  Not a big issue for seasoned Illinois drivers – stay off the brakes, steer into the drift to get control and then accelerate out once you get it straightened out.  Easy peasy, but can get the heart a pumping if a car is coming the other way.  Good to get those control reminders out of the way during the early winter season.  By this morning, the snow was gone from the roads and just another day in the Midwest.

To help warm up the place, figured I’d throw up a post featuring a bird shot back in the summer months – June specifically..
Forster's Tern shot at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge June 2013

Just not last June.  You should know me better than that by now.  These shots were taken back in 2013.  Trust me, if I could get these out quicker I definitely would.  Wish I could hire an intern to go through all my pictures after a shoot, weed out the crap shots and present me with the shots to take into the digital dark room.  You’d think a UB would do that for me… WAIT A MINUTE… something just triggered in my head.  Not sure I even posted the results of the UB competition this year.  Definitely need to get on that stat!  For now, let’s enjoy pictures of this lovely Forster’s Tern.

Truth be told, when I was shooting this bird down at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge, I wasn’t sure what I was taking a picture of.  All I knew is there was one bird that “was not like the others” hanging out along the pier.

Forster's Tern shot at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge June 2013

Hit he jump to see a couple more pictures of this cool Tern

Continue reading A Forster’s Takes Its Tern

My What Great Big Yellow Legs You Have

Welcome to December everyone!  I honestly cannot believe we are this deep in the year already.  Seems like a week ago we were prepping for the Halloween Trail and god knows where our warm temperatures went.  I had to bring out the running tights, stocking hat and mittens to make it through my recent runs without turning into an ice cube.  As depressing as the close of the year seems, the bright side of it all is we are under 50 days from a change in guard in our elected officials.  Trump isn’t even in office yet and already saved 1,000 jobs yet the socialist is already shouting to the press how disgusting that is – and they wonder why their asses hurt from the election.  I’m holding off on saying too much to give Trump at least a chance so let’s pivot back to a place that can at least give us memories of warmer times.

Greater Yellow Legs shot in Galveston, Texas in Nov 2013

That pile of feathers on stilts is a bit of an accidental find.  As with most of the birds as of late, this fine specimen was shot on our birding trip to Galveston, Texas.  I can’t express just how productive that trip has turned out to be.  It is hard to grasp just how many new birds were scored on that travel when in the heat of the hunt.  You are so focused on shooting anything that moves that you tend to lose track of what bird you were shooting the hour before.  Especially if there happens to be a secondary bird roaming in the same vicinity as a bird that immediately grabs your attention.  That is the exact case with this Greater Yellowlegs.  That prize bird has already made the blog spotlight (link here).

Greater Yellow Legs shot in Galveston, Texas in Nov 2013

Hit the jump to read a bit more about that Yellow find.

Continue reading My What Great Big Yellow Legs You Have

Trifecta Scores One

Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone had a good holiday and didn’t go too far overboard on eating.  Always a tough holiday for me since I have a bad habit of doing the math on what it will take to work off every dessert that I opt to enjoy.  You gotta splurge every once in a while otherwise all those workout sessions start being …well w o r k rather than an opportunity to enjoy some sweetness.  Been a busy holiday for me so decided to take a quick break and rest the legs – fingers were itching to do something, so brought up the WordPress dashboard and away we go.

Today’s post doesn’t feature one bird… not even two birds, rather THREE birds.  A true birding trifecta.  Let’s start with this pretty Heron.

Heron shot near Galveston, TX in November 2013

That my friends is a Tricolored Heron.  It was shot while on our Texas birding trip back in November 2013.  In fact, all three birds in this post were taken on that particular trip.  My apologies, but I cannot remember the exact location this one was taken at.  Maybe Linda can remember and let us know in the comments.  I do recall that there were a number of small channels that were being used by kayaks – possibly a state park.  Likely somewhere near Galveston.
Heron shot near Galveston, TX in November 2013

Hit the jump to read more about this bird as well as two other large waders.

Continue reading Trifecta Scores One

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

May your travels be safe and your family and friendships be strong

Wild Turkey shot on lot in Brimfield, IL

Sorry for the slightly soft pictures – only Turkey shots I had that were processed and haven’t already been featured on the blog.  These were taken by my feeders back in August 2015.  The mother hen would bring her offspring over for a morning snack.  To her credit, she kept a close eye on them and would hurry them to safety whenever she saw my camera pointed at them.
Wild Turkey shot on lot in Brimfield, IL

Happy Holidays!

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Score One for the Blotches

Welcome back everyone and since it is like an hour before midnight .. Happy Thanksgiving.;  Now that I am thinking about it, it might have been more appropriate to feature a post on those that probably don’t see the “Happy” of that day… the Turkey, but I’ve already featured them back in September (link here).  Instead, I’m going with Mr. and Mrs. Blotchy

Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013

While processing the pictures from our Texas birding trip back in November 2013, I came across these shots.  At first I wrote them off as female Mallards … well, because just about all ducks with drab female coloring look like… female Mallards.  It can be as painful as trying to identify juvenile Sparrows if you do not get lucky enough to capture a nearby male.  While processing them in the digital darkroom I became quite intrigued.  For some reason they just didn’t look like the standard Mallard or any other female brown duck that has made their way through the darkroom in the past.   I guess for starters, they didn’t have the classic colored stripe on the wing. Then there was that small black splotch on the base of the bill.
Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013

That prompted a visit to the reference bookcase.  Confirmed the wing stripe on the Mallard and sure enough no black splotch on the base of the bill ladies and gentlemen, this just might be a new check mark in the bird list!  It just so happens my brother Ron had recently brought up the topic of the Mottled Duck. Unfortunately, the reason escapes me – he might have gotten one in the tin on his trip to Ft Myers (went back in my emails and couldn’t locate a reference – Ron, if you remember please let us know in the comments).  Either way, I was super stoked to potentially  have one of my own so sent them off to Ron for validation.  He is a great reference whenever there are difficulties on the ID phase.  His assessment was a confirmation giving me another +1 for my list and ANOTHER +1 from my Texas trip.  That birding excursion is turning out to be a gold mine for new birds.  Sorry about taking so long to get these processed.

Mottled Duck shot in Galveston Texas, Nov 2013
Unfortunately, these were the only shots of these two Mottled Ducks in the lot.  This means we need to get to the facts like right now hehehe.  The Mottled is a dull relative of the Mallard which attributes to the similarities and my original incorrect ID assumption.  There really isn’t much else of interest on the Cornell site beyond the fact they typically pair up in November which is earlier than most ducks.  Seeing as how we were there in mid-November, these two must have been embarking on their honeymoon.  Lastly, if you are curious, Mottled simply means having different blotches of color.

Well, that’s all folks – hope you enjoyed my new addition to my bird list.  Now be safe on the roads if you are out and about on the big T-Day.  I can’t afford to lose any loyal readers.

One Vicious Songbird

Welcome back safe and sound!  I was a little worried there for a bit.  Based on the crying all the pundits, pollsters and biased talking heads were apparently doing last night you would have to assume the end of the world was at hand.  Now, I say apparently because I chose to spare myself all the hoopla of a Hillary win based on the all the information coming at me around noon yesterday – the last time I bothered to check the news.  Instead, I worked on wiring my garage and watched a pretty good movie – fittingly, Purge the Election Year.  I gave strict orders for no one to give me any updates and to their credit they stuck to their word (even my wife who I know must have been dying to tell me by the time she went to bed).  At 5:40 this morning, Linda gave me the news and to say I was shocked is a huge understatement. I would put it more in the lightning strike to the head level made up of 50% jolt and 50% uncontrolled happiness.  Don’t get me wrong, Trump wasn’t my guy, but compared to the most corrupt candidate to ever run for the highest office in the land … he’s a godsend.  I have to give President Elect Trump credit.  He took on a boat load of challengers, fought back against the establishment (of both parties), paved his own path and came out the end a winner.  Flyover country has awakened (link here) and they are taking their country back.  Note, to all the hack celebrities, comedians and singers that promised to leave the country should the election turn out the way it did, your names are all on a list sitting next to my desk and recommend you order your U-Haul pronto – Cher might need a rocket to go where she promised.

Time will tell how this turns out, but in honor of Trump’s tenacity I give you today’s featured bird.
Loggerhead Shrike shot on Texas birding trip in November 2013
Some birds have an air about them that exudes confidence.  Eagles, Hawks, Falcons and of course Owls all leave you with the expression that they command the skies and can rain down death on whatever prey they happen upon.  They are built to kill and their features and capabilities are all perfectly constructed to be extremely efficient in that line of business.  Now, let’s contrast that with this rather cute looking songbird.  From afar, they simply look like a smallish but stockier bird

However, when you get a little closer..
Loggerhead Shrike shot on Texas birding trip in November 2013

Hit the jump to learn a bit more about this bird .. and, of course, a few more shots.

Continue reading One Vicious Songbird

Bloodletting for Checkmarking

Greetings everyone!  Decided I would give my loyal readers a break from all the Halloween posts as of late and bring you something new and refreshing.  Part of this is to buy myself a little bit of time because there is an upcoming Halloween post to cover the Haunted Trail night walkthrough – can you say a butt load of pictures!?! It took forever to get those images processed and queued up for publishing.   While those are aging properly in wooden barrels, feast your eyes on this intriguing bird.
White Ibis Shot on Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Pretty cool eh?  Kind of a cross between that spoonbill you saw previously (link here) and a Stork.  Wait… did that say Stork – that reminds me I have some Georgia surprises coming hehehe.  But I digress.  This colorfully paletted bird is a White Ibis.  Your probably could have guessed the first part of that name, but the second part might be a bit more difficult to pull out of the air.
White Ibis Shot on Texas Birding Trip November 2013

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this bird and maybe learn a few interesting facts.

Continue reading Bloodletting for Checkmarking