I recently wrote about the mockingbird nest in one of the trees in our front yard. The fact is, while we don’t have that many trees, and they’re not that big, those we do have are apparently quite attractive to the local birds. Besides the aforementioned mockingbirds, we have a western king bird nest in… Continue reading New Neighbors
Category: Wildlife – Birds
Mockingbird Recording
As I sat on the front porch yesterday afternoon reading a book and enjoying the nice weather, I was aurally accosted by a loud-mouthed intruder who was so enamored with his own voice, I suspect he’d make an excellent Senator. Your browser does not support the audio element. Just kidding. Mockingbirds are too smart to… Continue reading Mockingbird Recording
Buzzards+Fort Stockton = Swallows+Capistrano?
One of the presumed harbingers of spring in West Texas is the return of roosting buzzards. If that’s true, then Fort Stockton has seen its last cold snap for the season, as evidenced by this iPhone video I shot last evening from my parents’ backyard: This is just a fraction of the flock of scavengers… Continue reading Buzzards+Fort Stockton = Swallows+Capistrano?
Back Home
We spent an extended and very pleasant weekend in San Diego/Coronado, California. I hope to post a report with a few photos as soon as I can work through the backlog of work and errands that accumulated while we were away. In the meantime, here’s a teaser photo of four pelicans gliding along the coastline… Continue reading Back Home
More Big White Bird Photos
Remember this guy? He’s still hanging around. Well, I suppose “hanging” isn’t the operative term. Viewed from a certain angle, you can see that there’s not much to this bird, despite his impressive size while he’s wading.
A New Year “Crane” for Good Luck
According to Asian tradition, the crane is a bird of good luck and long life, and further, if you fold one thousand origami cranes you’ll be granted a wish. If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a photo of a great egret* equivalent to folding a thousand pieces of paper? I obviously can’t… Continue reading A New Year “Crane” for Good Luck
Bird
I see a lot of websites during the course of a week. Many of them are design-related and thus represent what should be the most striking, innovative, and creative examples the profession can build. Still, it’s not often that I run across one that simply takes my breath away. This is one. Andrew Zuckerman is… Continue reading Bird
Woodpecker
Debbie was watering the plants on the front porch when she heard a tapping sound. She looked up and spotted the source: a ladder-backed woodpecker working its way up the trunk of our neighbors’ red oak tree. We don’t see many woodpeckers around here, so it was definitely a photo opportunity. In the second photo,… Continue reading Woodpecker
Green Heron
I spotted a bird of a type I hadn’t previously seen wading in the stream between the two ponds this morning. I took a couple dozen photos and shipped a few off to our resident wildlife expert, Burr Williams, who identified the bird as a green heron. He said they reside year-around in certain parts… Continue reading Green Heron
Sunday Morning Hawk
I was sitting on our front porch after breakfast, accompanied by a Bible and a cup of coffee – both being essential to Sunday morning (or any morning, for that matter) – enjoying the beautiful weather. The street light at the corner of our yard was decorated with five or six Mexican doves basking in… Continue reading Sunday Morning Hawk