Peace Valley Nature Center 11-12-11

We're in Pennsylvania, visiting Roy's family for DTS's reading week. We decided to enjoy the sunny, cool weather and go to a nearby lake. The nature center had a bird blind, so we sat for awhile and enjoyed the antics of a few of our favorite birds!

This little titmouse was enjoying the peanuts from this feeder.

There were two nuthatches jumping around in a nearby tree. 

This one came to the feeder for a quick snack!

This female red-bellied woodpecker left its tree and decided to peck away at the peanuts for awhile! We don't get to see a lot of woodpeckers, so watching her was a treat!

White Rock Lake

After flipping through my Birds of Texas field guide this morning, I had an itch to go out and see some birds! Even though it's another scorcher in Dallas today, we headed over to White Rock Lake to see if any birds were braving the heat as we were.

We were excited to see a few things, including this tricolored heron. They are not common in our area, but they are usually found along the gulf shore.

Wading Extravaganza

We decided to get up early (well, early for me on a Saturday morning!) and go to the drying beds in Arlington. It had been several months since we visited, and we weren't sure how much we would see given the extreme temperatures and drought we've been experiencing.

However, we were pleasantly surprised! There were hundreds of barn swallows and kingbirds, acrobatically snatching their buggy snacks from the sky. The red-winged blackbirds were in abundance as well, enjoying the sunflowers that were lining many of the banks of the drying beds.


There weren't as many ducks out today, but we did see some black-bellied whistling ducks, like the couple pictured here.


But the best part was the wading birds.

We saw several Little Blue Herons. The first one below is a juvenile in its mottled phase. The little blue heron is completely white as a baby, and it goes through this splotchy stage as it changes to blue. An adult little blue is pictured below the mottled one.



And then we saw three new birds: the White Ibis, the White-faced Ibis, and the Black-necked Stilt.












There were lots of ibises and stilts, and we enjoyed watching them feed in the water and awkwardly fly through the air. I had been really missing birding with this oppressively hot weather, and this morning served to give me my fill! At least for a few days... :)

Hummer!

I FINALLY saw my first hummer of the year at our feeder. Roy had been seeing a female all week while I was at work, but by the time I would arrive home, she'd be gone for the day. This morning, I was woken up from a dream by hearing, "Hey Bek!" At first I thought it was in my dream, but then I questioned it as it pulled me out of my restful sleep. I looked around and didn't see Roy, so I thought that maybe it was my dream! However, a few seconds later I saw him standing in the doorway. "The hummingbird is out there!" he beckoned. Of course by the time I got out to the living room (I don't move quickly in the mornings!), she was gone. I sat and stared. And stared and sat. And I sat some more. Finally I decided I'd better go take a shower, but I knew as soon as I left, she would come back! As I began to state my predicament out loud, she flew back to the feeder and fed for about half a minute. She was not willing to settle on the perch but instead chose to eat while fluttering about, wings flapping furiously. I didn't get to take any pictures because her time here only lasted for seconds and I wasn't willing to risk scaring her off by any sudden movement.

But the joy was the same. It made me not want to leave my balcony and my feeders even more, but I'm so excited about our new apartment. Hopefully I will still get to see birds around... even if they aren't at my window every day.

Red and Wilma... and Pebbles?

The first bird to show up on our patio two years ago was a house finch. Since then, a few house finches have made our tree their home and our bird feeder their kitchen. Because of the red color of the male, we named him Red. I would occasionally refer to the female as Wilma, attempting a punny reference to the Flintstones.

A few days ago, I was home during the day and heard excessive cheeping at the feeder. I could tell it was a finch, but it sounded odd. I peeked between the blinds to find three finches munching on lunch... Red, Wilma, and a fuzzy-headed addition. I think Pebbles is an appropriate name.

Here she is eating at the feeder next to Wilma. Although she's eating some on her own, she's still being fed some by her parents, too, as the next picture shows.

Greenville, TX - June 4

Roy and I went to Greenville, TX for our anniversary weekend. Although the weather was stinkin' hot (as Roy would put it!), that didn't keep us from birding. We just did it from the comfort of our air-conditioned car! We drove out to a prairie we had read of online, but that was kind of a bust. So we kept driving, especially looking on the wires where the birds like to perch.

We saw several barn swallows. Nothing too exciting as we see them all the time in Dallas, but they are still fun to watch. This one made me think of myself as I'm always stretching out my neck!


We saw a TON of dickcissels... and this was a new bird for us! Although we'd heard of them and seen their pictures in our birding books, we'd never seen them in real life! Apparently they migrate in large numbers. We sure saw a bunch of them!



One of our favorites is the scissor-tailed flycatchers. We love watching them fly, tail split open.


As we were driving slowly down the gravel road, I spotted a bird flying alongside of the car, just in front of us. It landed in a bush on the side of the road. Roy and I were shocked when we saw it was a painted bunting! Now you have to understand, we planned our first anniversary trip based on a place that has a high population of painted buntings because we wanted to see these beautiful birds. We did see them last year at bird blinds, but we had never seen one out in the "wild." Those bird blinds don't really count as "in the wild"... food, water, etc. set up just for the birds. So we were pretty stoked!

This little guy just sat there, letting his feathery hair blow in the breeze.

Greenville, TX

ANNIVERSARY BIRDING - COMING SOON!

Sunset Bay

Due to Roy and I being tired and being tempted to just be bumps on a log for the whole evening, we decided to head out to the lake if for no other purpose than to keep us awake! While we didn't see anything too exciting, there were a lot of ducks and geese. And by a lot, I mean hundreds! Most of the babies are grown by this point in the year, but we happened to see two baby mallards that swam over to the dock where we stood.



They are just so incredibly cute and fuzzy! I wished I could have picked them up right out of the water and taken them home with me!




Someone was putting down pounds and pounds of cracked corn for all of the ducks and geese to eat on the shore. This goose at his fill and stood nearby, waiting for his portrait to be taken before moving on with his goose friends.



This Chinese Swan Goose was digging around in the dirt for stuff to eat, which seemed kind of silly considering there were pounds of food on the ground nearby... and he's like at least three to four times bigger than every other duck around! Check out those beastly legs!

Work and Home

One of my favorite types of birds is the swallow. Whether it be barn swallows or tree swallows, I love to watch them. They display brilliant and sometimes iridescent colors that cannot be matched even in the 96 count Crayola box. But even more than their colors, I love watching them fly. Swallows can be seen at dawn and dusk flying high above the ground providing a spectacular show of acrobatics while they catch their next meal.

I had heard of purple martins, a relative of the swallows, but had yet to see any in my lifetime. I would even see their large apartment-like bird houses mounted on high posts. But I never saw any martins. Until this spring.

At the retirement community where I work, some residents keep up with many martin houses all over the property. And boy do those little "apartments" house a lot of martins! Everyday as I drive in to work, I'm greeted by the acrobatic display of these little birds. There are often dozens soaring above, attempting to snatch the best bugs from the sky.

The other day, Roy came to have lunch with me at work. The martins are not as active during the middle of the day, but we walked by some of their houses anyway to see if any of them were out. A couple were flying way out over the field, but this little guy was waiting for us. He posed for several minutes for us to take his picture.

Yesterday morning, I was sitting on the couch and reading a book to help me wake up. Roy was out for a walk, and it was peacefully quiet. Something caught my attention on the balcony, and I could see a bird on one of our feeders. Because of the blinds and the lighting, I couldn't tell what it was right away. Another one landed on our tray feeder, and just about the time I could see his black-capped head and bib, he let out the familiar song of a chickadee. I tried to get some pictures, but the blinds and the lighting made it difficult. I enjoyed watching the two chickadees fly back and forth from the feeders for several minutes before returning to the trees to sing their songs.



As I sat and watched the chickadees eat, play, and sing, tears came to my eyes. We're moving to a new apartment next month, one that doesn't have a balcony or anywhere to hang bird feeders. And while I'm very excited about our new place, I am going to miss our little feathered friends from our first home. They have been a gift from God as I've adjusted to this new chapter in my life, and I'm truly grateful for the joy they bring to me each day.

The thoughts of a birder...

Awhile back, I decided that it would be nice someday to have a birding journal. One place where I can record all the birds that I see and any information I may want to remember. Then I realized, if I journal my birding experiences on a blog, I can easily include my pictures! So that is what this is.

My love of birds and photography, although both of those hobbies may still be in amateur stages. But I desire to learn in my knowledge of both. And keeping track of all we see is going to be a help in that endeavor!

May 12, 2011 - White Rock Lake

We visited White Rock Lake yesterday evening and enjoyed the perfect spring weather. It was so refreshing to be outside, breathing in fresh air and letting my creative juices flow with some photography!

Red-winged blackbirds were out in full force, rustling around in the reeds and making loud, screeching calls to find mates.






The scissor-tailed flycatchers are back for the summer. We love watching their acrobatics as they take to the sky in search of their next snack. This one posed on the wire for us.




One of my favorite parts of spring is new life...and this means baby ducks! We enjoyed watching these baby wood ducks explore.




We saw this kestrel perched on the power lines, scanning the ground for dinner.


The monk parakeets build their nests on these power line towers, so we avoided the mud and made our way toward their screeching calls. While watching from a distance, several decided that the standing water right next to us looked like a good place to get a drink.



They have to be the happiest looking birds I've ever seen.


As we headed back toward our car, this great egret was trying to hide in the brush. Sometimes I think they forget they're white!