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More from Antelope Island

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

Above, at a ranch run by Antelope island State Park, a ranger in the white truck was herding the bison away from a group of visiting school children when one bison turned on a dime and faced the truck. The ranger backed up and turned around and the bison shortly continued walking with the other two bison. He looked like he was ready to fight the truck if it had continued.

Pronghorn elk. They were concerned about some bicyclists. They take cars more for granted, but were uncertain about people on bikes. There are some very good dirt bike paths here. Many cyclists ride over the causeway to the island. I wonder about riding a bike here on bad bug days. Every day it got warmer, the bugs got worse. Along the causeway especially, there were lots of midges like I saw in the Klamath Falls, Oregon area.

A burrowing owl. It would not cooperate to let me get a better picture. (It’s in the center of the picture).

A loggerhead shrike. Often saw it hunting in the same area as the owl.

Thought the coyote (fox?) below was a domestic dog at first, it was so fluffy and was wagging it’s tail while pouncing on prey on the ground. Think he finally captured and ate it.

Posted in coyote, owl, Salt Lake City, shrike, State | Comments Off

Estero Llano Grande State Park

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

See the bird in the above picture and how well it blends into the background? Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas, is the only place I’ve seen a common poorwill. One was pointed out to me when I was here a few years ago. On this visit I looked in the same area I had seen it before…and there it was. It is right next to a walking path. It doesn’t move or open it’s eyes when you walk near it. With my eyes, I will probably never see another one, unless it’s pointed out to me.

Common yellowthroat

Curved-billed thrasher

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Chachalaca

The rv park I’m staying at doesn’t do much to attract birds, but to my surprise, there are some black-bellied whistling ducks there and a loggerhead shrike perches right next to my rv. The ducks are often having disputes. Someone is putting out some birdseed and I think they are fighting over it.

Posted in Alamo, chachalaca, common poorwill, common yellowthroat, shrike, State, thrasher, Weslaco, woodpecker | Comments Off

Crane Season

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Have been at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, New Mexico for about a week. I have never been here during November and was really surprised at the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter here. The second picture above occurred after a helicopter flew over a hay field where there were a huge number of cranes. Most of the cranes return to Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge to roost at night. It is an incredible sight to see wave after wave of them fly in.

Getting here: Stayed at Brantley Lake State Park before coming to Roswell. Went through bird withdrawal there after all the birds at Rockhound State Park. Not many birds at Brantley. There is DDT in the fish in the reservoir and they also have a problem with blooming algae. There was no bird activity on the water. Where the Pecos River reconstituted below the dam, however, there were ducks and herons.

The campground at Brantley was nice with drip irrigation providing for some shade trees. The nearby town of Artesia is a former small farm town that is now overrun with the oil industry. Southeast New Mexico is divided up into oil fields and their home base seems to be Artesia. Have to wonder what is going to happen to all the artesian wells after the oil is gone.

Got an Amazon Kindle recently and was thrilled at finding all the free digital books you can get from Project Gutenberg. I’m rereading all the classics that I read as a teenager. Just finished War and Peace. Have to admit I use the read outloud feature on the Kindle.

Hawk seen along the road when I first arrived at the State Park.

A Say’s phobe flying around catching insects in the air. They are so intent on hunting they don’t pay much attention to nearby people.

A loggerhead shrike at the Bitterlake Refuge.

Below, scenes from Bottomless Lakes State Park. The camping area is on the left side of the second picture.

Posted in hawk, phoebe, Roswell, sandhill crane, shrike, State, wildlife refuge | 1 Comment »

Rockhound State Park

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

I first visited Rockhound State Park in 2007, when I first started traveling. At that time, they were having problems with rain water damaging their roads and campsites. They have 4 or 5 full-time residents here that have worked hard building retaining walls around venerable campsites. Now it is hard to get a site. The best sites are reservable and the few remaining ones are taken by people that stay a long time.

Curved-bill thrashers

Cactus wren

Black-throated sparrow

A loggerhead shrike. The first one I’ve seen outside of Texas. Deming, New Mexico is, of course, close to Texas and Mexico. The plants around the campground remind me very much of the Big Bend area of Texas.

A Say’s phoebe flying above a bush to catch insects (top).

A Say’s phoebe and a rock wren (bottom)

Rock wren

Sage thrasher

Prickly pear cactus grow all the way to the top of the mountain that the campground is situated against. Only the cactus in the campground, however, still have “pears” on them. Found that some kind of rodent, think a rock squirrel, ate one next to one of my truck tires. There was a scooped out pear next to the tire with red juice sprayed on it.

Posted in cactus wren, Deming, phoebe, rock wren, shrike, sparrow, State, sunset, thrasher | 1 Comment »

In flight

Friday, December 25th, 2009

red_tailecd_hawk_flying

osprey_flying

pelican_flying

Red tailed hawk (top) over a farm field. An osprey and a brown pelican near where I’m staying.

At Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge saw an osprey eating a fish on the beach. A ruddy turnstone was walking in figure-eights in front of him and occasionally getting a bite. There was also a seagull around 15 feet away waiting for the osprey to finish and leave him the leftovers. Last year when I was here I saw the same configuration of three birds and thought the turnstone had a lot of nerve. The osprey could easily kill him. Don’t know if the trio this year are the exact same birds, just thought it was interesting to see it again.

loggerhead_shrike_2

Above, a loggerhead shrike with some kind of sea creature. The shrike was acting cat like, letting the creature crawl a short distance before bringing him back. The loggerhead shrike is a small bird of prey. The only other one I’ve seen has also been here at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge.

ferral_hogs

Ferral hogs at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge. Had never seen them before. The refuge considers them a problem and holds special hunts for them intermittently.

kingfisher_w_fish

One day leaving the park where I’m staying, saw a kingfisher slapping a fish back and forth against the railing. It’s throwing it up in the air in the picture above.

When I was Falcon State Park last year heard about a mascot roadrunner who, when given a hotdog, would slap it back and forth on the ground like it was a snake.

I enjoy feeding the green jays by my rv. Recently saw a Harris’s hawk perched near me (below). Have to be careful that I don’t provide him with a meal.

harris_hawk_perching

Posted in Arroyo City, hog, kingfisher, osprey, pelican, shrike, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

More from Laguna Atascosa

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Loggerhead shrike at the refuge. This is a small predator bird that kills by biting the back of its’ victims neck to sever the spinal cord. No wonder the birds eating my grapefruit are always on high alert, very aware of their surroundings.

Wild male turkey’s congregate in one pack and female’s in another near where I am camped.

Lots of osprey in the area.

Harris’ hawks, parent in top photo, young one in lower. I was afraid the young one might have a problem with his wing. He was sleeping on a picnic table in the picture. Have since seen him with two other hawks flying without difficulty.