Archive for the ‘woodpecker’ Category

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Spent four days at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. Had forgotten their Twin Peaks Campground doesn’t have hookups. Had not used my generator for a long time, probably last summer. A camp host helped me start it up. After that there was no problem. Promptly at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., all the generators in the generator section of the campground started up for the allotted two hours. It was cold at night, and my furnace draws a lot of power. Otherwise, I could go two days before needing a generator. Glad to know it works. It is good to have the option to stay places that don’t have hookups and are often free.

Also had a problem with my hitch jack, the fuse blew. I asked another Airstream camper to look at it and he was able to diagnose the problem. Really lucky he was there.

Could not get an internet connection at the park. Really missed it, to say the least. I don’t watch tv. The internet is my main connection to what is going on.

Cactus wrens

Gambel’s quail

Both the cactus wrens and the Gambel’s quail usually run from bush to bush so as to not be seen by predators, like the red-tailed hawk above.

This curve-billed thrasher really sang it’s heart out one morning.

House finch

Gila woodpecker. None of the birds seemed to have a problem standing on a cactus or other thorny plants.

Below, road to the park and the Mexican border.

Posted in Ajo, National, cactus wren, finch, hawk, thrasher, woodpecker | No Comments »

More from South Texas

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Have been at Falcon State Park for a week. This is where you start seeing pyrrhuloxia (above). They are one of the calmer birds who don’t fly away the minute they see you. An online article said they should have been named desert cardinals rather than pyrrhuloxia.

My first sighting of a northern bobwhite (above). Grackles imitate bobwhite sounds and search through the brush for nests with eggs.

Orange-crowned warblers are very common here.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Ladder-backed woodpecker with peanut butter.

Swamp sparrow

A hispid cotton rat. Looks like a hamster. There is lots of brush for them to hide in. Bobcats have been seen in the area and these rats are something they’d hunt for.

Birds seen in the area, but not pictured: one white-tailed kite, a pair of caracaras, cactus wrens, roadrunners, and several loggerhead shrikes. The shrikes were always perched on barbed wire surrounding private property. They are known for impaling their prey on barbed wire.

Below, a Harris’ hawk and a great kiskadee. I’ll miss seeing the kiskadees as I head north.

Posted in Falcon Heights, State, bobwhite, hawk, kiskadee, pyrrhuloxia, warbler, woodpecker | No Comments »

More from Laguna Atascosa Refuge area

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Have been in this area for three weeks now. It has been cool, in the 50’s and 60’s most of the time. Weather Seattle would love. There are some positive things from it—less people and bugs. From the early cold weather in Socorro, New Mexico, the snow in El Paso, and the cold all down Southern Texas, it has been a cooler season than usual. A cold spell is supposed to arrive Thursday, with strong winds. Hope it doesn’t hurt the grapefruit crop. Love the 5 lb bags of grapefruit you can get here.

Above, a male kestral with prey (top) at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and a female kestral (bottom) seen near the refuge.

Another white-tailed kite seen near the refuge. Have seen three pairs of them. They are striking with their dramatic red eyes and white and silver color.

An osprey with a fish coming out it’s rear.

A caracara. He’s only the second one I’ve seen here. Saw a lot of them on the drive down through South Texas.

A kingfisher (top) and a black skimmer (bottom) both seen on another visit to South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center. It’s the first black skimmer I’ve ever seen.

A golden-fronted woodpecker on a telephone pole.

Posted in American kestrel, Arroyo City, black skimmer, caracara, pelican, white-tailed kite, wildlife refuge, woodpecker | No Comments »

Rancho Jurupa, birds galore

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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Have been at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in Riverside for about a week. Have been surprised at the wide variety of birds I have been seeing. There are the regulars that I have seen in the past, as well as some new ones.

Do not recall seeing a kestral (above) before.

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Have seen a number of black-crowned night herons, as I have in the past.

Blue herons and egrets are here as well. Saw a blue heron hunting for gophers this morning. The park has finally hired a gopher control professional who is putting some type of gas into the gopher tunnels.

It’s funny how a blue heron, a night heron, and a great egret will stand side by side next to the water, but will usually get territorial and chase away their own species.

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Black phoebe (top) and a Say’s phoebe (lower).

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Not sure what kind of woodpecker this is. Doesn’t look like any of the pictures in my bird book.

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A lot of birds are here as part of a flock. These include Western kingbirds (top), Western bluebirds (middle), and Cedar Waxwings (botton). I have never seen cedar waxwings here before. Also have had first time sightings of Western meadowlarks, but haven’t gotten a good picture yet.

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A few more photos from the San Diego Zoo. Above is a Turkmenistan Caracal, an endangered cat found in the Middle East and Africa. At the zoo it is located next to the polar bears. I was watching the polar bear cam the other day and saw the outline of the cat’s ears in the background. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was an antelope or deer.

Below, Frank the one-year-old male gorilla, is watching an adult female gorilla eat a green pepper. Parts of it is in her right hand and her left foot. Frank had tried to get some of it, but she wanted it for herself.

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Posted in American kestrel, County, Riverside, bluebird, cedar waxwing, gorilla, kingbird, phoebe, woodpecker | No Comments »

Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

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I’m back in California where gas is 30 cents more a gallon and state park campgrounds are $35 a night. First stopped in Eureka to visit the nearby Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary. It is amazing how many visitors this water treatment facility gets. Students from Humboldt University study it, there are joggers and walkers with children and/or dogs, bird watchers, and a few winos.

Was pleased to see a hundred or so cedar waxwings (picture above). There are berry bushes all along the walkways, full of berries, which they appreciated. Also saw around 25 night herons. They were hidden in the brush and too far away to get a good picture of.

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Red-shouldered hawk seen two days in a row.

Was pleased to see the birds pictured below in some woods outside my trailer at the Eureka Fairgrounds rv park: A downy woodpecker, a black-capped chickadee, and a brown creeper. It is the first brown creeper I’ve seen.

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Posted in Arcata, Eureka, brown creeper, cedar waxwing, chickadee, hawk, woodpecker | No Comments »

More from Minidoka Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

The magpie fledglings were all on the ground this morning, hopping around. A parent called from a nearby tree, trying to get them to fly to them. They eventually were able to fly up to low branches on a tree.

Regret that I waited till after Memorial Day to head east to Idaho. In any event, finding lots of nesting birds.

A Bullock’s oriole feeding babies in nest. Their nest is like a sack hanging from a branch.

Downy woodpecker

Yellow warbler

Have seen a few grebe here. Think they may be Clark’s grebe rather than western grebe.

Every evening a pair of nighthawks circle around with rapid, flapping movements to catch insects in the air. They move so fast, it’s hard to get a good picture of them.

Posted in Rupert, State, grebe, magpie, nighthawk, oriole, pelican, wildlife refuge, woodpecker, yellow warbler | No Comments »

Salineño Bird Refuge

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

The Salineño Bird Refuge (aka USFWS Kepler Tract) is some land next to the Rio Grande River a few miles from Falcon Dam and Falcon State Park. It belonged to some birders and was left to the government to be kept as a birding refuge that birders could visit. It is a place you can go to see three different orioles in one place.

Above, a great kiskadee and green jay enjoy some peanut butter.

Altamira oriole

Male hooded oriole (top) and female hooded oriole (lower).

Audubon’s oriole

Ladderbacked woodpecker

Thrasher

Ladderbacked woodpecker

Unfortunately inner Falcon State Park, away from the water, is overrun with mockingbirds that chase away a lot of the other birds. There are flocks of pyrrhuloxia. Have seen some roadrunners and quail, but they are pretty elusive.

Below, view towards Mexico at sunset.

Posted in Falcon Heights, State, kiskadee, oriole, pyrrhuloxia, sunset, thrasher, wildlife refuge, woodpecker | No Comments »

Rio Grande Valley

Monday, January 12th, 2009

I have moved around 50 miles up the Rio Grande Valley to Alamo, Texas. The rv park I’m staying at gives me  a view of a freeway, with three lanes going each way, and  “frontage roads”, with three lanes on each side of the freeway. That makes 12 lanes of traffic! There are lots of rv parks in south Texas, but all the ones I’ve seen charge a lot if you are staying less than a month. This current rv park had the best price…and now I see why. It is nice to have good internet coverage, which I really missed in the rural area of Arroyo City.

I wanted to stay in Alamo because it is close to the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, which I didn”t get to visit last year. Also nearby, is Estero Llano Grande State Park, the Frontera Audubon Thicket, and the Valley Nature Center. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, that I visited last year, is also not far.

The pictures above were taken at the Estero Llano Grande State Park. An anhinga (snake bird) caught a fish and tried all sorts of ways to swallow it, but it was just a little to big. It ended up getting away after about 3 or 4 minutes. Don’t know what shape it was in. This state park has the best variety of birds I’ve seen so far. Have never seen so many anhingas.

Grebe at Estero Llano Grande State Park.

A chacalaca at Frontera Audubon Thicket. This is a historic home surrounded by native trees and plants, a grove of grapefruit trees full of fruit, and water areas. There is a trail that goes through the “thicket”.

Also at the Frontera Thicket: Above, male and female rose-breasted grosbeaks—the first grosbeaks I have ever seen; Below, a woodpecker like I saw through my screen in Arroyo City.

Posted in Alamo, State, anhinga, chachalaca, grebe, grosbeak, wildlife refuge, woodpecker | No Comments »

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, too

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

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The above photos are from the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge visitor center area. The top ones are a gila woodpecker and green jays enjoying a grapefruit. (I put an orange on a tree by my rv and also attracted these two birds). The rabbit is to tame for its own good. I have seen it every time I have been at the visitor center.

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A kestral overlooking Laguna Madre.

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An osprey taking off with a fish.

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South Padre Island from the refuge. There is a wreck of some sort on the left, can’t tell what it is. The dark spot on the lower right is a heron. Even though it is quite a distance from the shore, you can see how shallow the water is.

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Driving home from the refuge had to stop for some turkey’s crossing the street. It was near 7 p.m., so there was very little light, but this puffed up guy caught my attention.


Posted in American kestrel, County, National, Texas, osprey, rabbit, wildlife refuge, woodpecker | No Comments »

Coarsegold, California

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

woodpecker

Spent the end of September and early October at the Escapee park in Coarsegold. It is filled with oak and manzanita trees, and…acorn woodpeckers. It was amazing all the acorns they stored in this one telephone pole.

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Posted in Coarsegold, Escapee, woodpecker | No Comments »