Posts in Category: Texas
Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Happy Sunday!
Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is one grumpy looking bird. In fact all Night Herons, perhaps because of their large heads and the way they suck their necks down between their shoulders, have the same look of gloom…if not outright doom. “It is not easy,” they seem to say, “being a Night Heron.” The fact that they invariably have a little tuft of feathers caught at the tip of their beaks from preening does not help any. They are, of course, much more active, as the name implies, at night, when they hunt. I will admit I have never seen one at night. They might be a very different bird. When I see them they are resting…off duty, so to speak…and their general funk might be just my interpretation of their half-asleep state. I might look a little grumpy myself if some intruding human got close enough to my perch to wake me in the middle of the night…err…this is a difficult metaphor to keep straight but you see what I mean. Of course, the generous eye gets beyond first impressions to sees the beauty in the bird, and something of it’s nobility. In this wide-eyed specimen the eye alone is enough to redeem the bird. The eye compels us to take in the elegance of the gray and black (carefully preened) plumage, the golden crown, and the strength of the beak. Yes, like all God’s creatures, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron has its own beauty. The generous eye is always rewarded by the light that fills all creation.
Happy Sunday!
Variegated Meadowhawk
We are Albuquerque New Mexico on a somewhat lieserly trip to the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR this morning, but this is from our last festival in South Texas.
The Veriegated Meadowhawk is one of the showier dragonflies. This specimen, from the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas is a particularly bright one.
Nikon P610 at 2300mm equivalent field of view (using some digital Perfect Image Zoom) from about 7 feet. 1/250 @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Little Green
Green Kingfisher, Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
I always hope for a Green Kingfisher when I go to Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas. In fact, on this, my second visit to the site in two days, Green Kingfisher was very much on my mind. You might say it was the bird I was requesting of the day. The tiny Green Kingfisher is one of my favorite birds. It has color…and it has attitude. In fact it seems to have more attitude than would reasonably fit in such a small body (it is not much bigger than a sparrow). This might be an very immature male, or it might be a female with some interesting staining on the plumage. It is a bird that is never completely still for long. These four shots were taken over just a few moments…as you see…all on the same perch. The light was not great, and there was still a touch of mist in the air from the retreating morning fog, and the bird was a bit far away…but still, I would never pass up a Green Kingfisher! Especially after requesting one.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view…cropped slightly for scale. 1/160th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Wind in the Willows
Eastern Fox Squirrel and Cotton Rat, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
Okay, so really this has nothing to do with wind or willows. This image makes me think of the book, The Wind in Willows, with its stories of humanized animal friends…Ratty, Mole, Toad, Badger, etc…mainly because it looks like Squirrly and Cotton here are enjoying a companionable meal together, under the feeders at the National Butterfly Center. You know, like nattering away between seeds about what is happening in the gardens, and how the kids did this summer, and the prospects for high temperatures today, etc. Yes, I know how anthropomorphic that is, but I can’t help it. The Wind in the Willows, despite its talking animals, is one of my favorite books. In fact, after taking this pic, I downloaded a copy for my Kindle!
Nikon P610 at 900mm equivalent field of view. 1/60th @ ISO 640 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom. Cropped for composition.
Malachite Green
Green Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
For some reason, many of the butterflies at the National Butterfly Garden this year when I visited a week ago were relatively worn specimens. I don’t remember that from previous visits, but I only get there once a year, always in November. The National Butterfly Center gardens are open gardens, not enclosed in any way, so the butterflies you see there are not captive breed…they are wild butterflies and have to make a living in the wild. It shows, by November. The Green Malachite is one of my favorite butterflies. I have only seen it 4 or 5 times, always at the National Butterfly Center, so you can believe that when someone called out from the trail along the top of the berm that one was showing, I hustled right up there. The light was terrible…an overcast day and the butterfly was deep under cover among the plants on the far side of the ditch on the other side of the berm.
These shots were at 2000mm equivalent field of view with the Nikon P900. Hand-held at 1/30th @ ISO 1100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Back-side view.
King of the Hill: Dragonfly Style
Roseate Skimmer and Blue Dasher, Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
I was already focused on the Roseate Skimmer assuming obelisk position (attempting to cool itself in the hot Texas sun), when the Blue Dasher flew in and tried to knock the skimmer off its perch. It made repeated attempts, and, at one point, actually latched on to the skimmers leg. It was over before I could remember to hit the video record button, but I got two shots of the action. The skimmer held on to the perch…and the Blue Dasher settled for a similar perch a few inches away. I have a second shot of them both obelisking.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. The second shot is more complicated. Since the two bugs were not in the same plane of focus, I could only get one in focus at a time, even zoomed out to 700mm equivalent with both dragons in the frame. I took two rapid shots, one with the Roseate Skimmer in focus, and one with the Blue Dasher, and then combined the two images in Photoshop so that both dragons are in focus. Final processing was in Lightroom.
Roseate Skimmer and Blue Dasher
Eastern Screech Owl
Eastern Screech Owl. Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
There has been a Screech Owl in this nest box at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas for at least the past two years…and it right around a corner in the trail from the Common Paraque that has been roosting beside the path for past 6 years. Two great birds, reliable with a few dozen yards of each other. World-class Birding Center indeed! For those who are new to owls, and Eastern Screech Owls in particular, this fellow is small…not much bigger than a Robin.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Flash aided exposure at 1/200th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Funny Bunny. Happy Sunday
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
“if your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
The morning fog, common in the lower Rio Grande Valley, did not burn off at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center until about 10 AM yesterday. Dew, as they say, was heavy on the grass. Maybe because of that there were lots of Eastern Cottontail Rabbits out breakfasting on the grasses along the edges of the trails. Lots! Many of them were clearly this year’s young, not fully grown…but even the adults showed a fine disdain of the passing birders…often going about their morning business until we were within 6 feet of them. This young rabbit was at the edge of the tail the whole time I passed, and let me stand there and take photos of him without the slightest alarm. He did not even pause in his chewing. I guess he knew I did not want to eat him, and wished him only good. I would like to think he saw that in my generous eye…but I suspect he simply knew no better…having been born into a sanctuary where humans are, indeed, no threat.
Paradise is often portrayed, based on the Psalms, as a place where the “lion will lay down with the lamb.” That sense that someday we will live in harmony and mutual respect…in peace…with all of creation…that all creatures will consider us friends and we will care for all that lives, because all that lives matters to us as much as we matter to ourselves…that sense is deep within us. I believe it is left over from the Eden days, when we were still caretakers of creation…not out for our own good, but dedicated to the good of all that lives…because that is the way we were made…in the image of God who cares for all creation.
And I thank this little rabbit for giving me a glimpse of what that would be like…for allowing my close approach…for suspending alarm in my presence long enough so see the generosity in his eyes. As I say, I hope he saw it in mine. Happy Sunday!
Vermilion Flycatcher!
Vermilion Flycatcher. Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
All good things come to those who work a bird long enough! I photographed this Vermilion Flycatcher at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas from much greater distances yesterday, over the space of 30 minutes or so…and just once he flew in close enough to fill the frame and sat still long enough so I could get off a burst of shots. One of the most stunning of North American birds and somewhat of a Texas specialty, though you can find them in Florida too.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 160 @ f6.5. -.7 EV to keep the orange from burning out. Processed in Lightroom.
Two-barred Flasher
Two-barred Flasher, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
Another panel (three shots this time) of another Rio Grande Valley specialty…The Two-barred Flasher butterfly, from the National Butterfly Center gardens in Mission Texas. The blue on this butterfly is often so intense that it “burns out” in a normally exposed photograph…losing all detail. I always feel that this one got shortchanged in the name department. Something more exotic is certainly called for!
All shots with the Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.