Posts in Category: Texas
Silver Emperor Butterfly
Silver Emperor Butterfly, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
This is a collage of 5 shots of the Silver Emperor Butterfly, taken yesterday at the National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas. As though the butterfly were not spectacular enough with its rich brown body, yellow wing tips, and bold while band, in the right light the male shows a bright blue iridescence along both edges of the white. You can see a bit of it flashing in several of these shots. The name comes from the back-side view, and the silver color of the body and wing band. Again, if the angle of the light is right, it looks as metallic as the spots on a Fritillary. Note the green tongue showing in the two head on shots. All together one fine looking butterfly…and just rare enough to cause a stir whenever one is found on this side of the Rio Grande.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Texas Bound
Red Bordered Pixy. National Butterfly Center, Mission Texas
I am leaving in a few moments for a 14 hour journey to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Texas. If all goes well, tomorrow morning I will be at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas, photographing butterflies and dragonflies. This shot, a Red-bordered Pixy, is from last year, taken with the Sony HX400V I was using at the time. The butterfly gardens at the National Butterfly Center are one of favorite places to photograph, anywhere, and then there all the other great spots in the Valley. It is a working trip and time in the field will be limited, but still it is always good. I am looking forward to some great photo ops!
Warbling Vireo (I think)
Warbling Vireo. Santa Ana NWR, TX
Vireos are a tribe that somehow I just don’t encounter very often. We have what used to be the Solitary Vireo nesting here in Maine, now split into three species, of which ours is the Blue-headed, as well as the Red-eyed and Warbling…we can also get the Philadelphia in migration…but, honestly, I just don’t see them here on the seacoast of Southern Maine very often. So, when I encounter Vireos on my travels, I am never quite certain of the id. This bird is in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge south of McAllen, right on the border, and is probably a migrating bird, just passing through on its way south for the winter. I am pretty sure it is a Warbling Vireo.
Sony HX400V at 990mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Lenovo Miix 2 Windows tablet.
Turtle Queue
Texas Sliders: Estero Llano Grande SP World Birding Center
The British have a world for it. Queue. In line. Everyone mostly facing forward. Quiet. Patient. A visit to the boarding gates at any American airport will show that the concept is totally alien to us here in the USA (attempts by Southwest and United not withstanding). We do not queue, but turtles apparently do…at least in the ponds at Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center. They seem, given the right log, to be pretty good at it. 🙂 I am not sure what the behavioral benefit is for the turtles, but as you see, it is an activity enjoyed by both young and old. Mostly Texas Sliders though. The Texas Softshells, though they used the same logs, did not participate in the queues. Go figure.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Lenovo Miix Windows tablet.
Red Saddlebags!
Red Saddlebags. Estero Llano Grande
In Maine we get an occasional Carolina Saddlebags…the other red saddlebags…and lots of Black Saddlebags, but I am always delighted to see the true Red Saddlebags Dragonfly when I visit Texas. It took 3 trips to Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center south of Weslaco Texas to catch one perched in good light, but it was worth it. 🙂
Sony HX400V at 2400mm equivalent field of view (1200mm optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Lenovo Miix 2 Windows tablet.
Great Kiskadee Hunting
Great Kiskadee, Santa Ana NWR
Fishing is perhaps more accurate. Given that I have seen Kiskadees around water on every trip to South Texas, I should have made the connection, but it was not until this recent trip that I actually saw one catch a fish. That was at Edinburg Wetlands, and this bird, glowing in the early morning light, is at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, but the fishing behavior, once you are tuned into it, is obvious here as well. I suspect fish do not make up a large portion of the Kiskadee’s diet, but it must be a real metabolic bonanza when the bird catches one.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 160 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped in Lightroom on my Lenovo Miix 2 Windows tablet.
Egret Action
Two Great Egrets and a Snowy
There were large numbers of Egrets and Herons on either side of the canal (resaca) at the municipal park next to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas when we visited on a rainy day last week. As Egrets will do, the males on one side of the resaca were “facing off” with the males on the other side. I have seen it in all sized bodies of water, and at all kinds of distances. It is most dramatic of course in smaller pools where the Egrets go beak to beak. The closest of the Great Egrets here shows the typical posture.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 500 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Windows tablet.
Giant Swallowtail
Giant Swallowtail
The Giant Swallowtail is among the more spectacular bugs in North America, on size alone…but the coloring is not to shabby either…especially if you consider both upper and under views. In my experience it is hard to photograph as it is continuously nectaring, hovering in front of flowers with wings quivering rapidly. And then, of course, the contrast between the black uperside and the yellow bands can turn those bands white if you don’t hit the exposure just right. It is definitely worth the effort. These are my most successful Giant Swallowtail images to date. I include both top and bottom views here…which is the only way to do the bug justice 🙂
Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center, Weslaco TX. Sony HX400V. 370mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 250 and 100 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic Pro on my Windows tablet.
Feathered Eyelids! Happy Sunday.
Common Paraque, Estero Llano Grande SP World Birding Center
I mean, maybe others already knew, but I certainly did not know that the Paraque has feathered eyelids. Makes me wonder how many other birds might have tiny feathers on their lids? This specimen is the faithful Common Paraque that roosts beside the Alligator Lake trail at Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center south of Weslaco Texas, and has roosted in the same spot for at least the past 6 years. It is perhaps the most photographed Paraque in the world 🙂 But that, of course, does not stop me from photographing it again on every trip. Who can resist? This year the lighting was just right for this really tight telephoto shot…tight enough to show the feathers on its eyelids. (That will now probably become a “saying.” “He was close enough to see the feathers on her eyelids!” Etc.)
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/160th (testing the limits of the Sony image stabilization, but it was relatively dark in the paraque roost) @ISO 1000 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Windows tablet.
Feathered eyelids. I am amazed. I am amused. Though I make light of it, the fact that the Paraque’s eyelids are feathered fills me with wonder and delight, and a great sense of thankfulness to see and be part of this astounding life…to be able to record and celebrate the details and the beauty. Thank you God. Happy Sunday!
This post is early, since I will be headed out to find more wonders as soon as the sun is up!
Great-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
The sound of South Texas, for any bird watcher, has to be the Great-tailed and Common Grackle flocks that congregate on the wires in the towns along the Rio Grande every evening. It is so exotic, at least to ears tuned to more eastern and northern bird sounds. I will admit that I don’t find grackles in great numbers all that attractive. However, in small groups, deeper into true Grackle habitat as you see them here at Estro Llano Grande World Birding Center south of Weslaco Texas, they are…well, at least entertaining if not attractive. 🙂 This is a typical display posture for the Great-tailed Grackle.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 1000 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Windows tablet.