This one I get to add to my Life List because it was at McGovern Lake and not in the zoo. A Life List is the list of birds one has seen (or heard). There are only a couple of birds I can identify by sound, so most of mine are birds I’ve seen. I just created my list last week and have 55 birds on it.
Black-bellied Whistling Duck at McGovern Lake, Houston, Texas
Sketch 075: Black-bellied Whistling Duck at McGovern Lake, Houston
Oh! I almost got the mouth right! Happy dance!
Shoebill Stork at the Houston Zoo
Sketch 074: Shoebill Stork at the Houston Zoo
Red-crowned Crane at the Houston Zoo
Sketch 073: Red-crowned Crane at the Houston Zoo
Twice now I have been outside with my camera when ducks were flying either into or out of our pond. I have no duck photos.
Happy to see the hummingbird feeder
The first time, I was sitting on the front porch with my camera on the tripod, focused on the hummingbird feeder. I got a few photos of a hummingbird and a few of some House Finches also on the hummingbird feeder. But when the ducks flew out of the pond and over our yard, I couldn’t wrestle the camera and tripod contraption into a position to even think about taking a photo of a flying fowl.
Finch food, as well
The second time, I was taking photos of some sketches. The light is good on the front porch, especially for those of us who are still learning the intricacies of using the manual camera settings. This time I heard the ducks and thought, “Aha! Now I’ve got them!”
Well, no I don’t.
I was holding my camera in my hand. I looked up and saw where the ducks were and where they were headed, but when I raised my camera, I couldn’t find them through the viewer. And then they were out of sight.
What kind of ducks were they? I have no idea.
Here is a Smew, a duck from across the Big Pond. It’s at the Houston Zoo, behaving nicely for me and my camera.
Smew, checking out lunch possibilities
Diving for food
My hiking group took a field trip to the Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve. This reserve was donated to the Hill Country Conservancy by the Nalle family in honor of Anne Byrd Nalle and her love of nature. They give guided tours once a month. Our guide was Michael and he is quite knowledgeable about birds. He listed 33 birds he identified by sight or sound during our walk. My brief claim to fame from the walk is getting this blurry photo of a Belted Kingfisher as it flew nearby, over the Colorado River.
Look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Wait, it IS a bird!
It's a long story ... 