Bulletin 216 - Best of 10 years - #1 raptors

I can hardly believe that this is my 10th year doing bird photography. I have had almost 850,000 hits on my photos and almost 80,000 on the blog.

So in recognition of this milestone there are several special people that I would like to thank. First is Susan Billetdeaux, the web master at Houston Audubon. She encouraged me at the beginning to get photos decent enough to qualify for their web site and later suggested I start the blog. The other are 2 couples, the Alexanders and the Amunys. I met them during spring migration in 2008 at LaFitte's Cove and they asked me to send them some of the photos. Thus was born these bulletins. So from a group of 2 people on the list, I now have more than 250 who receive these by email.

Also, I would like to recognize the wonderful guides I have used over the years who have helped me find the birds to photograph. All of them are highly recommended.  I will provide a link to their web site or email.

California - Rick Fournier

Arizona - Tucson - Melody Kehl
               Patagonia - Matt Brown

Texas - Darrell Vollert

Florida - Sarasota - Rick Greenspun
               Miami - Paul Bithorn - email

Minnesota - Duluth - Sparky Stensaas

Michigan - Upper Peninsula - Skye Haas - email

Ontario - Geoff Carpentier

Panama - Gonzalo Horna

Dominican Republic - Kate Wallace 
                                  Ivan Mota

So I am going to select about a dozen photos in each group, that are my favorites. What makes a favorite photo for me? Well there are a number of things.

1. Rarity of the bird
2. A special bird in my yard
3. Difficulty in finding the bird
4. Action shots or several birds interacting
5. The few photos that the lighting is just right, background is perfect and in my mind approach a 'work of art', if I may be so presumptuous.

I will start with the raptors, the hawks and falcons. These birds look majestic and powerful and a photo might project that.

Here is a Bald Eagle, the national bird of the USA. Just sitting still, he looks majestic.

Bald Eagle - adult

For sheer strength and power, no bird matches the awesome Peregrine Falcon, the fastest animal in the world. This Peregrine, on a ledge in Florida, is just waiting to take off on a hunt. Her breast feathers are blowing in the wind and she is staring off in the distance.

Peregrine Falcon

Cooper's Hawks hunt down birds in flight in a chase and are nimble flyers. This juvenile chased a bird, but it got away by diving into some low shrubs. He landed on my driveway. I glanced out and saw him and grabbed the camera and took the photo out the kitchen window. Is there anything more menacing looking than this bird?

Cooper's Hawk - juvenile

This Gray Hawk just happened to fan his tail while I was taking his photo.

Gray Hawk

This beautiful White-tailed Kite was in perfect morning light in Galveston. I stopped the car and he let me take his portrait. This is one of the 'almost artistic' photos. It would have been ideal if he was on a branch rather than a wire, but he wouldn't move when I asked him.

White-tailed Kite

The Merlin is a small falcon and rather plain streaky brown. This bird was wintering at Anahuac NWR and I had seen him several times. I wanted to get a photo in perfect light, so went at daybreak and he cooperated by sitting on a curved branch, adding to the artistry of the photo.

Merlin

On the trip to Panama, we were driving down a mountain road and this Broad-winged Hawk was sitting on a branch, perhaps 30 feet from the car. This is another 'ideal' photo with the bird at eye level and looking slightly forward. The background is uncluttered and blurred out. The pink on the left must have been a tree in bloom as there was nothing around.

Broad-winged Hawk

Because of their large size, it is rare to get a raptor and flowers in the same photo. They usually perch on poles, large trees etc, so when I got this photo of a Harris's Hawk in the Rio Grande Valley, it was unique for me. It was a very windy afternoon and he was perched on top of a yucca flower with another bloom beside him.

Harris's Hawk

In the summer of 2011, we had a severe drought in Houston and all sorts of birds were using the bird bath. I have photos of a Pileated Woodpecker in the bird bath as well as a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks, an adult and a juvenile. In addition, I was feeding the hawks live crayfish, so they were always waiting in the trees in the yard for 'dinner time' when I got home from work. However, I got photos of the hawk pair only twice, once in bird bath, and this time they were side by side in a tree when I arrived home from work. I ran into the house and grabbed my camera. I call this one, 'Learning to Dance'. The juvie is looking over at the parent and they both have a foot raised. It looks like he is trying to follow her foot routine.

Red-shouldered Hawks
Learning to Dance

Another pair of birds is this couple of Northern Caracaras at Anahuac NWR. Anahuac NWR was publishing a book for the 50th anniversary of the refuge. Photos could be submitted up until Dec 31, 2013. On Dec 29th, I saw this pair of birds far away on the ground, but too far far a photo. As I was leaving the refuge, I saw them together at the top of a bare tree. I took some photos from a distance as soon as I saw them, as not to scare them and gradually moved a little closer. Finally, I was probably about 25 yards away and I took quite a few. When I saw this one, with them looking in opposite directions and both in focus, I was pretty sure it would make the book. Sure enough, it made a full page photo, which was quite an honor.

Northern Caracaras

The last 3 are action photos. The first is unusual in that I got 2 things happening simultaneously. A good photo is a flight shot of raptor carrying some prey. Probably the most common one for photographers is an Osprey carrying a fish. As they have to fly back to shore with their catch of the day and perch to eat it. I have photographed this several times. A much less common occurrence is to get a raptor defecating. I have occasionally seen them do this and usually it is while perched. Well on Jan 2, 2012, I was in Galveston and saw this Osprey flying onshore with a large fish. I started filming him and, darn if he didn't let fly, as I was taking his photos. I doubt I will ever get another like it. This is the reason I always wear a hat when I am birding. LOL

Osprey

In this photo, an adult Bald Eagle flew up from the ground carrying some prey. A subadult all brown eagle followed him and was chasing him. I got several photos as he was chasing the adult and managed this one just at the instant he came up underneath and grabbed onto the prey. It was pure luck to get the right instant as the photos on either side of this one about 1/8 second apart have the birds 4-6 feet apart.

Bald Eagles

This last photos has a gray male Northern Harrier attacking a female Harrier. I was at Brazoria NWR. I watched a male Northern Harrier fly across a field and I filmed him as he flew. He veered upwards into the direct sun, so I stopped taking photos of him. About a minute later, a brown female Northern Harrier flew across on exactly the same path. As I followed her with my camera, I caught a glimpse of the male diving down at her. She saw him and swerved upwards to meet the challenge.  In this photo of their closest approach, their talons are extended and are just a foot or so apart.

Northern Harriers dueling

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin #141 - local wildlife

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
7-10-2011

Thank you for all the comments on the last bulletin with the Red-shouldered Hawks. Everyone seems to love raptors and especially when there is a personal interest story in it. I asked if anyone had any experience feeding non-typical birds like hawks, herons etc like I have done on several occasions. No one responded, so I assume that it is rather uncommon.

I have read of 2 cases. One you have probably seen photos of. That is the person in Alaska who collects dead salmon during the spawning season, and freezes them. He puts them out for the Bald Eagles in winter. He has dozens of eagles sitting around his yard. This is fairly straight forward as it is basically carrion.

The other case was in David Quammen's book "Song of the Dodo". There is an endangered falcon on Mauritius (Mauritius Kestrel). A man fron Scotland went to study them. He was able to train them to come when he whistled. He would throw a piece of beef into the air and the birds would catch it in flight, as they would normally take their prey.

Well my 'pet' hawks are still coming to get crawfish. The adult is now coming regularly as well as the juvenile. She is allowing me to approach closer to her. This photo was taken from 25 feet away.

The juvenile allows me to approach to within 15 feet. This photo is uncropped.

What I really wanted as well was a family portrait. Usually the birds sit on different branches or more often in different trees. Occasionally, they have been together, but by the time I got my camera, they had flown off. Last week I hit the jackpot. They usually are waiting foor me to get home form work to feed them supper. I didn't see them when I drove in, but when I went out of the garage, the juvie started screaming. I looked up and found them side by side. I raced in and grabbed my camera and got a couple of photos.

I love this picture. I am calling it 'Learning to Dance'. They both have a foot in the air, and the juvie is looking at the parent as if to see which foot he needs to raise.

Unfortunately, crawfish seasons ends soon, and I won't be able to buy them at the grocery store any longer. If I can't think of some other thing to feed them, they'll be on their own.

Last weekend,as I was in the yard watching my hawks, a pair of Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) drifted overhead. This dark gray raptor has some brown flight feathers.

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) are a very common swallow over much of North America. They normally nest along cliffs as their name suggests. However, they have adapted readily to overpasses and bridges. This photo was taken under a freeway overpass near my home. The mud nest is shaped like a gourd. The parent is at the opening and a baby can be seen inside.

Cliff Swallows come in 2 forms. The northern population has a pure white forehead. The Mexican population has a dark brown forehead. This adult has a beige forehead, so may be an intergrade between the 2 populations.

I visited Anahuac NWR last weekend. This is a large marshy wetland east of Houston, that serves as wintering grounds for huge numbers of waterfowl etc. It is also one of the 2 best places to see alligators in the Houston area. I wanted to see the extent of our extreme drought on this gem of a wetland. It is devastating how dry it is. For those who are familiar with Anahuac, there is an auto loop around a large pond called Shoveler Pond. The pond is completely gone and dried up. The ditches inside around the loop are 90% dried out and in places have no water at all. This is the only alligator I saw. He is in a ditch that normally would have 2 feet of water. Also, I saw that he was at an opening into the mud bank which suggested it was a burrow.

I saw several more of these burrows as I drove around. Here is another. This section of the ditch had some water. But notice the brown reeds. This should normally be lush green with our normal rainfall. Instead, it looks like California. When I got home, I looked up alligators and burrows. Sure enough, they dig these in winter to keep warm and summer to keep cool.

On the last leg of the auto loop, there was some water in the ditch, but with no rain to aerate the stagnant water, the larger fish are dying. What a shame. I'm sure that we will get some tropical storm rain soon, but many species are suffering in the meantime.

There are nesting Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) at Anahuac. Notice that the nest is also built from mud, but is an open cup like normal bird nests made of twigs. I find this very interesting, that the 2 swallow species use the same material to build their nests, but they have a completely different shape. How many babies can you see in the nest?

During spring migration at LaFitte's Cove on Galveston Island, this turtle walked into the drip. It is a Three-toed Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis), the local subsecies of Eastern Box Turtle. I think it was a life reptile for me.

I mentioned David Quammen's book 'Song of the Dodo' above. The subtitle is Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. It was published in 1996. It is a fascinating account of species diversity around the globe. He visited many islands on a MacArthur Foundation scholarship and this book was the result. I have read it several times. Despite the academic sounding subtitle, it is eminently readable and enjoyable. I would highly recomend it as a natural history read. I found a place where you can download the complete book on pdf  for free.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Bulletin #140 - local birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 22, 2011

With the summer doldrums upon us, I have to look for local birds of interest to photograph. Of course, this is nesting season, so common birds can provide some interesting opportunities.

The first photo is of a Northern Cardinal nest with eggs. As you know, cowbirds are parasitic. This means that they lay their eggs in nests of other birds and the foster parents raise the cowbird chicks, often losing their own young in the process. This nest has 3 different types of eggs in it.

At 12 o'clock is the large spotted cardinal egg. The 2 smaller, but similar eggs at 3 and 9 o'clock are from a Brown-headed Cowbird. The plain white one at 6 o'clock is that of a Bronzed Cowbird. I rarely get to see birds nests with eggs, but this is a first for me to have 3 different species of birds eggs in a single nest.

This next photo is of a bird house outside our kitchen window. I bought this bird house about 14 years ago. It is made of resin to resemble an old straw hat. In all this time, we have never had any occupants until this year, when Carolina Wrens took up residence. They nest on our patio in hanging baskets etc anyway, so I didn't pay much attention to them until I heard some babies chirping and discovered that they were in the bird house. On Memorial Day weekend, I took a few photos out the window. I wanted to get more photos, but they fledged and were gone several days later. Here is a baby waiting at the entrance for food.

I am fortunate to have a large yard with many trees. Thus, I have the pleasure of having a family of Red-shouldered Hawks that spend a lot of time in my yard. They don't bother the small birds and seem to eat mostly lizards, crawfish etc on the ground. We are in the midst of the worst drought in the 34 years I have lived in Houston. Normally, we have 1" rain per week all year, but with La Nina in the Pacific, we have not had any rain since January, and are about 20" below normal for the year.

My bird bath with a drip is used constantly by birds and squirrels. Several weeks ago, I looked out to see the juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk in the bird bath. He really enjoyed himself and splashed around. I took these photos through the kitchen window.

Next to my amazement, an adult flew down and joined him in the bird bath. In the second photo, it looks like the parent is whispering in his ear or giving him a kiss.

 
Since then, I have seen the juvenile most days go to the bird bath, but I haven't seen and adult return for a drink.
 
The juvenile is quite tame and I can approach him to within 20 feet. The adult flies off when I'm 50 feet away. I was able to get a close up of the juvie on a branch over the bird bath on a day when it was 105 degrees and he had his mouth open like a panting dog. Notice the ridges on the palate inside to mouth!
 

 
Two years ago, we had another milder drought and the local ponds, ditches etc were dried up. I had Yellow-crowned Night-Herons walking around my yard looking for food. So I thought to but some live crawfish and put them out to see if I could feed them. It worked and I had a bird come every evening to feast on the crawfish and take them back to the nest. You can see these photos here.
 
This year, I decided to try my luck at feeding crawfish to these hawks. Sure enough, I put out 4-6 crawfish in the evening and they come down to catch and eat them. The juvenile usually just eats them on the lawn, but the adult catches one and flies into a tree to eat it.
 

 

Anyone can feed small birds with seed etc, but how many of you have been able to feed more unlikely customers like herons and hawks? I would be interested to hear of any stories you may have.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.