Bulletin 220 - Best of 10 years #3 - waders, water and marsh birds

In this edition, I will look at my favorite photos of the groups that include cranes, waterfowl, herons and rails etc. Many ducks are beautiful in the breeding plumage. The first is the amazing Wood Duck. I photographed this bird in Hermann Park in downtown Houston in 2008.

Wood Duck - male

The next one is the Ruddy Duck. The male in breeding plumage is rusty red, with a black and white head, stiff black tail and blue bill. I saw this bird in Carmel California in 2007 and is the only one I have ever seen in this plumage.

Ruddy Duck - male

The next two birds were photographed in Barrow Alaska in 2010. The male King Eider has a colorful face.

King Eider - male

The Long-tailed Duck was formerly know as Oldsquaw. The breeding male here has a black head and neck with a white face. The body is brown and of course he has long spiky tail feathers.

Long-tailed Duck - male

The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii and it is a handsome goose. The easiest place to see it is on Kauai as there are no introduced mongoose. They can be seen around the resorts etc. On Hawaii and Maui, they are high up on the mountains to avoid predation by the mongoose, so are much more difficult to find.

Nene

The 52 " Whooping Crane is the tallest bird in North America. It is also one of the rarest birds in the world with a wild population less than 500 birds. In the 1941 the population fell to just 23 birds and a joint USA and Canada project was launched to save the species. They summer in northern Alberta and winter on the Texas coast. Attempts are being made to establish other flocks in Florida, Louisiana, and a migratory flock in Wisconsin that was taught to migrate to Florida using an ultralight aircraft as was pioneered in the movie 'Fly Away Home'. See the article in Wikipedia for more info on these efforts.

Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR - Texas

Herons and egrets are very common in the Houston area so we get kind of blase about seeing them, but I have selected 4 for inclusion in my favorites, 2 from my local area, and 2 from Panama.

The most difficult to find member of this family in the USA is the secretive 13" Least Bittern. Fortunately, Anahuac NWR is considered the best place in the USA to look for them. In the summer of 2008, my goal was to get a good photo of this bird. I went there Saturday and Sunday for 2 weekends in a row, but just got some mediocre photos. The next weekend, I tried again. I parked my car at the boardwalk and I guess this bird felt sorry for all my efforts as it climbed up on the reeds to eye level right in front of my car, 15 feet away.

Least Bittern - female

The Reddish Egret is a salt water bird. It occurs around the Gulf coast, and on the Pacific coast from Mexico southwards. Some of the birds are pure white however, and they are rare. Sibley says about 2-7% of the Gulf coast birds are white. None of the Pacific coast birds are. This bird was reported on Bolivar flats in July 2008, and I went the next weekend and found it. It is the only pure white morph bird I have ever seen. So how does one ID this all white bird as this species rather than some other common white heron or egret. First by the size, it is large 30" and much taller than 24" Cattle or Snowy Egrets. Also the location, along salt water. But the pink lower mandible is a clue as the Great Egret has a yellow bill. Also the shaggy plumes on the neck and chest are diagnostic for this species.

Reddish Egret - white morph

The Capped Heron is a really pretty bird with its blue skin around the eye, black cap, yellowish neck and long plumes. It is a South American bird whose range extends into Panama. We only saw this one bird, but he sat still and allowed multiple photos.

Capped Heron

The last heron is the Boat-billed Heron. This nocturnal bird uses stays hidden during the day, but the guide in Panama knew of a roosting place and we saw perhaps 20 birds, both adults and juveniles. It is similar to the common Black-crowned Night-Heron, but has the peculiar enormous bill. I think I had seen this bird only once before in Brazil.

Boat-billed Heron - adult

The rails, coots and gallinules make up a family of chicken-like marsh birds. The coots and gallinules are common and easily seen in the open. Rails, however, are secretive and in general hard to see as they stay in the reeds. My best rail photo in the USA is this Virginia Rail that I photographed in Carmel, California in 2010.

Virginia Rail

The most easily seen rail in the Central America is the 15" Gray-necked Wood-Rail. I had seen it several times before, but on the Costa Rica trip, I got my fist photo of this bird.

Gray-necked Wood-Rail

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 #134 – Misc. local birds

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas 

March 31, 2011

Bulletin #134 – Misc. local birds

(Click on the images to see a larger photo)

There were a few birds over the last month that didn't get mentioned due to my revising the warbler and shorebird ID guides for 2011. I thought I would put them in a newsletter before migration begins in earnest.

The most famous example in North America of bringing a bird back from the brink of extinction is the famous Whooping Crane (Grus americana). The world population was only 18 individuals in the 1930's. With careful management and captive breeding, there are now more than 300 of these birds. These birds are the most famous 'winter Texans' as they return to Aransas NWR near Rockport every year. They are the tallest birds in North America at 52" in length.

The adult bird is all white with a black face and a red forehead.

The juveniles have a brownish head and neck and some brown on the wings. They gradually molt to adult coloration the first year. This 1st year bird wouldn't raise his head out of the water  for me to see his face, but you can see the brown neck coloration.

The House Finch (Carpodacus  mexicanus) has just populated my yard in the past year. The males are usually red on the face, breast and rump, but a few have yellow instead of red. It perhaps pertains to their diet and fruits that they eat. Anyway, I had a yellow variant bird show up at my birdfeeder on December12th last year. I got a fair photo of him through the kitchen window. I have been waiting for his return and on Sunday he came back. I got my camera ready and was able to get this photo on the feeder again.

Another interesting photo I took last weekend was a Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, side-by-side. Even their bills are pointing the same way, so the difference in size and bill shape can be appreciated. I have been waiting for 6 years to get this shot!

LaFitte's Cove in Galveston had a half dozen Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa). This is the most of these birds I have seen at one time.

There was also a Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum). This bird is still in winter plumage as he is just starting to get the rufous crown on his head. This bird is IDed by the rufous crown, and yellow rump and undertail coverts. 

Also, a cooperative Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata) produced the best photo yet of this species. The bird is IDed by overall drab olive back and yellow underparts. Faint streaking can be seen on the breast. 

Several Roseate Spoonbills (Ajaja ajaja) were always a delight to see. The adult has intense pink on the wings.

This second year bird is just light pink.

High Island had a lingering male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyapicus varius). His sap trees were right beside the boardwalk. He had become so used to people that you could almost walk close enough to pet him. What a beautiful bird!

Anahuac NWR had this Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) in breeding plumage. He shows the white bill with black band and the black throat. It showed up nicely in the reflection as well.

Spring migration begins this weekend. I hope to see you 'on the Texas coast'.

Happy birding and photography,


David McDonald

email: 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.