Tag: morningwalks

A Sunny Day Surprise: The Redheaded Woodpecker

May

2021

So I’ve realized that the photography challenge is going to be sporadic this year–I’m aiming for new photographs at least 90% of the time, and the other 10% will be older pictures, but on specific days (such as #waybackwednesdays, #throwbackthursday, or #flashbackfriday). It will be a sporadic challenge, as I am also trying to vary the photograph subjects as much as possible. Since May is also National Photography Month, I was aiming for daily photograph postings–but will be going with at least weekly entries.

The winner for the challenge today was a redheaded woodpecker that I spotted up at Boomer Lake at the end of April. While I know that they’re in the area–I don’t go specifically looking for them, as I tend to avoid walking through heavily wooded areas (I’ve developed an allergic reaction to ticks, so I try to avoid the areas where I know that I could come across them).

The redheaded woodpecker flew over my head and landed on the light post. Since it was a beautifully sunny morning (unlike the last time I got a photography of one), I managed to get a picture of it in all it’s redheaded glory. This woodpecker is named ‘redheaded’ because it has a totally red head–unlike the red-bellied woodpecker, which only has a pale red spot on it’s belly, but a red stripe down the back of its head.

I actually had my longer telephoto lens with me that day (but no tripod), but by the time I got the lens on the camera, the woodpecker had flown off. I’ll be keeping my eye on the various light posts, which seem to be landing spots for various birds (possibly to eat their snack or meal), and then the tops of dead trees (since that is where I spotted the first one a couple of years ago).

I’m also keeping my eye out for the hairy woodpeckers as well–they’re similar in shape, size, and coloring to the downy woodpecker. Therefore I may already have a picture or two–just in the wrong bird folder. I think that if one chore this summer–make sure that all pictures are correctly labeled for the various woodpecker species.

What is your favorite woodpecker?

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnatureoutdoorsPhotographyScience amaturephotographerbirdphotographybirdwatchingBoomerLakemorningwalksnaturephotographynaturewalkphotographychallengeredheadedwoodpeckerwoodpeckerphotography

Photography Challenge Winner: the small & elusive pied-billed grebe

May

2021

The winner of the photography challenge for today is the pied-billed grebe. This is a small grebe that is a year-round resident in central Oklahoma and I’m usually lucky to spot one every couple of months up at Boomer Lake.

Pied-billed grebe spotted at Boomer Lake

It is also serving double duty in announcing that there are another series of bird pages live under the bird tab.

The weekend addition to the birding portion of the site includes the order Podicipediformes, the family Podicipedidae, and the pied-billed grebe. This is one of the seven grebe species that can be spotted within the United States and Canada; and is the only one that is found year-round in Oklahoma.

Over the past couple of years I’ve started to get better at getting a picture of the pied-billed grebe. Since they’re such a small bird, if they aren’t close to the shore it is difficult to get a picture (at least without a good telephoto lens and tripod).

One thing I’ve noticed about the grebes–they’re great at literally sinking out sight and then reappearing quite a awaays away, unlike the loons that dive (though the grebe will do that as well on occasion).

Pied-bill grebe on the calm waters of Boomer Lake

A goal is to possibly get a picture of a family of grebes sometime this summer, though that may mean possibly lurking around the cattails and tall weeds.

There are three other species that may be spotted within Oklahoma during the migratory season: the horned grebe (and this one may even winter in state), the eared grebe, and the western grebe. The last three grebe species that are found within the US and Canada are more regional specific: the red-necked grebe is a ‘northern’ resident (Canada, Alaska, and some northern states), the least grebe is a Texan resident, and Clark’s grebe is found in the western half of the US.

I’m going to try to get up to Boomer Lake more often in the early mornings–especially in fall and spring to try to get a peak of other possible grebes that are migrating through town. Though I should also possibly expand my birding area to another small area lake and see what species I can spot there as well.

Have you spotted a grebe in the wild? If so–where and when? Do you have a favorite grebe?

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnatureoutdoorsPhotographyScience amaturephotographerbirdingpagesarelivebirdphotographyBoomerLakegrebepagesarelivegrebephotographymorebirdpagesarelivemorningwalksnaturephotographynaturewalkonlynativegrebetoStillwaterphotographychallengepiedbilledgrebewildbirdphotography

Final Heron and Egret pages are now live.

Dec

2020

So over the weekend I managed to get the last four pages (to date) up for the herons and egrets.

This also means that I’ve managed to get pages posted for all birds from the order Pelecaniformes that I’ve gotten pictures of outdoors.

Great Egret peering into the water shortly after dawn at Boomer Lake.

The final four bird pages that were posted this weekend covered the Great (or Common) Egret, the Little Blue Heron, the Tricolored Heron, and the Reddish Egret.

Little Blue Heron walking through the brush at the birding and nature center, South Padre Island TX

Out of these four–I’ve only seen the Great Egret in two locations (South Padre Island & Boomer Lake in Stillwater OK). The other three have been spotted solely down in Texas during a summer vacation years ago.

Reddish Egret in the bay at the birding and nature center in South Padre Island TX

So there are still several members of the Ardeidae family that I haven’t spotted and would like to get a picture of and they include: the American bittern, the Least bittern, the snowy egret, the cattle egret, and the yellow-crowned night heron.

Tricolored Heron in the bay at the birding and nature center in South Padre Island TX

In terms of the Pelecaniformes order, there are in total ~110 species around the world and I’ve seen 12 of them–which means I’ve seen/spotted roughly ten percent of the order in the wild. Goal will be to get that percentage up to twenty-five to thirty percent (which means spotting another sixteen to twenty-one species in the wild).

Moving forward, my goal is to publish two to three bird pages a week, in addition to at least one blog post announcing which pages are up as well.

The next set of birding pages to be added will cover the woodpeckers (and there will be two new pages in addition to the pages on the order & family), then on to the hawks, eagles, and kite group (with quite a few additional pages added), and finishing up with the hummingbirds (currently will pages for the order and family).

Once I’ve gotten caught up those pages, I will start working though a master list I’ve created of all birds (seen within the US and currently the UK) I’ve gotten pictures of in the wild.

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnatureNature PreservesPhotographytravel birdingandnaturecenterbirdphotographyBoomerLakeegretphotographygetoutdoorsgreatorcommonegretheronphotographylittleblueheronmorningwalksnaturebasedvacationsreddishegretSouthPadreIslandTXthingstodoonSouthPadreIslandtricoloredheronwildbirdphotography

The winner of the squat challenge is…..

Dec

2018

So I have been trying to do a walk up at Boomer Lake in the morning on the weekends (basically having my “zen” time when I don’t really have to deal with other people). One of the birds that I try to get pictures of is the great blue heron.

There are between four and six great blue herons living up at Boomer Lake (and I will be sharing more pictures over the next few weeks/months), and I try to see how many of them I can spot during my morning walk.

This one I spotted twice (at least I think it’s the same one), and in two different poses (and areas). Earlier it was hunting (or just waking up), and now I think it was hunkering down to get out of the wind for awhile. But if you look closely–you can’t see it’s legs–it has the low squat down to an art form. Which is why I’ve declared it the winner of the low squat.

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnaturePhotography amaturephotographergreatblueheronsmorningwalksnaturephotographerphotographychallengewildbirds

Photo challenge Day 3: Boomer Lake Edition No. 1

Aug

2018

Well today’s photographs are coming from this morning’s walk up to Boomer Lake. I decided that I wanted to try to get to the lake just as the sun was coming up in hopes that I’d catch the herons and egrets at some of their usual spots.

I did managed to catch the great picture of the pink and red sunrise over the lake and the neighborhood on the other side (trust me the houses are there). Though it didn’t take that long for the colors to fade into a cloudy blue morning before allowing the sun to shine through. As I walked further into the park and out onto the one large deck I noticed that there was an heron in an unusual spot.

The heron was roosting on the branch from a submerged tree. Years ago, Boomer Lake was emptied because the city wanted to redirect the traffic and build a new bridge. After the construction was completed, they were going to remove the trees and slowly fill the lake back in–well Mother Nature had a different idea—we had some major storms over the course of a few weeks and months and the lake filled itself and the trees just slowly died off to where all you see now are the occasional branches sticking out that birds and turtles perch on.

Shortly after the sun was fully up and I had walked to another finger overlooking the lake, I decided to see if there were any herons fishing around some of the trees that grow in water, and I managed to capture this photo:

I managed to spot probably the third great blue heron on the lake trying to fish in the privacy of this tree. This seems to be a favorite hangout for the herons in terms of morning fishing (it’s the second time I’ve managed to capture a picture of one fishing/hunting in this area).

One thing I love about Boomer Lake is wildlife that you can see when walking–on my morning walks so far this year I’ve seen a water snake (and yes I’m still looking every time I’m up there to see if I can spot another one), rabbits (today was one of the few times I haven’t seen at least one rabbit on my walk), the ducks and geese (these guys are almost as common for me to see as the herons), the great blue herons, the egret, the green heron (which I’ve only seen twice–I’m thinking I might need to walk a little further tomorrow and see if it’s at a different location), a box turtle, the killdeer, and then different song birds (I’ve seen the scissor-tail flycatcher, red-wing blackbirds, sparrows, grackles, swallows, and the occasional mockingbird).

What will be interesting is as the seasons change and we start to get migratory birds coming through–I really want to be able to get a good picture of a white pelican (they don’t stay that long), the cormorants, loons, and gulls/terns stay a little longer if not all winter. Plus as the leaves fall from the trees sometimes you can get a good picture of a hawk or two.

jessimatts No Comments bird watchingnaturePhotography greatblueheronsiphonephotographymorningwalksphotographychallengesunrisesurbanparkswildbirds