Show the BIRD!

I find bird shooting pretty tough.. Kudos to you all.

Here's a couple from the backyard again. One to help ID, the other to enjoy. This first one, kinda looks like a duck, but not really. His body is mostly submerged. And his beak is pretty pointed. Any ideas?



This is a duck chase. I got a few pictures of these ducks, but this one turned out best. Pretty overcast, so a silhouette will have to do.

Cormorant or Anhinga ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhinga

Ed maybe you have the Loch Ness Monster in your lake

I believe you may be right Chap. I can't tell yet for sure which one it is, but it certainly seems to be one of those.

Bill, that was my first thought. I just couldn't get a good enough shot to go with it!

Whooping Craines are still here so had to post just one more he did a little posing for Sandra


They have been coming to a field about 2 miles from our home

Wow...very cool Bill. You're getting closer (or they are). Those are some neat birds.

They are getting closer to you. Those are really cool birds.

Yes they are closer when you stop along the Highway they start moving away don't have too long to get pictures while they are close

The Vulgers are gathering don't like them as much as the Whooping Craines But they do a good job of cleaning the roads & pastures. Its been very warm the last two weeks maybe The Whooping Craines have gone to Alaska

Got this roadrunner at Canyon Lake up by the lookout at the dam. Haven't seen one of these buggers in a long time.

They are something else. They'll even attack and kill a rattlesnake. Very intriguing bird.

Yes they are very intriguing there were a lot of roadrunners in West TX back in the 50s & 60s were I grew up 80 miles west of San Angelo but not many left now

Yeah! Them things is all over the place out here. Try to run over at least three or four a week. Fortunately, I've missed every one so far. The problem is, there are so many trees out here that by the time you see one and get your camera turned on, they are already hidden in the next strand of trees.

This is my favorite Road Runner photo. I do wish he wasn't moving his beak, but you get what you get!

Jon, where'd you take this pic?......I don't remember rr's in New York when I lived in Schenectady.

Death Valley, although with the weather we've been having this late winter & spring, I bet they will be moving in soon! It was 80° a couple of days ago & is suppose to go into the 80°s off & on for the next couple of days. Normal highs would be in the 40°s...

One of our residents brought in some Black Swans to our fair city of Roman Forest. He kept them penned so they would stay in the area, and of course their wings are clipped. He brought in 2 pair (2 males and 2 females). One pair have already had one hatching, and another one is "in progress". We talked to Jay, the resident who brought them in. He was great to talk with and gave us the whole story. The short version is, we ow have 4 adults and two cygnets (baby swans). The little ones are growing quite fast.


Mama sitting on her eggs in her nest.


Here comes Papa to the rescue.


Mama started screaming and Papa came a runnin'. We were about 30 feet away from them. Papa said that's quite close enough!


Here's Mama's future babies. 2 "in the oven"!


Here come the other two adults, with the 2 cygnets. Jay told us that the Mama and Papa on the nest are the actual mother and father of those two babies, but since they laid their eggs so quickly again, the other two took over parenting of the babes. How neat!


The other two adults and Papa with the babies.




Jay brought us over to his dock to watch a bit (and talk some more), and Papa decided to come over and say "okay...you can look from here. But no closer".

Chickadee's in one of our Bluebird Houses.

Those are all wonderful pictures Ed and Bill. Just wonderful