Yesterday morning in Alpine I got my first* ebird Blue-headed Vireo for Brewster County, which was exciting! (Alas, no time to focus the camera, but it's still IDable.)
After lunch yesterday I decided to go to the oasis and see what was showing up on the trail cam there, since this morning I would be busy watering trees. I wasn't disappointed. The cam had captured a beautiful male Hooded Warbler! So even though it was late in the day by the time I sorted through nearly a thousand video clips, I rushed down to the drip, hoping to photograph it. The cam showed it had been hanging out there frequently. Here's my setup...
There were so many cam clips of it that I couldn't decide which one to include here.
I didn't have to wait long to get my photo.
Per my plan, I watered trees this morning. Normally, when I finish, I head back to Alpine, but I wanted photos of the warbler for my today's ebird list, plus a couple of other species I had seen on the trail cam video clips. The warbler was really skittish, and I was only able to get one bad photo today. Didn't get the other species at all, even though they were captured on the cam while I was watering.
It's probably no wonder I didn't get them in the hour or so I dedicated to the task. I sat so still, watching the water drip that a fox and roadrunner came right up to me, not even knowing I was there. Also, mornings are the most active time for birds. Mid-afternoons can be really good if it's hot, but today was a perfect temperature. When the warbler did appear at the drip, the process of me focusing and zooming the camera flushed it. I would likely have been successful had I waited a couple more hours, but I was tired and hungry and already had that decent photo from yesterday.
I think I fixed the problem why I haven't been able to comment on your comments. Yay!
__________________________
* A female had shown up on my trail cam last year, but I hadn't been there that day (Sep 11), so couldn't count it.
8 comments:
Beautiful shots. I really enjoy reading about your adventures at the oasis as well as your birding in Alpine and environs.
Wow, what a fantastic post Carolyn! Hooded warbler just gorgeous, loved seeing the video. Great shots of the fox and the Roadrunner, too. Always fun to see what’s happening at the Oasis. Thank you for all your awesome work for the birds!
That fox is a beauty!!! Always love seeing them! And WOW on the Hooded Warbler!
Thanks guys! For you techie's out there, the problem with me not being able to comment was that in my settings, comments somehow got set at embedded (maybe by trying to put it on my phone and my phone synching, just a guess). I asked AI, AGAIN, for a solution, and this time it told me to set comments at "full page," and it worked!
Wonderful, great day. You need to schedule you a play day.
Every day that birding is good is a play day!
Good to see you are back up to full speed on your blog. Always entertaining!
Thanks!
Post a Comment