A Cormorant's Cameo

Friday, September 21, 2012

The great egret may be considered the more elegant bird, but the double-crested cormorant; with its turquoise eyes, antique bronze colored feathers and its ability to swim completely submerged underwater for extended periods of time while fishing; has an aura of mystery. This rather peculiar bird plays a major role in the San Antonio River ecosystem:

These photos were taken on my walk along the King William segment of the San Antonio River on Friday, August 31.

Another Gregarious Great Egret

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

This wasn't my first encounter with a rather gregarious great egret. But this egret seemed to me to be even more intentionally gregarious than the one I had encountered on my walk on Wednesday, February 8.

The egret in February had flown across the river because it spotted something to eat off the side of the greenway trail. It apparently was hungry enough to tolerate my presence while I photographed it.

On my walk along the San Antonio River on Friday, August 31, the egret in the photos below had been in the vegetation along the bank just downstream of the Alamo St bridge. As I approached the bridge, this magnificent bird took off, flew under the bridge and landed not far from me in a perfect location for me to photograph it.

During the entire encounter, I had the feeling this egret was intentionally putting on a show for me:

As Good A Time As Any

Monday, September 17, 2012

Ever since I broke my arm a week ago, much in my life seems to have slipped out of synch. From my perspective, one of the major problems with only being able to post photographs from prior walks is that the blog is in danger of losing the immediacy of the current state of the nature trails. One of the strengths of While on a Walk has been the documentation of the dynamic, ever-changing state of nature in Bexar County during the past sixteen months.

For example, we received over four inches of rain this past weekend. Temperatures have dropped to a little cooler than average. Fall-like conditions have arrived a couple weeks earlier than usual. Over the coming days and weeks, the wildlife will respond to these changes in the weather.

I have been considering a couple possible ways to adapt how I use my dSLR given my current  limited dexterity. I will begin actually experimenting with these methods soon. In the meantime, this is as good a time as any to point out that whatever photos I post, they are all an expression of my mission for While on a Walk:

"The photographs in this project are about the sky, the earth, the plants and animals, and about the experience of being in their presence, the experience of their spirit, the experience of wonder and awe and delight."

The following photos are another set from my walk along the San Antonio River on Monday, August 27:

An Evening Inspiration to Begin a New Week, A Sunday Special Edition

Sunday, September 16, 2012

An Evening Inspiration
To Begin a New Week

"To the illuminated mind, the whole world burns and sparkles with light."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

These photos were taken on my walk along the San Antonio River, Monday, August 27.