The Morning After A Brief Downpour

Thursday, April 28, 2016

A squall line blew through early in the morning yesterday with very heavy rain that lasted just long enough to put about a half inch of rain in the Olmos Creek watershed. It wasn't a tremendous amount of rain, but the runoff quickly adds up as it funnels south to the headwaters of the San Antonio River.

By the time I walked the Roosevelt Park loop trail about 7.5 miles downstream from the headwaters, the river had already significantly receded, but was still flowing well above the average daily base flow:

These photos were taken along the Roosevelt Park loop trail of the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Click on the first photo in a post to open the photos in slideshow view.

Watching Intently Over the Weir

I have no idea what this Great Egret was watching, but its gaze was intense as it stood motionless on top of the weir:

This set of photographs was taken at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

The Loggerhead Shrike, A Rare Opportunity, Part 4 of 4

My encounter with the Loggerhead Shrike could probably have gone on for quite a long time. It had already gone on much longer than I anticipated. I was certain the shrike would fly off when I started to walk away, but it just turned on its perch and watched as I circled slowly past it. I think it may have actually been a bit upset I was leaving. Anyway, all good stories have an end and this was about as intense and visually powerful an end as I have ever seen:

I turned and walked on down the trail... The End

This set of photographs was taken at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

The Loggerhead Shrike, A Rare Opportunity, Part 3 0f 4

So, in Part 2, the Loggerhead Shrike was perched, obviously aware of but unperturbed by my close presence. It kept scanning the ground. I kept snapping photos:

The primary food of the Loggerhead Shrike is large insects, especially grasshoppers. As a matter of fact, a shrike staring down from a perch above is probably a grasshoppers worst nightmare. In the winter when there aren't many insects, the shrike has to depend on frogs, small snakes, lizards, even mice and small birds as a food source.

They are in every sense of the term a "bird of prey." They lack the talons of the raptors, so they catch their prey by the neck with their strong, hooked beak and sever the spinal cord. The shrike then impales its prey on a thorn (or barb wire) and uses its beak the way a raptor would use its talons.

Because of their method of impaling the prey, they are sometimes called Butcherbirds. This behavior may seem to some to be "mean." I have witnessed a fair number of predators taking down prey and it is always in some sense gruesome, but it is part of the cycle of life.

Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder if this shrike was staying so close hoping I would scare up something for it to eat… (to be continued)

This set of photographs was taken at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

The Loggerhead Shrike, A Rare Opportunity, Part 2 of 4

In the previous post, we left the Loggerhead Shrike hanging onto a dried sunflower stalk trying to keep its balance in the wind. I was convinced the shrike was going to fly off to find a more secure perch. Well, it did take off, but instead of flying away, it actually flew even closer to where I was standing. It landed on a more secure perch and began scanning the ground for any prey that might be hiding in the grass below:

This bird did not seem the least bit concerned about my close presence... (to be continued)

This set of photographs was taken at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

The Loggerhead Shrike, A Rare Opportunity, Part 1 of 4

It is fairly rare for smaller birds to perch close to where I am photographing and remain long enough to take a short series of photos, but this Loggerhead Shrike was exceptionally cooperative. I was looking for wildflowers still blooming at the beginning of January when this shrike flew across the river and landed on a drying sunflower stalk about fifteen to twenty feet from where I was standing. There was just enough wind, it was having some difficulty keeping its balance:

I had the impression it was getting a bit frustrated holding on to the stalk and would fly off to find a more secure perch... (to be continued)

This set of photographs was taken at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

A Haunting Expression

I was going to post a different set of photographs this evening, but there was something about this Snowy Egret's appearance and expression that has haunted me all afternoon:

The three ducks seen almost in silhouette in the first photograph are Gadwalls, another species of birds that have migrated back to South Texas for the winter.

This set of photographs was taken from the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Hanging On Well Into Winter

Even if they were far and few between, I was a bit surprised by the number of flowers still blooming last Thursday before the deep freeze arrived. All of them except the White Sweetclover were in the Compositea Family: Common and Maximilian Sunflowers, Mexican Hat, Spiny Aster, Camphorweed and one lone Goldenrod. All had survived the light freezes of December.

One Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera) in particular caught the sun at just the right angle:

This set of photographs was taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River at the Roosevelt Park Trailhead on Thursday, January 2, 2014.