High Water, White Water; More River Scenes Following Last Week's Rain

Friday, January 18, 2013

After a week of very intense classes, I will be returning to my routine walking and posting schedule on Monday. In the meantime, here is another set of photos from my walk along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Wednesday, January 9, 2013.

Keep in mind these were taken in the afternoon following 2.5 inches of rain that had fallen in the prior two days:

Flying Over Turbulent Currents

Thursday, January 17, 2013 *

I still have at least two more sets of photographs to post from the Elmendorf Lake walk, but it is going to take a while longer to get the next post ready for publication.

The following set of photos are from my walk along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, just over a week ago. The river was flowing swift and deep with turbulent currents due to rain that had fallen the previous two days.

The female mallard (pictured here) and her mate flew a short distance downstream, remaining low over the surface of the river. Based on prior observation, had the river been calm and flowing at its normal rate, I assume the mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) would most likely swim the relatively short distance they traveled. They probably flew this time in order to avoid swimming through the turbulent current: 

* Due to the full schedule I have this week taking a class, all posts for the week will be from previous walks.

Birds at Elmendorf Lake, Part 3

Wednesday, January 16, 2013 *

Continuing around Elmendorf Lake, this set of photos from my walk on Monday, January 7, 2013 was taken between the bridge to the island and the Sw 24th St bridge. I didn't have time to walk over the bridge to the island in the center of the lake, but look forward to seeing the lake from the island on a future walk.

Included here are: a great egret (Ardea alba), a northern shoveler (Anas clypeata), an American coot (Fulica americana), and a northern shoveler nesting site with numerous northern shovelers:

* Due to the full schedule I have this week taking a class, all posts for the week will be from previous walks.

Birds at Elmendorf Lake, Part 2

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 *

When I arrived at Elmendorf Lake Park Monday, January 7, I parked in the lot on SW 19th St closest to the dam in the southeast corner of the park. From the parking lot, I walked upstream and continued counterclockwise around the loop trail that circles the lake.

With the exception of the vermillion flycatcher in Sunday's entry, I am posting the photos of the birds in this multi-part series in the order they were taken as I walked around the lake. This set of photos include a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), northern shovelers (Anas clypeata), and lesser scaups (Aythya affinis):

* Due to the full schedule I have this week taking a class, all posts for the week will be from previous walks.