Elmendorf Lake is an excellent location for birding. In the post dated Tuesday, April 16, 2013, I presented a series of photos of a Ruddy Duck that I had photographed on this walk. Today's post is the second of three posts of the birds I photographed on March 22:
The fifth through eighth photos are a Little Blue Heron with the typical non-breeding plumage.
The ninth and tenth photos are a Little Blue Heron with breeding plumage. The birds swimming in the Lake in these two photos are a pair of Northern Shovelers.
The eleventh through thirteenth photos are Great Egrets.
The fourteenth and fifteenth photos are a Snowy Egret.
San Antonio River, Brackenridge Park Segment (along Avenue A)
Today's photos:
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the section of the San Antonio River from Tuleta Dr in Brackenridge Park downstream to U.S. 281 has never been channelized for flood control. The urbanization of the surrounding area has definitely had a major impact on the ecosystem along this section of the channel, but the woodland vegetation and the tree canopy arching over the water has remained intact.
The first photo is a Parachytas decisus fly in the family Tachinidae. Identifying this large fly was not particularly difficult, but I haven't been able to find much specific information about it online. Based on my own observations, this is a fairly common fly in Bexar County. This one is on a flower cluster of a Rough-leaf Dogwood.
The eleventh and twelfth photos are a slider turtle. Who said turtles can't climb trees?
The thirteenth photo is a slider turtle swimming in the river that surfaced to get some air.
The fourteenth photo is an overview of the river looking upstream showing how the tree canopy shades the water. The shade helps to cool the aquatic habitat.
The fifteenth through the seventeenth photos are two slider turtles sharing opposite ends of a small log. The turtle on the left is a Red-eared Slider. The one on the right doesn't have the red "ear" stripes. One of these days I will get a positive species identification for these turtles. From what I have seen, they are more common in Bexar County than the Red-eared Sliders.
Most of the birds I photographed during this walk are common to the Lake. I will present those photos as a single set in Thursday's post. However, there was a small flock of Ruddy Ducks swimming on the Lake. This is a rather distinctive looking bird that I think deserves its own post:
