Scissor-tails and Red-wings

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Unlike the egrets, herons and cormorants that are relatively large, some of the birds along the Mission Reach are much smaller, but no less important to the riparian ecology:

The Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are Spring through Fall residents that migrate south during the winter. They consume countless insects that are abundant in a riparian habitat. The Red-winged Blackbirds are year round residents. These blackbirds are omnivorous in that they primarily eat insects most of the year, but begin eating large quantities of seeds in the fall while the seeds are abundant.

These photos were taken on a walk along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River upstream from the VFW Blvd trailhead to Roosevelt Ave on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.

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

Anticipation

Friday, March 8, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Confluence Park Trailhead downstream

Today's photos:

I was anticipating Spring while I was on this walk. I suspect nature was anticipating the impending change in the weather with another approaching cold front. There had already been enough sprinkles to get things damp earlier in the day. The forecast was for heavier rain later in the weekend.

• Photo one is a Texas Thistle.
• Photos two and three are Pink Evening Primrose with a few rain drops remaining on their petals from the sprinkles earlier in the day.
• Photos four and five are Huisache flowers.
• Photo six is a Mealy Blue Sage.
• Photo seven is a Little Blue Heron flying upstream, apparently with somewhere to go. It will reappear momentarily.
• Photos eight through eleven are a Loggerhead Shrike. It was keeping a watch over the river and finding lots of flying insects to eat.
• Photos twelve and thirteen are two Red-winged Blackbirds perched in a Sycamore tree. The sycamores are beginning to set their leaves.
• Photos fourteen through sixteen are The Three Amigos: (l. to r.) a Great Blue Heron, a Snowy Egret and the Little Blue Heron. These birds are typically very competitive when it comes to territory, so I was surprised to see them standing this close together.
• Photo seventeen is a close up of the Great Blue Heron.
• Photos eighteen through twenty are a Killdeer. He was on a rock not very far downstream from the three amigos, but far enough away that it didn't appear to be part of the group.
• Photo twenty-one is a White Prickly Poppy.