Birds of Crescent Bend, Part 2

Monday, January 14, 2013 *

Today's photos are from my walk at Crescent Bend Nature Park on Monday, December 17, 2012:

There are 437 species of birds listed on the San Antonio Audubon Society's checklist of birds that have been reported to have been sighted in Bexar County. I am fairly good at spotting and photographing the birds, but I am still learning to identify many of the species.

I find the sparrows especially difficult to distinguish one species from another. With that in mind, I think the first bird in this series is a savannah sparrow. The next two birds are an eastern phoebe and a house finch. The fourth bird is another sparrow that I think is a Lincoln's sparrow.

The two photos following that are of the same bird. The best I can tell, it appears to be a house wren. Then there is a black-crested titmouse, a northern cardinal and a northern mockingbird.

The last five photos are all of the same sparrow. It appears to me to be another Lincoln's sparrow.

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

Joy Forever, A Sunday Special Edition

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Joy Forever

                 "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."  -  John Keats

A Vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is, without a doubt, a bird of great and unforgettable beauty; truly a joy to see. This set of photos was taken on my walk around Elmendorf Lake this past Monday, January 7, 2013.

Additional Miles of Trail to Walk

Friday, January 11, 2013

Leon Creek Greenway South, Arvil Ave Trailhead downstream
and a short segment on the east end of the upland loop trail

Today's photos:

On December 7, 2012, The San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department had the grand opening of the newest segment of the Leon Creek South Greenway. This new section adds an additional 2.6 miles to the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System, bringing the trail system to a total of 41 miles. On my walk today, I covered about three quarters of a mile of this new trail

The new section of trail has trailheads in Levi Strauss Park and at Rodriguez County Park. Access to the Arvil Ave trailhead is actually off of Rodriguez Rd at the entrance to the county park, not by way of Arvil Ave, as the low water crossing over the creek on Arvil Ave has been permanently closed.

Included in this set of photos are: a fox squirrel, an Eastern bluebird, a Great egret, a female Northern cardinal and a very active Northern mockingbird. The photographs also show a very healthy riparian ecosystem along this section of Leon Creek.

As I have mentioned; the more I learn, the more I see and the more I photograph. That was very true, once again, on this foggy Friday morning walk along Leon Creek. I have more photos from the walk remaining to be published in a future post.

This next week I have a very busy schedule planned. I will be in a class at the San Antonio Botanical Garden all week (learning even more). I don't foresee having time for my walks during the week. So, as something of a heads up, I will be posting as many photos from my recent walks as I can throughout the week.

Birds at Elmendorf Lake, Part 1

Thursday, January 10, 2013

I have barely begun to edit all the photos of birds that I took on my walk at Elmendorf Lake on Monday (January 7). This is definitely going to be a multi-part series.

The first five photos below are of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata). This was by far the most abundant bird at the lake Monday. There will be more photos of them in upcoming posts:

The second set of five photos are of Lesser Scaups (Aythya affinis):

The next post in this series will be the Sunday Special Edition (January 13).