Author Archives: birdsinmyviewfinder

This is a little update to the post I made a week ago about a Snowy Egret and a Yellowlegs foraging for food together. I noted that larger groups of egrets, yellowlegs and cormorants will work together to herd schools of fish. This is a small group of Snowy Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants chasing aContinue reading “Fishing Buddies – Update”

I photographed an Osprey as it flew overhead and dove into the water not far away. I captured the start of the dive but it hit the water behind some tall reeds and I missed the impact. It reemerged from behind the reeds with a good sized fish. This big one almost got away asContinue reading “Osprey…the big one didn’t get away”

Found while reviewing some photographs from a past trip. The Crested Caracara, sometimes called the “Mexican Eagle”, resides in Mexico, Cuba, Central America and South America. It shows up in a few small areas in Arizona, Texas and Florida. This one was photographed in Texas in 2019. It looks like a hawk but it isContinue reading “Found in the Clutter – Caracara”

Snowy Egrets are active hunters of small fish and invertebrates. Unlike the larger Great Egret that waits in ambush or slowly stalks its prey, Snowys will run, hop, flutter their wings, stir up the water and generally cause commotion to flush their prey. Yellowlegs are shorebirds that are also very active feeders. Mixed groups ofContinue reading “Fishing Buddies”

I almost overlooked the action in this photo of a Least Tern as I was clearing out a lot of photos of terns in flight, most of which were either repetitive or very poor. Fortunately I cropped this image for a better look before deciding to delete it. The Tern had just missed a fishContinue reading “Found in the Clutter – Tern Action”

The largest gull in the world is the Great Black-backed Gull and it is common along the Atlantic coast of North America. Cornell Lab refers to it as “the king of the Atlantic waterfront”. Great Black-backs are 30 in (up to 80 cm) long and are known as aggressive hunters, pirates and scavengers. They huntContinue reading “Great Black-backed Gull”

I dug this photo out of the folders for June 2017. Two Tree Swallows having some sort of disagreement. No blows were exchanged. Maybe one is a Dodgers fan like me and the other is a Giants fan. (Non-baseball folks: just substitute with two longtime rivals in your favorite sport, be it football/soccer, American football,Continue reading “Found in the Clutter – Minor Dispute”

Another little gem buried in the piles of photos: a female Boat-tailed Grackle taken in Corpus Christi Texas, 2019. She is apparently cutting back on her sugar.

I don’t usually see these fast moving falcons perched, at least not for any length of time. This one calmly sat in a tree not too far off the road in the Parker River NWR. It even watched me without moving as I maneuvered to get a clear look. He or she didn’t seem toContinue reading “Peregrine Falcon”

I came across a large number of Herons at a single pond. There were a few Egrets around but one section of the pond was crowded with Great Blue Herons of all ages with a half dozen juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron mixed in for good measure. I didn’t count the Great Blues but I wouldContinue reading “Herons”