Tuesday, May 31

A Fowl Moment

The sun is out and I'm sooo tempted to go for another drive but the wind is blowing pretty good, supposed to get 40 mph gusts today...welcome to the high plains...I do have two more sets of photos to post from my previous drive out E of the Hills among the farms and ranches, a few days ago...I was heading for what I refer to as 'the pond', tooling along southward..... 


...when I spotted this fellow flitting about in a small tree...I took several photos as it bounced around, ignoring me, but none of them came out real sharp, doesn't it figure?? The yellow warbler isn't one to pose nicely...but I did get my best shots so far...


...I just love birds on a wire...they're even neater when one discovers they've never actually ID'd one before...all the sparrows I've seen in the grasslands that look like this, I've ID'd as the grasshopper sparrow, but lo and behold, we also have the vesper sparrow here, easy to ID by the clay-colored patch on its wing, as you can just make out on the right side here...if it were singing I'd of known better too, cause the grasshopper sparrow gets its name from the fact it sounds a lot like a grasshopper (really cool but weird!)



...then there's cows between wires...I also love the sarcastic look that the cattle seem to have as they eyeball me as I pass by...Calf #952 was munching a dandelion...



...Seen thru the wire, 'two' does near a crop of trees by a farm...as it turned out, there were several does...they all got up in alarm when I stopped for a photo...


...The male meadowlarks are still defending their territories...I think this is the closest I've been to one and got photos...he wasn't backing down..."Just move along sister!"



WHAT THE...???!! Ok, I've driven down this lane past a particular farm house several times...it's where I spotted my first/last lazuli bunting...and I'd never seen THIS bizzare bird! I knew right off it had to be from some other country...I saw two in a corral area, two on the road I had to wait for to move out of the way...

...A face only a mother could love, huh? I surfed the web and found out this is a helmeted guineafowl from Africa...brought to the US to control ticks...my dad would love those body feathers for fly tying...


The 'fowl' farm is near Elk Creek Rd., which 'the pond' is on...the bobolinks like this area and I was expecting to seem them...they're very hard to get photos of...they're only here in summer...


Near the pond, the killdeer are also back...last year I got some good shots of a killdeer that actually came towards me...this one gave me the cold..uh..'shoulder'....

Next I'll post Part III of my last outing, birds around the pond....

3 comments:

  1. J,
    I just love your bird pictures. I just got back from hiking in the desert. There were birds everywhere but they were moving so fast I got know good shots. You'll see some cool lizard photos soon though :)

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  2. I have been following your blog now for quite a few months. Really enjoy your SD pictures! You take photos of everything that I would...I also love birds on a wire! Also your Sego/Mariposa Lilies and the white thistle! Have you ever found the lilies in the Badlands?

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  3. Loved seeing the bobolink, such a pretty bird. Loved the photo of the meadowlark too, Jann. Years ago, our nearest neighbor had guineahens....they would come back here and make such LOUD NOISE, we enjoyed their visits though!

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