Saturday Birding

Spring is here! The trees are leafing out and the wildflowers are starting to bloom. The last several days have been beautiful -- sunny and pleasantly warm. I have no excuse for not have gotten out earlier in the week!

So we took a drive today, but saw very few birds. Another sign of Spring, alas! Right by the high school, I saw this meadow lark. I usually only see them flying away.

As we headed out along FM 362 (the back side of our larger loop), we saw this pair of Caracara (would that be a ParaCara?). They were very cooperative and let us take several pictures. But after I got out of the car, one of them got a bit nervous and flew away.

We saw several ducks and herons in a soggy field, but they were too far for pictures. The other sure sign of spring in my area was seeing a Scissor-tail flycatcher on the wing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

Meadowlarks

I often see meadow larks as I drive down country roads. They might occasionally be sitting on a fence wire, but more often, they are down in the grass -- as they are "ground birds".

Our birds are "Eastern Meadowlarks"

In the last couple of weeks, I have been determined to get some pictures of meadowlarks. However the pictures last week only showed a gray-brown bird against a gray-brown background. Photographing these birds is quite a challenge!



This fellow was quite willing to have his picture taken -- in fact, I have several shots with him singing gaily! But, alas, his beak blends in with the dry grass, so it wasn't all that obvious. The only problem I had with this fellow was that he wouldn't turn around and show off his distinctive chest marks.

So I had to find another "volunteer". The picture below was taken of another bird at another location. However, this fellow was willing to give me a frontal shot, so you can see his markings! While the lighting no doubt had an effect on the colors, I think the bird above had already "changed into" his breeding colors, while the bird below has not quite made the transition. According to my bird book (Sibley) their breeding period is Feb-Aug.