On the Rocks

I saw these Rock Wrens and this Greater Roadrunner on the rocks over Fritch Fortress a few days ago. Things involving rocks weren’t all that much fun the rest of the day.

Brown Thrasher

I came across this Brown Thrasher at Palo Duro Reservoir last week.  It’s not an uncommon bird for the area according to Sibley’s, but it’s the first one I’ve seen.  They seem to be a lot less bold than their cousin, the Curve-billed Thrasher (there’s a Curve-bill that frequents my yard year round.) I heard…

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

Red-winged Blackbirds are a year-round staple in the Panhandle.  Occasionally during the summer and frequently during migrations we get Yellow-headed Blackbirds as well.  These were at Spring Canyon this week with the resident Red-winged Blackbirds.

Terns

Last Monday (9/16/2013) was a very cloudy blustery day.  It had rained the night before and looked like it could start again any time, I didn’t really expect to see a lot of birds, but I drove out to the lake anyway, mainly just to see if it had risen any.  On a little sandbar…

Spring Canyon Again

Still not a lot of birds around Lake Meredith-all the grosbeaks and buntings seem to have fled, as have the Red-winged Blackbirds.  A week ago there were Mississippi Kites everywhere.  It wasn’t at all unusual to see 15 or 20 on my way to work.  I’ve seen a total of ` in the last 3…

Good News and Bad News

I post a lot about Palo Duro Reservoir, a small man-made lake in Hansford Co.,about an hour north of my home.  It has a pretty good ratio of birds to people–lots of birds and very few people, just the way I like it.  It’s probably more crowded on weekends, but I work weekends for that…

Silly Hawk

I was driving down a country road (we call them Farm-to-Market roads or FM around here) when I saw this juvenile Swainson’s Hawk on an electrical line (Texas panhandle slang for this is high-line wire (pronounced war.))  Usually the hawks perch on the utility pole’s crossbeam, so I don’t know what possessed this one to…