First Days of Summer

I drove up to Palo Duro Lake yesterday, a small lake about an hour’s drive north of my house. The lake itself is nearly dried up, but it is still a pretty good place to bird. Eastern Kingbird Mississippi Kite. I saw this Green Heron this morning at Lake Meredith’s Bugbee Canyon.  

Birding and Kayaking

Birding has been pretty slow around here for the last month. Well, not exactly slow-there are lots of birds around, it’s just that they are the same birds I’ve photographed and posted dozens times this summer, so I’ve not really been motivated to take a lot of photos. The good news is that the lake…

Palo Duro Lake

I haven’t been to Palo Duro Lake in a couple of months, so I decided to drive up there Wednesday morning.  Turns out it was a good idea-no lifers but several FOS birds to add to this years lists. Most exciting for me was a Baltimore Oriole, the first I’ve seen in the panhandle. Also…

A Few More Birds From Last Week

Here’s a few more birds I saw in my outings last week. Blue Grosbeak Painted Bunting Canada Goose Bewicks Wren Lark Sparrow Juvenile Orchard Oriole Western Kingbird Brown-headed Cowbird Red-winged Blackbird American Coot

April’s Parting Shots

Here’s a few photos from April that I just never got around to posting. Curve-billed Thrasher at Palo Duro Canyon Chihuahuan Ravens at McBride Canyon, Lake Meredith Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Spring Canyon, Lake Meredith Morning Dove, Spring Canyon Savannah Sparrow, Spring Canyon Yellow-headed Blackbirds Spring Canyon   American Avocets coming in for a landing.…

180

I posted my 180th bird sighting for the year today, my best year ever and it’s only 2/3rds gone.  My previous best was 171 back in 2013 and that year we took trips to the coast and to Missouri to see birds (okay, my parents live in Missouri,) and we didn’t get to the coast…

Birds, Boats, and Beautiful Weather

We’ve had a rather dry summer so far this year, a return to the drought of the last decade or so, only not quite as bad as it was before. We were fortunate to have a really wet summer last year and our local lake went from nearly gone to about 25% capacity.  It’s still…

More Photos from the Last Week of July

Canyon Towhees at Palo Duro State Park south of Amarillo White-faced Ibis at Lake Meredith Northern Mockingbird at Palo Duro Reservoir north of Spearman Eastern Kingbird at Palo Duro Reservoir Mississippi Kite Western Grebe at Lake Meredith Clark’s Grebe chick Great Blue Herons and Ring-billed Gulls at Lake Meredith Cattle Egrets at Meredith Grasshopper Sparrows…

Early Summer Birds

Here’s a few photos from around the panhandle of Texas taken in the first few weeks of summer. Killdeer chick Painted Bunting Northern Cardinal (adult male and a juvenile) Golden-fronted Woodpecker Blue Grosbeak Greater Roadrunner Tree Swallow Ash-throated Flycatcher Western Kingbird American Avocet Mississippi Kite  

Hiking at Palo Duro Lake

Here’s a few birds I saw while hiking at Palo Duro Lake Last week. Bullock’s Oriole Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Western Kingbird Western Meadowlark Mississippi Kite American Kestrel I drove north from the lake nearly to Oklahoma trying to find the nest of a pair of Bald Eagles I had seen last week when I visited the lake. I…