A Few Odds and Ends

The 2009 ABA Convention started in earnest this evening, but I have birded on my own most of the past two days, with Port Aransas as my target. I have seen lots of good birds, and have managed to take some good photographs as well. While I will take a "serious" look at my growing collection of photos once I return, here are a few that I thought would share "as is" - only resized for posting to the blog.

First up, from a visit to Port Aransas Birding Center, is a Reddish Egret caught in "mid-dance". This species of bird is very active in its pursuit of food, holding its wings out for balance, leaping, lunging and generally taking a no-holds-barred approach. Quite different from the stealthy stalking of a Great Blue Heron.

This shot of a Painted Bunting was the best I could manage. I saw him at a tiny little gem called Paradise Pond. I went there two days in a row. The Painted Bunting dropped into this patch of foliage, and all I could see was his pretty face through that window in the leaves.

While trying to get a better shot of the Painted Bunting, I managed to discover some type of amphibian in the same foliage. Only this critter was on the opposite side of a leaf from me. I spied his body, silhouetted against the leaf, and took this photo.

Green Treefrog

In my previous post I shared a picture of a dragonfly consuming a moth. The dragonfly was perched in a sapling next to the trail, but was a bit too high for me to get a reasonable picture. So Tammy played the role of "able assistant" by pulling the top of the sapling over until the dragonfly was at eye level for me. After I had taken my share of photos, she allowed the sapling to return to its natural upright position (gently...we did not want to disturb the dragonfly's meal :-).

I was in the process of swapping lenses on my camera when I noticed something odd about the sapling. There was an odd green lump on it, about a foot higher than the dragonfly. I stared for a second before realizing that the odd green lump was actually a Green Treefrog. Then I realized that the frog had been on the sapling the entire time that I was photographing the dragonfly. Either we were too focused on the dragonfly, or the frog was that well hidden.

I could not pass up the chance to take pictures of this frog. So my "able assistant" once again pulled the sapling over from the top so that my subject was at eye level. The frog sat there, waiting it out, while each of us took our photos. Here he is in all his green glory.

Ribbit

My field trip today took me north into boreal habitat and the potential to see lots of warblers and a few boreal specialties. We were birding about halfway between Topsfield and Brookton, using loggings roads. The company that actually owns the forest agreed to cease logging for the entire week in order to accomodate the field trips on their property. They did not want to risk a big logging truck running into a group of birders who generally look up and not where they are walking.