A Few from February

Another slow month for me as far as photos go, but here’s a few from February. A number of missed opportunities this month where one gets a quick look at a bird, but it disappears before getting the camera lined up and focused. Things have usually been a little slow for me out there, too, which is not unusual given the winter weather. That’s okay, though, as things should start picking up soon as it gets a little warmer and we close in on spring.

One day had me wandering around Alameda Open Space for awhile, missing some good shots of Ruby-crowned Kinglet and seeing both male and female Common Mergansers at too far a distance….a Great Blue Heron was hanging out near the Mergansers that came out okay.

Great Blue Heron

A bit surprising was seeing the Great Egret fairly close in the pond near the parking lot. It had been reported being in the area for some time, but I wasn’t expecting to find it so easily.

Great Egret

A couple other photos from some of my regular visits to Embudito Canyon include a Canyon Towhee,

Canyon Towhee

and a Cactus Wren.

Cactus Wren

Expecting our Sandia Hairstreaks to appear any day now in Embudito, so have been visiting even more frequently for about the last week. That will signal the start of this year’s butterfly season and should turn up a number of early species for the year.

On February 16, Rebecca and I did an almost 3 mile loop from the Open Space Visitor Center for the Great Backyard Bird Count, managing to spot 32 species for the count. One of those was a Ladder-backed Woodpecker; here’s a photo of one of three individuals we’d see that day.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

After some friends had asked about directions to the Great Horned Owl at Calabacillas Arroyo (shown in my last post), I took another look to remind myself of the location and hopefully find them nesting by now. No luck on the nesting, but one of the owls was in exactly the same spot as almost 3 weeks earlier. And great to hear that my friends easily found it the next day in the same spot.

Great Horned Owl

Another day walking the trails at Pueblo Montaño, while slow for birds (and missing that pesky Western Screech-Owl others had spotted in a cavity recently), did turn up several porcupines. As I was headed back to my car, it was entertaining watching a couple walking toward me who hadn’t noticed the porcupine just across the trail working its way down from maybe 8′ high in a small tree. Rarely do I see porcupines other than snoozing away the day high in a tree; to see one awake and moving is always a treat. Pointing it out to the couple certainly got their attention, too.

Porcupine

Lately, it seems the American Robins have arrived in good numbers and are being seen in fairly large groups especially in the foothills. Didn’t get the best photos of that, but did see my first Townsend’s Solitaire of the year near a few of the robins.

Townsend’s Solitaire

Pretty amazing to me, but recently realized that this will be the 378th blog posting that I started on March 5, 2011…only 3 days to its 13th anniversary! Hope y’all have been enjoying it.