Thursday, May 29, 2014

More birds from Irricana area and fox

 Willet?
 This bird had no concern for me. As I stood still it ventured closer though it did assess me at one point and must have deemed me as of no threat. Being about twenty feet away when I decided to return to the truck I slowly backed up till I was at the pavement before turning. When I looked back I was happy to note the bird was still feeding.

 Marbled Godwit flight. I spotted this bird lift off from the marsh in the distance and luckily it flew closer heading to the field. I quite like the soft blur of the landscape behind the Godwit.

 Ibis sunset.

 White-faced Ibis foraging in flooded roadside ditches. An excitable moment to say the least as I've only seen these colorful birds from a far distance at Frank Lake a few years ago.

 Amazing iridescence these birds possess. I'm now wondering how best to represent them in paint. May have to consider doing a large 3x4 foot canvas. Oh ya, another winter project coming up, but for now its camping and birding, time to gather reference and enjoy being in the field watching and soaking in the essence.

 Have no idea what this bird is, but it flew above the campers every night chattering and making a fuss. I must have taken about fifty photos but as it flew so fast and being dusk this was the best shot the camera could capture. 300 prime lens and extremely heavily cropped as this bird was quite a ways up.

 Red-winged Blackbird female? 
I have never seen one with such bold markings before, hence the questioning.

 Another special surprise, a Swift fox hunting in the pasture, behind to the left a duck pair can be seen.

 We watched him or her catch and eat a few rodents before trotting off with one in its mouth. I figure it must have a den in the area.

Say's  Phoebe
Even though I have many bird books its sometimes its hard to figure out who's who. I am thinking  Kingbird though the underside looked quite cinnamon rather than yellow.

 Savanna Sparrow. Such a lovely wee bird.

 Hawk. 

 Another who am I; this one was very difficult to spot, I saw the garbage and peered through my lens to see what it was and behold, saw the bird. Solitary Sandpiper identified by John, thank you.

  Chipping Sparrow in the rain.

 Clay-colored Sparrow all puffed against wind that blew cold on this drizzly monday morning.
Want to see more? 

4 comments:

john said...

Upon seeing these new photos, I can see that you were correct. The first shorebird is a Willet. The flying shorebird is a mystery to me. The other unidentified shorebird is a Solitary Sandpiper.
The phoebe/kingbird must be a Say's Phoebe. I have never seen a Swift Fox. Great sighting.

Red said...

I'd say you had an excellent bird outing. I really like the last photo with the bird on the wire beside the post.

tess stieben said...

john the photo of what I assume to be a willet on this posting was a different bird than the one previously posted. Thank you for your input, it is appreciated.

Red, we had a fantastic time viewing so many birds in 3 days, and though it called for a rainy weekend we only saw rain the last morning.

tess stieben said...
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