A Morning At the Park...


All bird images this week are from one area park, Hazel Bazemore Park, in Calallen, Texas. To begin, I have two North American Sparrows this week.



SONG SPARROW (?) - NO
habitat map:  Sparrow


This park in particular has Northern Cardinals year 'round. On a regular visit, I can see up to dozens...both male and female. Oftentimes, juveniles.  Just an added note here:  This is my favorite of all birds, since I was six...


NORTHERN CARDINAL
habitat map:  Cardinal



Snowy Egrets are a regular, year 'round resident at the ponds also...


SNOWY EGRET
habitat map: Egret


When I'm out walking the winding road between the golf course and the river, I encounter Red-winged blackbirds. But only during migration season; even tho the habitat map shows it's a year 'round resident.  I never see them after winter sets in, not again until Spring...


RED WINGED BLACKBIRD
habitat map: Blackbird


Kingbirds are very common that I tend to ignore their beauty...


COUCH'S KINGBIRD
habitat map:  Kingbird
HOW DID IT GET ITS NAME:  A civil war general who took a leave of absence to participate in a zoological expedition into Old Mexico.


The 2nd sparrow, I identify it by its grayer plumage than most sparrows AND the yellow eyebrow, another Savannah...


SAVANNAH SPARROW
habitat map:  Sparrow

And of course, the resident female Northern Harrier. I first encountered a very distant view of her in the field between the large pond and the river. She is a strong hunter, and a regular in this vicinity. I took a long distance image to record my sighting in case she flew away before I could then use my zoom lens to watch her preen. As I was getting ready to leave, taking the zoom off, I spied a visitor nearby the harrier....another red-winged blackbird...


NORTHERN HARRIER
habitat map:  Harrier



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17 comments:

  1. RhodesiaMay 4, 2019 at 1:11 PM

    Love the Kingbird, we saw them for the first time when we visited Nevis in Dec 2017, will probably never see them again. Love the egret and as always the birds of prey. have a great weekend Diane

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  2. ~Lavender Dreamer~May 4, 2019 at 1:36 PM

    What a beautiful Northern Harrier...what a perfect owl face! He sure fooled me one time! Love the sweet songbirds and the blackbird has a musical song too! Enjoy your weekend!

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  3. Kenneth Cole SchneiderMay 4, 2019 at 2:00 PM

    Love the harrier series especially. We also had no Red-winged Blackbirds all winter. They are certainly back now! The first sparrow may be a Lincoln's-- fine streaks with buffy sides, central spot, gray over eye and eye ring. The photo is very warm making it difficult to determine the original colors. Try cooling the image and see what you think.

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  4. Coloring Outside the LinesMay 4, 2019 at 2:04 PM

    Thanks for the reminder. I have been away so long my memory is about gone on my favorite memes. These are all super shots...the cardinal and the kingbird are my favorites. Have a great weekend, Anni!

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  5. eileeninmdMay 4, 2019 at 2:51 PM

    Hello Anni, wonderful variety of birds. One of my favorite is the Northern Harrier. Great photos and post. Thanks for hosting. Enjoy your weekend.

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  6. Ginny HartzlerMay 4, 2019 at 9:26 PM

    What a splendid day of birding!! The straight-on shot of the cardinal is really good. The red-wing with his beak open may be my favorite, but your harrier shots are fierce and splendid. Really exciting pictures!

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  7. LindaMay 5, 2019 at 12:47 AM

    Love your Northern Harrier! Great post.

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  8. Margaret Birding For PleasureMay 5, 2019 at 1:36 AM

    Fantastic Harrier shots ANni

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  9. IrmaMay 5, 2019 at 2:13 AM

    Hello Anni
    Wonderful variety of birds.
    I really like photos 1, 3 and 4.
    Thank you for posting my link.
    Best regards, Irma

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  10. MadSnapper n BeauMay 5, 2019 at 4:40 AM

    of all the birds today we have the Northern Cardinals and the Egrets in our yard. the others we do not have. I have never seen a sparrow here even in the parks. the little yellow one is my favorite.

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  11. Adam JonesMay 5, 2019 at 8:15 AM

    Anni, as always there are so many great birds here, but today I'm going to pick out the two different Sparrows as my favourites.

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  12. Sallie (FullTime-Life)May 5, 2019 at 7:22 PM

    The Harrier series is so great! When I was six, I thought the Cardinal I only saw on Christmas cards was a pretend bird, even though my Kentucky born and bred mother insisted there was really such a bird! (None in the Pacific Northwest. I didn’t see a real one until I was 56!

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  13. Jocelyn is Canadian Needle NanaMay 6, 2019 at 7:38 AM

    What a beautiful array of lovely bird photos. Well done to get so many captures of those especially wild ones like the Harrier. I've never seen one here on my Ontario property but I know they are out there!

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  14. Lady FiMay 6, 2019 at 2:15 PM

    What fabulous shots.

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  15. RoseMay 6, 2019 at 7:36 PM

    I totally enjoyed all of these...loved that first shot of the cardinals...but, I was so glad to see all of those of the Northern Harrier. They used to be thick out at the strip pits in the fall, and now we are lucky to see two or three.

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  16. Author R. Mac WheelerMay 10, 2019 at 12:16 PM

    Lovely shots.

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  17. MadSnapper n BeauMay 11, 2019 at 9:45 AM

    the first photo and a few others would be perfect illustrations for a childrens book story including birds. that is what I thought when the post opened

    ReplyDelete

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