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| Long-billed Curlew |
It's always fun when you get two lifers in two days. Yesterday a
Lincoln's Sparrow and this morning a Long-billed Curlew. I drove down to the Joe Overstreet Landing and had a great time there. The Curlew was very cooperative and easily found. It was hanging out with numerous Wilson's Snipe. Then I found a Crested Caracara perched on a fence post, and it took off when I was focused on it, so I had sharp photos. Eastern Meadowlarks were very vocal on the drive into the landing, and I love hearing their calls. Occasionally one would pose on the fence for me. And on a sad but fascinating note, I found a couple Turkey Vultures that were working on a Raccoon carcass by the road.
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| Long-billed Curlew |
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| Wilson's Snipe |
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| Crested Caracara |
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| Crested Caracara |
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| Eastern Meadowlark |
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Eastern Meadowlark
(I normally don't photograph birds with with lighting like this, but this one had such an iconic pose, I had to try it) |
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| Turkey Vultures |
I was hoping to see a Snail Kite there too, but no luck there, so I drove up to East Lake Toho on my way home. There's a park that runs along the southern portion of the lake (eBird calls it Kaliga Park but I haven't seen a sign there), and Snail Kites seem to be very reliable there. In fact, I've seen one every time I've gone there. I found three there, and two were actively patrolling the marshes in front of me looking for Apple Snails. I saw one grab one, but I couldn't get photos of it with its prize.
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| Snail Kite |
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| Snail Kite |
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| Snail Kite |
That's a major collection of good birds...I'm a big proponent of curlews, props on the lifer.
ReplyDeleteRaccoons are major predators of bird nests, so not such a bad thing if you look at it that way. Awesome picture too, I like that it's face is still in one piece.
He he. A friend just emailed me telling me he was studying a pair of eagles for years and saw a large Raccoon eat three sets of eggs. I should remove the sadly, I suppose. Maybe the Raccoon had it coming...
ReplyDeleteDang Scott! That's quite the fine showpiece collection of birds, what a sweet spot! What goes around comes around to the Raccoon I guess. I'm sure he felt very approving about the Vulture's scavenging : )
ReplyDelete