Showing posts with label bw teal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bw teal. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Bottomless and Bitter Lakes!

After the movie I was ready for dinner and a rest so I headed to Bottomless Lakes State Park and my campsite for the night..




.I neglected to get a photo of my site I got there at dark anyway and headed for the shower house.  After that I had a sandwich and worked to upload a few photos to Flickr. They had free WiFi there.  Another storm hit in the night but it too was in the distance we got the wind but not the rain.   In the morning I took some photos of the park on my way out..


                                                    The swimming area in the park

There is a tower that birds find handy...

                     

                                              an English House Sparrow had a nest in there somewhere..


nearby white crowned sparrows vied for a good perching spot...



There's a brackish hint to the Lazy Lagoon, it reminds me of Salt Lake...not as big but the way it smelled...




Other pools in the park are like this the Devil's Ink Well.  These were created by volcanic forces, when sink holes opened up and water filled them...original measurements done with cowboy ropes so even tho they determined no bottom, the Ink Well is actually 50 ft in depth.  




Devils Ink Well


I noticed the beautiful work of the CCC in these buildings...




After a quick trip around the park I headed back toward Roswell to visit Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge.


 Just a few miles away from town and back toward the direction of my travel.  This hawk had me pull over to take his photo of this Swainson's Hawk. 





the Visitors Center is nice it was staffed with volunteers...when I asked what was around he told me people had reported some dragonflies, I don't think he understood my question.  He and his wife were extremely nice people. 


Barn swallows had a nest under the porch there and I spotted a yellow warbler in a tree out back and more scaled quail on the back overlook 


barely got this quail as he zoomed out of sight...



There is an approximately 8 mile auto tour around the lakes so after a quick visit to the VC I got a stamp in my passport book, then headed around the loop drive.  

...the lakes level is down but still vast!


I spotted a greater roadrunner in a tree...



and another western kingbird...



and lots of western meadowlarks and lark sparrows...


and on the water, I saw all sorts of ducks...Northern Shovelers 


n shoveler 

lots of coots,  blue winged teals, american avocets, wilson's phalaropes, black necked stilts, and ruddy ducks.  


ruddy duck

I took a Boardwalk...






white faced Ibis and black necked stilts 

AND finally a new bird for me showed up and in great numbers the Cinnamon Teal.  Here is a pair with a B N Stilt in the background. 


here is another pair...


Many Blue Winged Teal were present also...




I have waited a long time to see this DUCK! Finally..another shot of the cinnamon teal pair..


And on the way out of the Refuge 2 Mississippi Kites  up in the tree.  


As I headed north toward Ft Sumner, A storm was brewing...







Next my stop in Ft Sumner, NM 

PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Winter Road Trip

I've been waiting on the weather window to open so I could take a winter road trip and finally it did! Last weekend we had ice this weekend I hit the road...Still not as sunny as I'd like it to be but hopefully it will change..so where in the world am I you ask? One guess...here I am parked under the cabbage palms the state tree of the State I'm in..




Im only just barely in the state of FL, I'm camped currently at Little Talbot Island SP. east of Jacksonville, FL.  Thanks to my sister for keeping my big dogs and looking out for Mom so I can have some free time to do some winter birding..





palm warbler

I saw a lot of birds today...yesterday was a lot of driving and getting settled for camping for the day and a walk on the beach...so today I concentrated on finding some birds...I wish I had better photos..and the clouds didnt help.

  



American Kestrel a bit far away...






Willet also far away playing in the surf..




Went to get my passport stamped at Kingsley Plantation and there was a tree full of Cedar Wax wings...














A river runs right in front of the plantation house I saw this man and his best friend out for a boat ride...




they made the slave quarters out of what they call Tabby...its oyster shells, sand, and water...





this one is sort of eroded, here is how it probably looked in the days when it was in use...

after visiting this spot the sun was still hiding so I went to the boardwalk on Big Talbot Island and it was full of stuff to see...





Casey waiting for me...











Hooded Mergansers and Shovelers







Pied Billed Grebes





blue winged teal



tri-colored Heron



Gr. Egret



 Redwinged Blackbird Females



Im going with Lesser Scaup it didnt appear that big to me, a new lifer and the female was there too...


later on in the day I head to Ft George just south of my campground and saw flocks of mixed gulls, terns, and skimmers.






black skimmers



little blue heron immature, 







wood stork

And lots of these guys around some already on nests..




Osprey

My campsite at Little Talbot is right on the marsh pretty good spot too..and the fastest Wifi
 I've ever had in my entire life!! At home Im happy to get 2 bars of a 4G signal here Im getting 4 bars!!





I only scratched the surface of all I saw yesterday and today...I hope to have more to share as the week progresses and I continue South!






More coming...


PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.