Dreamy morning bird walk at Cullinan Park, Sugarland, Texas

Dreamy view of the walkway that extends into White Lake in Cullinan Park, Sugarland, Texas. The lake often dries up in the summer and that is well on its way to doing that already. Used a blur feature to give the shot that dreamy view. This trip was my last business trip ever as I will be retiring soon. More on that later but I will miss this location, which is a great area for Texas birds and birders. 

Snail....It's what's for dinner

 

Limpkin's love their snails, as this individual shows. Their preference is the Florida Apple Snail but they have recently added the invasive Island Apple Snail to their diet, helping to control their spread into other Gulf Coast states. This shot was taken near my hotel in Sugarland, Texas. Fun bird to see. Very large and quite loud. 

Peregrine Falcon

 

Got a great flyover of a beautiful Peregrine Falcon earlier this month in Florida. The Peregrine is the fastest bird on the planet, when it is in hunting mode. Here, it is just floating on by and I was able to get a great shot. 

January 1st Lifer!!!

Got notice of an Evening Grosbeak hanging out at a feeder in a public park just south of Milwaukee, just under 2 hours from home. Starting my normal work travel schedule on Monday, so January 1st is my one and only day to go after this bird, a lifer. Evening Grosbeaks very occasionally comes this far south, but this is the closest reliable visitor that I have heard of this year. So, it was go now or hope for another closer visitor on an off day later this winter. I rolled the dice and took a chance to get it. Lucky for me, the drive was worth it and after waiting patiently for over an hour, it showed up. Lucky, all around. Great start to the birding year. That makes 447 lifers!!!

Polar Express Christmas Feel

 

Stole this idea from Sam, who set up the shot on her iPhone and instantly turned it into a nice Polar Express shot with the filter on the phone. (See below.) The tech on the phones is just crazy good. I wanted to see what I could do in Photoshop and either my skills aren't there or the technology in Photoshop isn't there yet but this is my version. I like it, although Sam's iPhone image is still better. Graham wasn't over yet in the first shot so this is just Echo, Eli, Peregrine, Noah and Effie. Sam's shot below includes Graham. 

Oh, Hey, There!

 

Oh, hey, there! I rounded the corner and ran into this. I was as surprised as she was, as no one else was out walking on Christmas Eve morning on this path (I was the only car in the parking lot). So, I continued down the path and we both went on with our day. No birds, but a nice doe encounter. 

Close visit

 

Got a fairly close fly-by of a Bald Eagle at Whalon Lake, near my home today. I am used to seeing these eagles everywhere I go but this is the first one that I have seen close to my house (maybe 10 minutes away by car). Always a fine sight to see.