Photo ABCs

Xico, Veracruz

Now for something a little different.

Here are two photos from Xico, Veracruz, from a trip in 2017 during the Feria de la Santa Maria Magdalena.

Men will wear this fiberglass bull on their back, and dance around the town plaza as a fuse is lit, igniting in succession hundreds of enormous fireworks seen above the bull, resulting in the picture below (as well as a tremendous racket!) The whole scene is quite noisy and dangerous, but apparently Maria Magdalena enjoys it!

I have been working on another project and neglecting this blog... I will resume posting in about ten days, please stay tuned! There will be more bird photos from Minnesota, as well as many more taken during the last six months in California and Mexico.

 

Great Gray Owl

The Great Gray Owl is the bird that most people hope to see when visiting the Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota.

On my first full day at the bog I had not seen one by dusk, and headed home to my lodgings.

Lo and behold, I came upon a Great Gray Owl perched on a road-sign. It then flew to this more scenic perch. I was lucky to get a sharp photo, since the light was very dim. Seeing my first Great Gray Owl took my breath away!

Red-breasted Nuthatch

A Red-breasted Nuthatch, photographed two weeks ago at the Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota.

The Sax-Zim Bog is a well-known spot for winter birding in Minnesota. There is a welcome center staffed by volunteers where you can find the latest bird sightings, and pick up a map with locations of the best locations for birding. The map also shows locations of bird feeders. Some spots are maintained by the Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog, others are maintained by private individuals in their yards, most of whom allow access as a service to the birding community. Some of these sites have from five to 30 feeders, which draw in an abundance of birds.

Ring-necked Pheasant

Driving on a country road near outside of Duluth, Minnesota, I encountered this bird.

I was quite excited, thinking it was a Sharp-tailed Grouse, which can be found in the area.

After consulting a field guide and two more experienced birders, I realized that it was a female Ring-necked Pheasant. Still a nice bird, but not a life bird!

Photographed about two weeks ago.

Downy Woodpecker

A Downy Woodpecker surveys its surroundings from a snow-covered branch. The bird was pecking into the snow on the branch, apparently finding bits of food to eat? Photographed in Minnesota two weeks ago at the Audubon Center of the North Woods.

Black-capped Chickadee

Another Black-capped Chickadee, photographed on a snow-covered fence at the Audubon Center of the North Woods, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Red Squirrel

Just about everyone who has maintained a bird feeder has had to deal with thieving squirrels eating the food left out for birds.

Now, if squirrels would confine themselves to eating crabapples, like this Red Squirrel, birders would regard them more as the cute and intelligent critters that they are.

Photographed two weeks ago at the Audubon Center of the North Woods, 90 miles north of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Black-capped Chickadee

Of all of the feeder-visiting birds in Minnesota, the Black-capped Chickadee outnumbers all other birds combined.

Here is one at the Audubon Center of the North Woods. They don't seem to mind the snow!

Blue Jay

I have only spent two weeks birding in areas where Blue Jays are present. Despite the abundance of these birds, and their willingness to come to feeders, I have found them to be quite skittish, flying away at my slightest movement.

I managed to get one picture I am pleased with at the Audubon Center of the North Woods, located about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.

American Tree Sparrow

Traveling to other regions is obviously a good way to see new birds. I have just returned from a week in Minnesota. Though non-birders would think the idea of traveling from southern California to a winter in Minnesota is nuts (I would not disagree with them!) it affords an opportunity to see a great many species never seen in California. Although the number of species found in Minnesota in the winter is relatively small, many of these species are special and difficult to see elsewhere, and birders from around the country flock (so to speak) to Minnesota in the winter, sort of a reverse Snowbird migration.

After arriving at the Minneapolis airport, I had two hours of daylight left, and discovered there was an abundance of nature centers in the Twin Cities area. I chose one close to the airport. The ground was covered in snow, but it was 35 degrees and raining. I quickly found my first life bird, the American Tree Sparrow. This bird spends its summers in the far north of our continent, and its winters in the northern 2/3 of the United States, but not in California.

(tap or click to enlarge)