One Bright and Shining Day

January 10, 2021 ~ The upper Texas Gulf Coast is finally getting some cold weather (well, morning frost, anyway), and the winter birds have come to find sanctuary from the serious snow and ice up north. I was waiting for one of my preferred overcast photography days, but suddenly, with all the splendid sunshine outside, I just couldn’t stay home a moment longer. Camera, coats of different thicknesses, scarf, water, phone, memory cards, batteries, and mosquito repellant all went into the car, and I headed for Brazos Bend State Park.  

Orange-crowned Warbler levitating
1/2500 sec. f/6.3 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR
(Click on any image to enlarge in a new window; click again to zoom in; dismiss that window to return here)

Right off the bat, and not 40 feet from the parking lot, I found this Orange-crowned Warbler harvesting bugs from the understory. No, I didn’t see his orange crown… almost nobody does. His identifying characteristics are his narrow pointed warbler’s bill, and his olive-drab color spruced up by yellow around the base of the tail. I had the good luck (no one could have planned it) to catch him in the air, right before he landed.

Tiny Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, working among the twigs
1/2500 sec. f/6.3 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

At the edge of the oak forest, he led me to a group of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers feasting on invisible bugs. These are some of the smallest birds I’ve seen, maybe only half again as large as a hummingbird. Keeping up with these tiny birds is a challenge, as they flit and twitch along the branches, flushing bugs from under leaves by flipping their long white-edged tail. According to All About Birds, gnats are not a large portion of their diet; they prefer larger, meatier bugs. Their fast motion made them a challenge to photograph; I came home with reams of tail shots, partial wing shots and butt shots, but this one, taken in the shade, shows the blueish tint to his gray color, along the back of his head and his shoulders, the most accurately.

Swamp Sparrow, happy on the marsh
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1000
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

As I emerged from the oak forest into the flat marshland along the 40-Acre Lake trail, I spotted a bit of russet among the weeds. This bird was new to me: a non-breeding adult Swamp Sparrow. He will spend the winter here, then fly north to the Great Lakes and Canada in the spring for the breeding season.

Young adult Snowy Egret fluffing to look bigger, and showing fading yellow leg stripes
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

Water was racing over the spillway after the recent rains, and the Snowy Egrets, young (and pure white) Little Blue Herons, Great Herons, and White Ibis were all lined up where the water curled in a shallow wave, stirring tasty morsels to the surface. The Snowy Egrets are easily identified by their bright yellow feet. Younger birds have a yellow stripe up the backs of their legs, but it fades away on more mature birds. Their lores are bright yellow, tending towards orange when they are in breeding plumage.

Scram!
1/3200 sec. f/7.1 ISO 800
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

The Snowies are the most aggressive of these birds, defending their food and their space with energetic displays. In this photo, the older bird in the back is chasing the younger bird away. The mature birds are developing their breeding plumage now, and the air was alight with flouncing feathers as the birds squawked, strutted, postured, and charged, mouths open and wings outspread.

Snowy Egret, doing a graceful pass
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

But as agitated as they can get when feeding, they are the picture of peace and tranquility as they sail by in broad circles, keeping well out of my reach, and unruffled by my presence.

Adult male Downy Woodpecker in search of dinner
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

At the bend in the trail right before Elm Lake, I found this Downy Woodpecker working on the cork-like bark of a dead tree. I had gotten far enough away from the squawking water birds to be able to hear the rapid drum of his drilling bill. This is a male, showing a small patch of scarlet at the back of his head. (And, you can just barely see the black spots on his white tail feathers, marking him as a Downy, and not his look-alike, a Hairy Woodpecker).

Adult female Downy Woodpecker, hunting on her own tree
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

As I listened, I could hear more thumping and drumming. A female was working nearby. She worked methodically from the bottom, spiraling upwards and around each branch.

Adult male Red-bellied Woodpecker, excavating his nest
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1600
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

Not to be outdone, this much larger and sturdier Red-bellied Woodpecker was busily working on his nesting hollow. It was interesting to note that, at least on this one day, the Downy woodpeckers were focused on food, while the Red-bellied was focused on getting ready for the breeding season. I have a series of photos; at the beginning, his crimson crown was all neat and tidy, but by this time, he has mussed it, as he pressed farther and farther into the tree.

Young adult Snowy Egret at sunset, showing signs of breeding plumage
1/2500 sec. f/7.1 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

I reversed my path and headed back to the car, spending just a few more minutes admiring the Snowies as the sun sank. I know some photographers prefer to avoid all that spangly refraction of the sun on the water, as it distracts from the bird. But I like the sunset “end of the day” feeling, and wanted to celebrate an afternoon full of birds, in the chill clean air, without a mosquito in sight – a perfect day!

P.S. ~ After writing this post, I went back and reviewed the post by photographer Linda Murdock, A Very Cold but Birdy Afternoon. Her trip was almost a month ago, yet she saw many of the same birds, in the same locations. I love seeing my world through the eyes of another photographer! And, FYI, she’s the one who gave me the idea of putting a link to All About Birds under each bird name, so that you can go see all the identifying info, reading as much, or as little, detail as you wish.