fred walsh photos: December 2007

Friday, December 28, 2007

Ladder backed Woodpecker

These pictures were taken during December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. They are a relatively small woodpecker that normally next in Cactus. The male has a red cap while the female has a black cap.

Golden Fronted Woodpecker-male

These pictures were taken at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas during December, 2007.

These pictures are of a male. The female doesn't have a red cap.

Orange Crowned Warbler

These pictures were taken during December 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. They are one of the more common and drab warblers.

Black Crested Titmouse

These pictures were taken during December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. It's range is Eastern Mexico and Southern Texas. At one time, it was considered to be of the Tufted Titmouse race which is further north. The Black Crested and Tufted Titmouse do interbreed where their territories overlap in Central Texas.

Audubon's Oriole

This picture was taken at the Dewin's property, southern Texas on 11 December, 2007. Prior to 1983 it was knowned as the "Black headed Oriole. It's numbers are decreasing mainly due to Cowbirds removing their eggs from the nest and replacing them with Cowbird eggs. A study was done in Texas where they found that half of all Audubon's Oriole nests contained Cowbird eggs.

Altamira Oriole

These pictures were taken during December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. This is the largest Oriole of North America. It's range is Mexico, Central America and Southern Texas.

Northern Mockingbird

These pictures were taken on 27th December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. Mockingbirds can be very aggressive, especially at feeding stations. On the day I took these pictures, I had difficulty getting pictures of anything other than this Mockingbird because it would attack any and all birds that came close to the peanut butter I had spread on a branch. It was a severe attack including pulling feathers out of any bird that came close.

Green Jay

These pictures were taken during December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas. A flock of Green Jays usually consists of a mating pair plus there non-breeding offspring from the previous year who help to defend their parents nesting area. Once they become of breeding age, they are kicked out of their family flock.

Northern Cardinal

These pictures were taken during December, 2007 at the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley Stat Park, Texas. The Northern Cardinal is probably the most popular back yard bird in North America and is the State bird for seven different States.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Orange Crowned Warbler

This picture was taken on 6th December, 2007 at the NABA Butterfly Park, Mission Texas.

Olive Sparrow

These pictures were taken on 6th December, 2007 at the NABA Butterfly Park, Mission Texas. This guys is mainly in coastal Mexico but does make its way into Southern Texas.

Greater Roadrunner

These pictures were taken on 5th December, 2007 at Mike Rhodes riverfront property, Mission, Texas. Roadrunners can run up to 19 miles per hour. Unlike the cartoons, he does not make the sound "beep beep", but instead makes a cooo-cooo or

whirr sound.

Northern Mockingbird

These pictures were taken on 4th December, 2007 at Mike Rhodes riverfront property, Mission Texas. Mockingbirds sing almost all year long and include imitations of other birds. Their song in the spring is entirely different than their song in the fall. Males sing more than females and single males sing more than attached males. Are the single males singing to attract a female or are they singing because they're happy with their single status? I'll let you figure that one out.