One Of Those Days

We went down to Santa Ana NWR this morning hoping for a look at a Rose-throated Becard. A very long shot. I have photographed a female Becard, never a male. Still haven't. Another no shot. 

There are always Least Grebes at Santa Ana, so regular that I have a tendacy to ignore them. I should not. At 4 ounces, they are our smallest waterfowl, and they can only be seen in a handful of places in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in all of the U.S. 

(crop of above)

A Common Yellowthroat was hopping through the bullrushes and brush along the shore of Willow Lake. I took half a dozen photos through the bullrushes, tack-sharp focused on the tail end of a little bird. Eventually he came out for three hops and I got one shot before he disappeared back in the reeds. Lorna did better.

"One subspecies of Common Yellowthroat is a year-round resident in the Rio Grande river delta in Texas. These yellowthroats are not only territorial among themselves, but they also keep migrant yellowthroats of other races completely out of their habitat." - Cornell Lab

And a group shot of various headless water birds.

Later we drove the south road from Santa Ana to Estero Llano Park where I took even fewer photos. Okay, mostly I wandered around awhile trying to get a pic of a Great Horned Owl buried in the fronds on the top of a palm tree and keeping one eye open for a Hammond's Flycatcher or a Tropical Parula. Then I sat down on a bench to talk to old friends and new strangers for a couple of hours. Again, Lorna did better.

Wasted days (and wasted nights?) - Gunnar