For the Birds

I love being outside in the first place, and have always had a fascination with bird photography. I don’t have the $7000.00 camera and lens that will shoot 10 frames per second from 100 yards away, but mine does pretty good on a very limited budget. Since our trip to Corpus Christi a few weeks ago, my fascination with Birds has grown even more. Of course Coastal birding is completely different than North Texas birding. At some point I want to take a trip to Weslaco, TX to the World Birding Center and Bosque Nature Preserve in Albuquerque, NM. Of course these are not day trips from Plano. So for now I’ll stay in the back yard and surrounding areas of North Texas.

We have all kinds of birds in the park behind our house. It seems I never have my camera when I see something unique like a little finch or a crow.

This Red Tail Hawk was almost out of my range.

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M R Ducks, C M Wangs! – Here are a few with babies in a row.

This Robin was taking a bath.

We have a nest of Mockingbirds in our Magnolia tree in the back yard. Mama and Daddy don’t like us getting too close to the nest and now babies!

When we were at Daniels house, there were some House Swallows in a nest under his front porch. These are curious(to me anyway) little birds. They build nests under porch overhangs and culverts along the roads out of mud and twigs.

Last weekend I went looking for the baby ducks again and much to my surprise I found some bucket list birds, Eastern Screech Owls. There were actually 5 or 6 nesting in  a tree down by the creek.

I’m in the process of building a bird feeding station in hopes of getting really good shots of some other birds. I also purchased a camouflage changing tent so I can be a little closer to the station. We’ll see!

There will be more to come but for now, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,

Pody

Camera

Elgin, Texas Spring 2017

Elgin, Texas April 28-30, 2017 – pronounced Elg-In.

We took Juanita’s Mom, Chana, to see her eldest son, Daniel, for her 93rd birthday. He lives in a very small town named McDade, about 35 miles east of Austin. Elgin is about 24 miles from Austin. It is a small town of 8100 people or so. Downtown is filled with historical old buildings that have now been renovated into Antique stores and shops. The rest of the town is like most other small towns across Texas. There are some really pretty places and some that should be condemned.

Here are a few shots of both places.

Downtown McDade

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Daniel, Chana, Juanita, and Adolfo
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An uninvited visitor at Daniel’s house!

The train was a building block of most old towns.  Of course next to the tracks was the Grain elevator. I think the grain may get wet.

A retired old blacksmith shop. I really wanted to go inside this place!

This is Sacred Heart Catholic Church. We listened to a very nice homily from Fr. Charles Van Winkle. He has published 3 books and can be found at his website.

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Thanks for looking.

Our next Adventure?? We’ll have to wait and see.

Pody

Camera