Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Falconidae

The Crested Caracara is one of my favourite birds to see and photograph, and we were so lucky that this one was perched in a bare tree close to the road. Wish we had them up here in Alberta : ) This one is brown rather than black, so I am guessing it is an immature bird. Just added 9 more photos this morning, still from Day 2 of our 13-day trip to South Texas. Another 3 or 4 images and I will be ready to start on Day 3, our second full day in South Texas. A day on a tiny boat, watching Whooping Cranes and other species. Having posted so many images from basically our first full day, I rather think I will have to be somewhat more 'disciplined" in my choices, or I will never finish : ) Had hoped to finish Day 2 today - almost there. Later morning, on Day 2 of our holiday, 20 March 2019, after our drive to The Big Tree and then along the Lamar Beach Road area, we went to the Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary. This is a small, 6.25 acre nature sanctuary that exists in Rockport itself. Such a peaceful place to wander, watching for plants and butterflies as well as birds. There is a small pond, where we watched a young White Ibis, a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret all feeding together. Lovely to see their reflections in the water, too. A couple of nights ago, I was Googling and came across an article from 19 March 2019, telling about a group of students who chose to spend their Spring Break week helping to tidy the Sanctuary. Good for them! "The Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary is a mixture of oak motte and native grasses. This is the original location of the famed Rockport Cottages, operated by Connie and Jack Hagar. Mrs. Hagar moved to Rockport in 1935 and devoted her life to documenting birdlife in the Rockport area." From link below. aransaspathways.com/connie-hagar-cottage-sanctuary/ After spending some time at this Sanctuary, we went to the Aransas First Cove Harbor Wetlands Sanctuary, followed by eventually finding the Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden. This was definitely not what we were expecting - just a small area of grass and trees with picnic tables. However, we did see a beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly and a small, purple Winecup flower. Afterwards, a repeat drive along Cape Velero Drive and area turned up some nice birds, too.

Cropped a bit too heavily, but I wanted to get rid of an ugly metal pole to the right. Should have tried a better crop, but I ran out of time and energy late last night, ha. I was happy to see this beautiful Merlin female (I think). perched along a gravel road, when I went for a short drive SW of the city on 14 May 2013. I came across a few nice species, including this Merlin, three Phalarope, Northern Shovellers, a pair of Cinnamon Teal, a pair of Canvasbacks, Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Blue-winged Teal, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Scaup, Red-necked Grebes, two WIlson's Snipes, a Sora, and a few Ring-necked Ducks. Even my first sighting this spring of a pair of Canada Geese with four or five goslings, though unfortunately they were right out in the middle of a huge pond. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_ (bird) www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Merlin/id Evening: so THAT'S what rain looks like, lol!! Yep, it's raining this evening - other than a few sprinkles, I don't think we've had rain since before winter began, around last October. Needless to say, I washed my car this afternoon, which usually guarantees rain. Thought I'd better wash off all the dried-on mud from driving muddy backroads, before it rained and washed all the mud down on to my parking spot : ) I was so lucky that my auto place was willing to replace my two car headlights late this afternoon. Looked like I was going to have to wait till 23rd May, so I'm really relieved. Botanizing begins tomorrow, so there will be so many long, long days ahead, of walking/hiking and recording plants (and any other things we see, including insects, birds, mushrooms, wild animals, etc.). I always find this coming half of the year totally exhausting and chaotic, but very interesting, of course.

Two days ago, on a last-minute decision to drive NW of Calgary, I was so lucky to come across this beautiful Gyrfalcon. I didn't notice it in time to stop closer, so I ended up taking some fully zoomed (later, heavily cropped) shots of it way down the road. I wasn't sure what it was until I got home to my bird book and Google, but then reckoned it could be a Gyrfalcon. Thanks to friend, Tony, a superb birder who puts up with my occasional bird ID questions, I now know that it is, indeed, a Gyrfalcon. A handful of times over the last few years, I have been out with various friends and someone will call out "Gyrfalcon" and I see a fast-flying "shape" flying high in the sky, but this is the first time I've really "seen" one. About 45 minutes later, I was staring into the eyes of a beautiful Great Gray Owl : ) All this, plus sunshine - made a great afternoon on 22 March 2013. "The largest falcon in the world, the Gyrfalcon breeds in arctic and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. It preys mostly on large birds, pursuing them in breathtakingly fast and powerful flight .... May range from nearly pure white to dark gray to black, with variable barring and streaking; most are gray." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/gyrfalcon/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrfalcon

If you knew just how far away this bird was, lol! Not much more than a large speck in a distant tree, to the naked eye. So heavily cropped and a miracle it's just OK to post for ID purposes. The white line above the eye is clearly visible. Too bad that the falling snow makes it look like it has a few spotted feathers : ) I rarely see a Prairie Falcon, so this was a treat. Does anyone know if this a juvenile? Taken on 29 November 2012 at Hull's Wood, Fish Creek Park. A grey day today with freezing fog, with all the trees covered in whte snow/frost. Beautiful to see, but wish the sun would come out. It's -11C (12F) with windchill of -18C (0F). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Falcon