NATURE CLICKS #617 - NORTHERN PINTAIL

Northern Pintail, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Although it’s tempting to focus only on the biggest attractions of an area with wildlife, like the large numbers of geese in the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, all the other birds we were able to watch deserve some attention as well. The Northern Pintail is one of the most beautiful ducks and their unique body features make it easy to identify them. Both of my photos today show males and I was wondering if they used Hagerman NWR just as a place to rest while still migrating further south to Mexico.

SNOW / ROSS’S GEESE AT HAGERMAN NWR, TEXAS

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

We skipped the first snowstorm here in Iowa and spent instead a few more days in northern Texas. Our campsite was in Eisenhower State Park at Lake Texoma but the real destination of this trip was just half an hour away, the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. It was two days of intensive bird watching and photography. The highlight at this time of the season is a large number of Snow and Ross’s Geese that come down from the arctic regions and spent the winter in the wetlands of Hagerman refuge.

Snow and Ross’s Geese, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

The Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge have an excellent website and they perform a weekly bird census, that is mainly done for research but helps to prepare for such a trip as ours and gives you an idea what to look for. https://friendsofhagerman.com/

I like to share a few photos from Tuesday last week and the bird census for that day shows an estimate of 6000 geese that were present, Beside that, over 80 species of birds were counted by the volunteers. We have of course not seen all of them but still enough to make it two memorable days.

Snow Geese, Blue morph with a white in the background

Maybe something had spooked the whole flock of geese and suddenly they were all up in the air

The photography can be overwhelming at times. What tells the story better, the flock of geese as a whole or the shot of some individuals? It is not always easy to separate the birds from each other in the viewfinder and getting an impression about the large number of birds seems to be important as well.

The geese feed on fresh wheat in the refuge, planted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

AFTER THE RAIN

Historical stockyard in Fort Worth, Texas

This photo may leave the question, what is really the subject here? Is it the remains of the old stockyard in the foreground, the impressive clouds in the background, or even the rainbow that appeared while the rain front moved out of the area? For me it is the overall mood of the weather, combined with the warm light from the low sitting sun on the wood of the livestock pens. None of each mentioned element in the frame would stand out on its own, it’s the light and colors that bring it all together for a memorable image.

NATURE CLICKS #616 - NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD

Northern Mockingbird, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge near Azle, Texas

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Turkey Day, as some prefer to say! Instead of showing a picture of a Wild Turkey I can present you a photo of a Northern Mockingbird. It was shot yesterday in the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge near Azle, Texas. The mockingbird is the state bird for several states, including Texas. It was a lifer for me and this bird has been for a long time on my ”most wanted list”.