Early spring is a good time to look hard at the birds of prey in the Riyadh area. The wintering eagles gather and seem to be reinforced by others on passage before moving on. Different types of other birds of prey pass through too. Last weekend saw some of these events. For example a fulvescens […]
Duck Date
Last February I wrote about a pair of interesting puddle ducks I saw in Brooklyn Bridge Park. She was a mallard,Anas platyrhynchos. He was an American black duck, Anas rubripes. She would normally mate with a green-headed male mallard duck. But they appeared to be a couple. I think I saw the same pair today […]
Long-billed Curlew with Crabs
Long-billed Curlews are crazy awesome birds. It’s pretty amazing to see them at work. They can get those bills down pretty far into the sand in search of crabs and other food. I found this one at Fort De Soto yesterday. It was actively probing the sand, and I saw it catch at least two […]
Reflection
70-300.0 mm f/4.0-5.6 1/500s, f/4.8, ISO 1,250 Mode: M, Meter: Matrix, No Flash, Auto WB Focal: 200mm, Dst: 11.9m, 11/29/2011 NIKON D90
Don’t call him hummingbird.
Hmm, I thought I had put these up already. Apparently not. Sphinx moths. You love them, right? As you should. They’re sort of fancy-pants. This is a White-lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) unless someone tells me otherwise. Not really the easiest photo subject. These shots aren’t all that sharp but I like ’em anyway. My attention […]
Round up of Al Hayer in February
Last year I visited Al Hayer south of Riyadh almost weekly and it became what we birders call my local patch. This year I vowed to make trips more widely within Saudi Arabia and I have been doing so. However last weekend I returned to Al Hayer for the first time in over 6 weeks. […]
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) A Winter Visitor
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) is a winter visitor to the East Coast of North America. The birds that are found here probably come from the breeding population in Iceland. The Lesser Black-backed Gull breeds in the Atlantic coasts of Europe and migrates in the winter. From the British Isles self to West Africa. Every […]
Ipacaá (Giant wood-Rail)
Hasta cuando estás alejándote te mantienes atento a nuestra presencia pero no me importa; igual yo estoy atento a tus movimientos y espero el momento oportuno en el que me regalás poses como esta aunque me mires de reojo sobre tu hombro para poder sacarte una foto !!!!!