June 26, 2019 - Texas - Roadrunners and more

One of the highlights of the Texas workshop I attended in February was seeing several Greater Roadrunners. This is a bird that most people recognize, maybe because of its depiction in cartoons. No, their call does not sound like “beep, beep.” And yes, there is a Lesser Roadrunner. It resembles the Greater Roadrunner but is smaller. (Imagine that!) It is found in southwestern Mexico and northern Central America.

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Roadrunners eat lots of snakes, large insects, spiders, and lizards. Because they can run so fast (up to 15 miles per hour) Roadrunners prefer to chase their prey on the ground instead of flying after it. They can fly, but don’t do it very often.

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The White-crowned Sparrow has a distinctive orange/pink bill. The bold black and white stripes on its head indicate this is an adult bird (see next photo.) At 7 inches long, it is one of our larger sparrows.

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Brown and white stripes on the head of this bird tell us it is a first-winter White-crowned Sparrow. These birds nest in the Rocky Mountains and in western and northern Canada. In winter, they can be found all across the southern half of the United States.

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I was impressed by these Yucca flowers at a rest stop in Texas. The flower stalk must have been at least 2 feet tall.

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One evening, as we were packing up our gear, we saw this rattlesnake swimming across the pond where we had been photographing. I still had my camera out so I quickly snapped a few pictures of it. I know snakes can swim but it still amazes me to see them doing it.

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The snake curled up at the edge of the pond and I was able to get this photo. That’s when I really appreciated my long lens. I was able get a close-up shot without being close to the snake!

Click on this link to see all the photos I took at the photography workshop.
http://www.earlorfphotos.com/Trips/Texas-Photo-Workshop-Feb-2016

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