Reddish Egret Off of Bolivar Island, Galveston, Texas — Image by Hugh Poland
Recently, Hugh Poland attended some of the Galveston Featherfest Events. One was Ground Level Bird Photography
at Bolivar Flats on the Bolivar Peninsula. This image of a Reddish Egret is one he shared with me.
I’ve taken many roadrunner photos in the almost 12 years we have lived in Tucson. This photo essay is representative of the images.
Last October, Hugh Poland and I spent some time photographing wildlife in southern Arizona, and he was most disappointed in not seeing any Greater Roadrunners. However, he’s planning an August trip to attend a Tucson Audubon Society event here in southeast Arizona.
So maybe he will see and photograph some roadrunners. (Click on any image to view it in a slideshow format.)
— kenne
Greater Roadrunner — Southeast Arizona Images by kenne
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Kingwood, Texas) — Image by Hugh Poland
Stary Sacz
Robert Pinsky wrote in The New Republic: “[In the poetry of Adam Zagajewski] the unmistakable quality
of the real thing–a sunlike force that wilts clichés and bollixes that categories of expectation–
manifests itself powerfully . . . Like a fish breaking water . . . the achievement of these poems [“Without End”]
is partly in that act of rising above a lived-in element. In Zagajewski’s work, the engulfing, ferocious
historical reality appears as our habitat–not a well of horrors to be borrowed for rhetorical thunder,
not an occasion for verse punditry, not a mere backdrop for sensibility. And the perception of that habitat
has a mysterious, elating power.”
Limpkin — Image by Hugh Poland
— Socrates
Andean Cockof the Rock — Image by Hugh Poland
In early February, my stepson-in-law went birding in Ecuador. Upon his return to Kingwood, Texas, Hugh put together this trip video.
— kenne
Tufted Titmouse, Kingwood, Texas (October 9, 2021) — Image by Hugh Poland
The Tufted Titmouse is not found in the southwest but is common in eastern deciduous forests and
a frequent visitor to feeders. The large black eyes, small, round bill, and brushy crest gives these
birds a quiet but eager expression that matches the way they flit through canopies, hang from twig
ends, and drop in to bird feeders. When a titmouse finds a large seed, you’ll see it carry the prize to
a perch and crack it with sharp whacks of its stout bill. — Source: All About Birds
Great Blue Heron (East Park, Lake Houston –10-17-21) — Image by Hugh Poland
Great Blue Herons are the largest of the North American herons, standing tall over wetlands and shores of open water.
Great Blue Herons are blue-gray overall with a wide black stripe over their eye and a long yellow-orangish bill.
In flight their wings are two-toned with blueish forewings and black flight feathers, and their neck is usually coiled in,
unlike the similarly sized Sandhill Cranes.
Great Blue Herons are highly adaptable and can be found in marshes, swamps, shores, and tideflats. Some will even forage
in grasslands and agricultural fields. They have a general diet consisting of fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents,
and even other birds. Great Blue Herons will stand or walk slowly through shallow water before quickly striking with their long bill,
grabbing small prey or impaling large fish. Great Blue Herons nest in colonies, and usually build nests high in the trees,
but will occasionally nest on the ground or in low shrubs.
— Bryce Loschen (Houston Audubon)
![Strawberry field forewer [Explore 2023-05-30 #1]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52938290739_54fc88d448_s.jpg "Strawberry field forewer [Explore 2023-05-30 #1]")
Becoming is Superior to Being 