On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning, Everybody,
Today we once again are near home, for a reader. Although many folks just think of this as “On The Road”, I hasten to remind that for the previous year or so, it was “On The Road and In Your Backyard” as there are only so many days we travel, and there are all kinds of interesting in our everyday lives.
So please, don’t be bashful and submit some pictures, folks!
These are not exactly pics from On the Road, since they are all local shots from my part of Kansas, all taken this fall. But I thought that folks might enjoy seeing some of them, since many of these guys can be seen pretty much anywhere in the country.
I’d also like to thank Spanky for mentioning that I have calendars of bird photos for 2020, and that these make marvelous Christmas gifts if you are a bird-lover. I realize that the BJ Pet Calendar is also a marvelous Christmas gift, but hey, doesn’t everybody need at least a couple of calendars? At any rate, here’s the information about those.
Iconic Birds of the World, featuring birds from Tanzania, Ecuador, Brazil, New Zealand and the good ol’ USA. at http://bit.ly/2qXi3i5
The other is Hawks and Owls of Kansas at http://bit.ly/2OHjJVF
Thanks!
First-year male Common Yellowthroat. Warblers like this guy typically don’t stay around for the winter, so I think he was just traveling through, a bit later than usual but still ahead of the worst part of a Kansas winter season.
Male Dark-eyed Junco with a bit of dirt on his beak. These snowbirds come in October and leave in April in this part of the world. Folks in some parts of the USA, at higher altitudes or latitudes, can see them year-round.
Male Spotted Towhee. A resident of the western half of the country, these big sparrows come to eastern KS for the winter, while our summer-resident Eastern Towhees abscond to the east and south.
Swamp Sparrow. Common in fall migration, rare in winter here. A pretty little sparrow who rarely perches out in the open like this one did.
White-throated Sparrow. Abundant fall and spring migrant, but not common in the winters here. This is the white-striped version, there is also a tan-striped version. And therein lies a tale – https://www.audubon.org/news/the-fascinating-and-complicated-sex-lives-white-throated-sparrows#
Male Merlin of the taiga subspecies enjoying his breakfast. Merlins are small fast falcons, specialized predators for smaller birds. Formerly known as Pigeon Hawks, these guys, as well as the less common prairie (Richardsonii) subspecies, are pretty common in October and November here, and occasionally will overwinter.
Red-tailed Hawk of the Harlan’s subspecies. These dark hawks breed in Alaska and the Yukon and winter in the Great Plains. They come in a staggering variety of plumages, and their tails, in particular, are as unique as fingerprints.
Steeplejack (phone)
Stunning pictures, as always.
Chemnut
p.a.
Wow, again! Do you use a blind?
Rob
I’m sorry, towhee, I promise that I won’t ever do that again!
debbie
Stupid question, really stupid. On the white-throated sparrow, why wouldn’t they have instead named it the yellow-browed sparrow? That seems like a more distinctive marking.
Awesome photos!
Just One More Canuck
Stunning pictures
Baud
I’m starting to think you’ve done this before.
Raven
Awesome
Betty Cracker
Amazing photos!
arrieve
Splendid as always, Albatrossity. We have juncos all winter long here and most of the other songbirds migrate through, but I rarely get to see raptors so always really enjoy your pictures of them.
JPL
Wow! I’m so pleased to see your photos here again. Just beautiful.
Spanky
“Those”? Two calendars? Looks like I’ll have to make another order for the Hawk Mountain members on my Christmas list.
Spanky
@Spanky: A public service message:
moonbat
Those are some beautiful photographs. Thank you for sharing them!
wormtown
Your pictures are wonderful. I just ordered a calendar. Thank you.
TomatoQueen
Good morning little beauties! Your friend albatrossity shows you off so well. Mr Yodelpants says Miaou! to his namesake Merlin.
pinacacci
please please as many bird pictures as possible; they are lovely! Thank you.
stinger
Albatrossity, I’ve ordered one calendar — I think it’s the international birds one. If so, I’ll have to order the other, as I lived in north central Kansas for two years (and remain in the Midwest). You capture the individual personalities of your subjects so well. I only wish my mother were still alive, as she was a birder and would have loved all of these.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Great shots!
rikyrah
These pictures are gorgeous
Mo" Salad
Do you get wafers with it?
Mohagan
Wonderful pictures as usual!! I always thought Juncos (they were Oregon Juncos when I first met them) were a N CA bird but there are relatives in KS obviously.
pat
Just ordered the hawks and owls calendar. Wonderful shots.
I photograph birds and other flying things (butterflies, dragonflies, bees, flowerflies, anything that flies and then sits in front of me) but I’ll never be able to match the quality of these awesome photos.
Albatrossity
Thanks, all. I will try to answer the questions in one comment, and I hope that you enjoy the calendars as much as I enjoy taking the pics and choosing the images each year!
@p.a. – No, I don’t use a blind, but I do have a nice little camp stool that I plop down in a promising spot. I’ve found that if I sit down and lower my profile (I’m 6’4″ tall, so that seems necessary), the birds don’s mind getting closer.
@debbie – No idea who named the White-throated Sparrow, or why they chose that feature. Other sparrows have a yellow eyebrow, however, so that might not be the best field mark. Others have a white throat as well… Bird names are kinda idiosyncratic, for sure.
I spent the day counting birds at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Bird Count, and it was a nice day. Best sighting – a young Northern Shrike coughing up a pellet. I know hawks and owls did that, and it makes sense that shrikes would do that as well. But I’d never seen that happen, and it was neat to see!
Thanks again. I’ve submitted some more pics (all raptors) to Alain, so there are more bird pics in your future!