{"id":1255,"date":"2011-04-30T12:30:05","date_gmt":"2011-04-30T17:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2011-05-01T21:40:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T02:40:34","slug":"busy-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/30\/busy-april\/","title":{"rendered":"Busy April"},"content":{"rendered":"

April was a busy month for me.\u00a0 First, I helped conduct some workshops at FeatherFest\/PhotoFest in Galveston.\u00a0 Then, I\u00a0guided other photographers on one of the south Texas photo ranches.\u00a0 After that, I went to South Padre Island and\u00a0the Ozona,\u00a0Texas\u00a0area\u00a0to lead\u00a0photo tours and\u00a0workshops.\u00a0 Then the month ended with a media event at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.\u00a0 The Cincinnati Zoo\u00a0education team\u00a0brought an ocelot by the refuge for a few minutes and allowed\u00a0us to photograph it.\u00a0\u00a0So, the hectic month ended on a high note.<\/p>\n

April was unlike those of most other years.\u00a0 While the rest of the country was getting blasted with powerful weather systems, Texas was toasty and extremely dry.\u00a0\u00a0One of our favorite bird events, a migration\u00a0“fallout” of\u00a0songbirds\u00a0at South Padre Island didn’t happen\u00a0because the cool fronts just weren’t reaching us.\u00a0\u00a0The weather man promises a good cold front next week, so\u00a0you know where\u00a0I will\u00a0be Monday morning (if the Lord is willing and the creek don’t rise)…\u00a0South Padre Island!<\/p>\n

Next week, I hope to get busy preparing a photo tour schedule for the coming fall, winter and spring, so keep watching this web site.<\/p>\n

Here is a good sampling of the photos I got from all those April trips:<\/p>\n

Remember to click on the photo to see an enlarged and sharper version.\u00a0 You can advance through the photos by clicking in the upper right portion of each photo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>
Black Skimmer pair in a courting chase at Galveston Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"Black<\/a>
Black Skimmers landing in formation on wet beach at South Padre Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Black-necked<\/a>
Black-necked Stilt feeding along the edge of the Laguna Madre at South Padre Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00a0captured the stilt photo while lying in wet sand and shooting from a bean bag\u00a0on a frisbee.\u00a0 In the spring, I always try to have my wading shoes, bathing suit and an old t-shirt for low-crawling in the sand\u00a0to get these eye-level views.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\"These<\/a>
These dunlins held a tight formation while whirling about the tidal flats on South Padre Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great Blue Heron chasing mullet in the shallows of the Laguna Madre at South Padre Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Unlucky<\/a>
Unlucky mullet speared by a great blue heron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the photo above, the bird is angling away from the photographer, but it best shows what a great blue heron can do with that sharp, powerful beak.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
A more photogenic pose of a great blue heron hunting in the freshwater marsh at South Padre Island's Birding Center boardwalk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Laughing<\/a>
Laughing gull bathing in the Laguna Madre at sunrise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Who<\/a>
Who says Laughing Gulls can't read. This sign is on the South Padre Island Birding Center boardwalk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I cloned away some screws along the top of the sign.\u00a0 They were connected with monofilament line to discourage perching birds, but they weren’t working.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\"Laughing<\/a>
Laughing gulls and black skimmers skim freshwater ponds near the lower Texas coast to drink.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"This<\/a>
This displaying great-tailed grackle was the first bird I saw at South Padre Island. He's not exactly what I was after, but I couldn't resist the display.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Baltimore<\/a>
Baltimore Orioles were arriving at South Padre about the same time we did (April 19). I was able to lure this male onto a good perch by using an orange slice placed just below the perch. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the birds to feed actively until well after the warm morning light had passed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"This<\/a>
This nice blackpoll male arrived at my South Padre Island perch well ahead of the other birds and while the light was rich.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Male<\/a>
Male ruby-throated hummingbird feeding at bottle brush blooms by the South Padre Island Convention Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Small<\/a>
Small birds like this Tennessee Warbler feed on insects among the fiddlewood leave at South Padre Island Convention Center. Larger fruit eaters like rose-breasted grosbeaks and orioles feast on the ripe fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"This<\/a>
This warbling vireo spent the morning of April 20 foraging among the leaves of huisache and tepeguaje trees at the convention center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Western<\/a>
Western Tanagers normally are rare visitors to SPI during the spring migration. This year we saw several cooperative males.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"An<\/a>
An excited male mottled duck in the shoreline foliage of South Padre Island's Birding Center marsh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"My<\/a>
My trip to the Hoak Ranch near Ozona, Texas included taking the photo group to historic Fort Landcaster. Even in ruins, the fort is a majestic locale for late evening photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A little "star burst" effect as the setting sun slides past a chimney in the Fort Lancaster soldiers' quarters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"One<\/a>
A sharp-eyed photography student at the Hoak Ranch Workshop spotted a wary pair of mating western coachwhip snakes. In parts of west Texas, coachwhips take on a reddish color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Zone-tailed<\/a>
Zone-tailed Hawks often fly with vultures and blend in with the flock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"This<\/a>
This zone-tailed hawk glided past the Hoak Ranch patio in late afternoon. After sprinting to the car for a camera, I managed a few, shaky shots as the zone-tail drifted into the sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My last photos in\u00a0April were\u00a0of this female ocelot (below) posing on a mesquite branch at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Captive<\/a>
Captive ocelot furnished by the Cincinnati Zoo for an educational tour of south Texas where fewer than 50 of the endangered cats still survive in the wild.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
I hope you enjoyed this little look into my busy spring.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun.\u00a0 Thanks to all of you who\u00a0were a part of it.<\/div>\n
Larry<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April was a busy month for me.\u00a0 First, I helped conduct some workshops at FeatherFest\/PhotoFest in Galveston.\u00a0 Then, I\u00a0guided other photographers on one of the south Texas photo ranches.\u00a0 After that, I went to South Padre Island and\u00a0the Ozona,\u00a0Texas\u00a0area\u00a0to lead\u00a0photo tours and\u00a0workshops.\u00a0 Then the month ended with a media event at Santa Ana National Wildlife … Continue reading Busy April<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1287,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions\/1287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}