Coots

Continuing with Coots:

American Coot

Common Gallinule

Other photos from Sweetwater Wetlands

In addition to the raccoons, I got some bird photos:

Common Gallinule

Common Yellowthroat Male

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Red Winged Blackbird

Tropical Kingbird

Verdin at Nest

Yellow Warbler

Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2018 - VIII

I found this Common Gallinule (another misnamed bird) early one morning at Sweetwater Wetlands. They are usually solitary, moving in and out of the weed beds:

Common Gallinule

Dawn at Sweetwater Wetlands: Part II - Common Gallinule

Common Gallinules (previously Common Moorhen) are often present but hidden in the Cattails. Usually when seen it is early morning. Such was the case last week:

Sweetwater Wetlands

A quick trip around Sweetwater Wetlands yielded the typical birds, yet I did come away with a particularly nice photo of a Common Gallinule I thought I'd share:

Common Gallinule

A Rainy Day at Sweetwater Wetlands

Catching up from last month's Best Wildlife Photos of 2016, I'll start with a quick trip to Sweetwater Wetlands; quick, because shortly after I arrived and was at the far end of the Wetlands it started raining.

Nonetheless, I did come away with some photos; some better than others. The first, a Belted Kingfisher shows the difficulty in photographing birds sometimes. Often when they see you they immediately fly away, never to be seen again. All I got was a blurr:

Belted Kingfisher

There was a Black Crowned Night Heron -- not as often seen at Sweetwater:

Black Crowned Night Heron

The more secretive Common Gallinule showed himself momentarily:

Common Gallinule

The Cooper's Hawks (as well as the Sharp Shins) were out and about. This one I took in the pouring rain:

Cooper's Hawk

 A Great Egret did a flyby:

Great Egret

 And, the Ruddy Ducks -- seen more often in the winter months -- were in most of the ponds:

Ruddy Duck

All in all, a nice, short, wet morning birding and photographing at Sweetwater.

Happy Together: Common Gallinule, Red Eared Turtle, and Pied Billed Grebe

So you go out looking for one thing  and find three things all in one frame -- Happy Together. Not what I was looking for, but a nice find and a nice photo anyway:

Common Gallinule, Red Eared Turtle, Pied Billed Grebe

Whitewater Draw

Whitewater Draw, 25 miles southeast of Tombstone is one of the premier winter birding sites in the US. It never fails to provide photos. Last week Christine and I picnicked and walked the dikes. Here are a few of the photos:

Ruddy Duck

Cinnamon Teal

Pied Billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

White Crowned Sparrow

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Common Gallinule