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Recent entries
some death-defying species from madagascar, my death defied and her extinction defied, yeah both in one trip - 2009-08-11
the borg - 2009-08-10
appearing soon in your hometown - 2009-08-10
tweet - 2009-08-09
don't be talking about me in front of my face, yall - 2009-08-06
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By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets.
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A bibliography of my published books and stories.
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Here's my card-counting FAQ. |
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| Visit my original website but I recommend putting pop-up/banner blockers on first. |
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| A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!!
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates
on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit
the localroger diary. |
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| Visit Peachfront's Cookbook, for recipes that are fast, cheap, and good. A work in progress. |
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| The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill blog by Mark Bittner about feral Cherry-Headed Conures in San Francisco. |
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the spoonbills of lake martin, louisiana
2004-03-21 - 4:25 p.m.
Please Note: All photos © 2004 by Elaine Radford
All Rights Reserved
Click the above photo to visit my Spoonbill photo album!
For the first time, we were able to use the
van to go camping/birding,
instead of
just hauling lumber, soil, plants, and everything else in the world required
to rebuild our fence and our back garden. Saturday morning, BF and I
headed over to Lake Martin to catch the Roseate Spoonbill spectacle
before the trees fully leafed out. The van proved worth its
weight in gold
in its added height, because all the other birders in the area had the same
idea, and it made it delightfully easy to look over their puny little
cars and mini-vans for an eye-level view of this incredible rookery.
I'd been told that there were
about 100 Spoonbills, but I'm convinced that we saw a lot more. And they
were in spectacular breeding condition, with bright pinks, reds, oranges,
and even yellows popping out in places I barely knew they had places.
Some Black-Crowned Night Herons and Little Blue Herons are also nesting
in the same rookery, but the show belongs to the many thousands of Great
Egrets who were courting, carrying sticks, and nest building over a huge area.
My bird list isn't as long as it could be, because I invested my time
in enjoyng the Spoonbills, but here it is for what it's worth:
© 2004 by Elaine Radford
Click the above photo to see my Great Egret photo album!
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Double-crested Cormorant
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Neotropic Cormorant
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Anhinga
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Great Blue Heron
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Great Egret --thousands, full breeding plumage, courting, carrying sticks,
building nests, even a copulation witnessed
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Little Blue Heron --several pairs
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Snowy Egret --3 low overflight, not yet nesting
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Cattle Egret
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Green Heron -- one pair
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Black-crowned Night-Heron -- several pairs
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White Ibis -- large flocks circling overhead near sunset
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Roseate Spoonbill --dozens if not hundreds of pairs courting and
nest-building
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Turkey Vulture
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Common Moorhen
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Rock Dove
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Ruby-crowned Kinglet
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Carolina Wren
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Northern Mockingbird
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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Carolina Chickadee
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Tufted Titmouse
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Blue Jay
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American Crow --both crow species vocalized frequently
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Fish Crow
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European Starling
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White-eyed Vireo -- one, close-up, singing, Acadiana Nature Center
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Prothonotary Warbler --singing very softly, very close at Lake Martin
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Swamp Sparrow
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Northern Cardinal
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Common Grackle
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House Sparrow
Notable: An intimate look at a Prothonatory Warbler from a short distance
who sang under his breath but did not fly away, allowing us to study every glowing
feather in the scope.
Of course, many tourists visit Lake Martin in search of alligators, and we were
not disappointed; several huge gators were up and out of hibernation, like this
gator with a retired nutria in his mouth:
© 2004 by Elaine Radford
The cycle of life goes on, and we saw this overwhelmed mother nutria just about
covered with babies -- two are nursing on the near side, one is sleeping nearest
the camera, and another is nursing on the far side:
© 2004 by Elaine Radford
In case you missed my hints up above, if you want to see more pictures from this trip, click here for the great egret photo album and click here for the roseate spoonbill photo album.
Other reptiles included a good-sized ribbon snake and many red-eared sliders. Other mammals included (unfortunately) a feral cat at the Acadiana Nature Center.
Hummingbird Report: At least two adult male Ruby-Throats.
back - next
All Rights Reserved, Copyright © 2002-200- by Elaine Radford
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