Pretty by the Lake – 10,000 Birds

The autumn of 2022 turned out to be time for birding and me. However I didn’t do an excellent job with the follow-up duties: processing my images, finishing my stories, and writing about them on this web site. Which is why, upon reviewing my images from my first post-Outdated World outing, I spotted two issues:

1. I hadn’t connected a single photograph to my eBird listing.
2. There have been numerous good photographs in there.

Due to level quantity two, I’ll keep away from my regular wordy exposition, and go straight to the images. These are all from Lake Cuitzeo, to which I went to see the migratory waterfowl and shorebirds that had arrived whereas we have been in Spain and the Center East.

I’ll begin with this Cinnamon Teal. Sometimes a chicken photograph is extra concerning the habitat than the chicken itself.

The identical could possibly be stated about this shot of a Northern Shoveler.

There appear to be an unusually massive variety of American Wigeons on the lake this winter. Which is okay… I like American Wigeons.

I’m additionally an enormous fan of birds lining up in pairs for objective of comparability. These two are a Cinnamon Teal and a Blue-winged Teal.

You possibly can all the time rely on Northern Pintails being current on the lake in winter.

Ring-billed Gulls are the commonest gulls on the lake. However they not often fly by me at such a detailed distance.

Sadly, Ruddy Geese can’t all the time have vivid blue payments. However they hold their tails stiff anyway.

After which I got here throughout an American Avocet, who gave me a category within the unusual artwork of Avocet feeding.

Avocets generally line up in a kind of sweeping, avian feeding refrain line. A number of images from today recommend that Lesser Yellowlegs desire the synchronized doubles occasion.

For some cause, once I see two Pink-tailed Hawks flying collectively down right here, one all the time appears to be a lightweight morph, and the opposite a darkish morph. I admire the variety.

As I continued on to the north shore of the lake, a Loggerhead Shrike let me get an unusually shut look.

After that, it was all concerning the shorebirds. Some Western Sandpipers gave me a somewhat poetic take a look at them.

A Semipalmated Plover gave me a glance that pierced my soul.

A Willet flew by, leaving little doubt that it was, in truth, a Willet. This was a little bit of a privilege, since Willets often head straight to the coast within the winter.

However one of many favourite sightings I’ll have on the lake in winter is of Wilson’s Snipes. A couple of birds appear to exist to assist us chortle.