Snapped this pic of a House Finch today. I thought it was a Purple Finch but discovered it was a new bird to add to my Big Year List. They are neat little birds.

The other day, while wondering the woods just outside a local park, I snapped this pic of a bird that is very rare in these parts. It’s a Black-Chinned Hummingbird. I’ve never seen one before and I will add this to my Big Year List, and my Life List. It’s awesome.

Felix and I started a ‘Big Year’ in April and we are off to a great start. A Big Year is a birder’s term. It is where the birder tries to identify as many birds as possible in a 12-month period. Normally, a Big Year runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31, but we started ours April 28.

We’re at around 80 species so far. The record is 745 in North America. You have to spend a lot of time and money to reach that point. We are aiming for 200+. Below is a photo of a Dickcissel. It is a very vocal bird and sings throughout the day.

Felix and I went birding the other day and he snapped this photo of a little blue heron. He’s getting pretty good with photography. Way to go pal!

Felix and I recently did some target shooting at Richard R. Barron’s place. This is a photo Richard took of me and Felix as Felix gets ready to shoot my 12-guage shotgun. He was pretty good with it, but the powerful kick left him wanting to shoot the .22 again.

On our trip to the coast, Felix and I spent the first day in Dallas. We visited the Dallas Children’s Aquarium and had a blast. Despite it’s name, the aquarium is for everyone. In the photo below, Felix is feeding a Cownose Ray. For a fee, you can feed these rays little dead fish. It sounds weird, but it is a lot of fun. Those things were awesome!

My son Felix and I made a trip to the Texas coast recently and had a blast. Although we spent much of our time taking on the waves in the Gulf, we were able to get a few hours for birdwatching before we left. Below are some bird photos I took while we were there.

This is a Great Blue Heron up close.

This is an American Oyster Catcher and it is one of our favorite birds. It’s not easily seen and its name is a little off. It really should be called Oyster Cracker, but it doesn’t sound as catchy I guess. It looks small but it’s actually fairly large.

These are laughing Gulls. They are a dime a dozen at the coast, but they are the ones that make those cool sea gull sounds you hear where the surf meets the turf. They were performing a mating ritual when I snapped this photo. The one on the right is the male and he is begging for the female to accept him. I had no respect for him at all.

This is a Short-billed Dowitcher on the hunt. It is also larger than it looks in photos.