April 12, 2024

"The Birds"

My bird images from the Texas Gulf Coast shoot in February has finally been narrowed down to 36 photos, cropped square (1:1). Now I need to pick 4-6 to print on metal at 30"x 30" for gallery display.

©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 27, 2024

Whooping Cranes' "Turf" Battle

(Technically flawed photo, but I tried to hide the worst parts because it is so good with respect to subject and action. I think that we all can easily see what is going on here!)
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - Winter 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 26, 2024

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - Winter 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 26, 2024

Snowy Egret in Early Morning Fog* (*My fave from the February birding trip to the Texas Gulf Coast!)

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - February 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 25, 2024

Whooping Crane with Breakfast

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - February 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 25, 2024

Whooping Crane (Grus Americana) in Grayscale

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - Winter 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 24, 2024

American White Pelican and Brown Pelicans with Caspian Terns in Foreground

Oystershell Reef in San Antonio Bay - Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - Winter 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 23, 2024

Portrait of an American White Pelican (Pelecanus Erythrorhynchos)

Aransas NWR - Texas Gulf Coast
Winter 2024 - ©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 22, 2024

Pelican Fantasies (a short story in three paragraphs and a photo)

Pelican-1: "Coastal Control, this is Pelican-One recon flight. Be advised that I have a crab poacher on the west side of the Intracoastal, in federal waters. Looks like that same male Whooper that we keep busting over here. He doesn't appear to see me overhead, and he does have a crab in his beak at the present time. I'll do a 270-overhead and come back in on a low pass for verification. Please send backup to apprehend suspect."

Coastal Control: "Rodger, Pelican-One. Caspian and Oyster-Catcher flights are inbound to your location. Report rendezvous."

Pelican-1: "Rodger dodger, you old codger .. philco-wilco over and out."

©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

March 22, 2024

Brown Pelican Plunge-Fishing; Whooping Crane Watching

Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), are the only pelicans in the Northern Hemisphere that engage in this violent plunging maneuver to catch fish. In fact, it can best be described (in anthropomorphic terms) as a death-defying high-dive into a neck-breaking water plunge. It makes my neck hurt to watch them.

Back from near-extinction in the 1960s & 1970s from DDT runoff related issues (read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" - published on September 27, 1962), the Brown pelicans' conservation status is now "least concern (population increasing)." The species is ubiquitous along the Texas coastal waters in the Winter.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Texas Gulf Coast - February 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio