Catching up - Update on Birds

A few days ago I tried to write a post for the blog and it got so big the whole thing crashed, I got discouraged and quit! Now, I have decided to do several smaller posts and I will start with an update on some special birds we have seen since the last post.

The Hummers are starting to arrive and it seems everyone has feeders hanging around, waiting to catch glimpses.  We were having a walk and capture this little guy sipping from a cactus flower.

 

And another species showed up at Estero Llano Grande.

                                          

    

Some photos of species we were able to find at the South Padre Birding Center on recent walks.

The Northern Pintail. (This bird always reminds me of our nephew Hank and his incredible painting of this duck.😍

The Long Billed Curlew

With help from some friends, we identified this as a Coopers Hawk. As you can imagine, we are seeing many of these birds in winter plumage and they can present a real challenge. As much as I love seeing birds and looking for new sightings every day, there are so many groups that remain a wonderful mystery to me...like sparrows and Hawks.

Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls

This Coot presented me with such a surprise I am still in awe.  Check out those feet.!

One bird watcher said if he had feet like those he would never take off his socks. Ha!

One of my favorites... The Green Heron

Clapper Rail

The Sora

Couldn't resist another shot of the Roseate Spoonbills. We have been blessed to see quite a few of these beautiful birds!

Always looking for another shot of a Kingfisher.

At Bentsen Rio SP, we caught a quick look at a Roadrunner.

Perhaps the next pictures will show you a few glimpses into a wonderful birding experiences we had.

We learned that a park near Brownsville (about 40 miles away from our campground) is a place where five species of parrots roost for the night. This park is filled with Eucalyptus trees that seem to be a favourite for them.  We went to find the park and waited for them to show up.  

We had an early dinner in the van, and when it approached 5:30 pm, I decided to go out and ask questions of the folks milling around the park.  It took only a few minutes to find a group of birders standing by a fence with scopes and cameras ready! I quickly joined them and waited! 

Soon, small groups of parrots started flying into the trees and making loud tropical sounds.  I didn't know where to look first, but soon I did capture a few shots of the Red-fronted and the Yellow Headed Parrots.  There were hundreds of birds that showed up, and for about a half an hour of dusky light, it was so thrilling. When night fell, we quietly set the GPS and headed back to our own roost for the night! 

As you can imagine, we like to visit the many birding spots in the area and it seems like we have the privilege of lengthy walks and a treasure hunt each day!  What will we see, and what will we learn,

What a beautifully diverse world reflected in these wonderful creatures!

(Look for another catch up soon as we look at special sights of the area around us! And how about those Patriots!!!!! yeahaw)

Nature! Nature! Wonderful Nature!

We have quickly established a habit of leaving the RV park each morning, and heading to one of the many areas that are hotspots for birds, and that have trails or boardwalks to explore.  We have visited several new places as well as returned to some we visited our first week.  I want to share the pictures of some of what we saw.

Bentsen Rio Grande SP

Green Jay

Altamira Oriole

Nest of the Altamira Oriole

                                 

    

Great Kiskadee getting fresh drops at a water station. As a kid I can remember drinking from a hose too.

White-tipped Dove - such lovely colours.

Great Kiskadee and Cardinals sharing the water.

Hugh Ramsey Nature Park

Bobcat shared her trail with us. She had two babies with her, and we enjoyed her company for several minutes.

Oriole and Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Santa Ana NWR

Always a good sighting!

Harris Hawk. We learned they hunt in a "pack" like wolves and is the only hawk known for this behaviour. We actually saw group of three in the morning, and then four sitting high in this dead tree together in the afternoon.

Queen Butterfly

One of the bird blinds at Santa Ana.

One view of the Rio Grande with Mexico in the background.  Hi Neighbors!

A field of cabbages was being harvested across the road from the entrance to the NWR.

South Padre Island

Least Bittern

Love the bad hair day this Reddish Egret is having.

Looks like it is tip-toeing on the surface.

There are some big gators here and this large male was peeking through the rushes.  We were on the boardwalk 😉

Roseate having a nap with a Tricolored and surrounded by (mostly) American Widgeons.

 

American Wigeons

Laguna Atascosa NWR

Snow geese and the darker one second on the right I was told is a Ross's Goose.

We saw several Aplamodo Falcons but this picture is taken from one in a showcase in the Visitor Center. 

Kestrel on the way into the refuge. See about a dozen a day on our travels.

Caracara known as the Mexican Eagle although it is not in that family.

Some of the very endangered Ocelots of the USA live in this refuge. It is believed that around 50 still exist in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Estero Llano Grande State Park

Vermillion Flycatcher. This was a very windy day and you can al out see the effect in the following pictures.  We have had a lot of wind this past week, sometimes gusting to 30-40 mph.

Tropical Kingbird  This bird was identified, by the expert leading the birding group, by its call. It is identical in looks to the Couch's Kingbird.

Green Kingfisher

Back at the RV park, our site is coming along.  We should be in our official home in a few days😍.

There really is more to share than I can fit into this post, but hopefully you will enjoy the bird sightings

and get a small snapshot of this lovely area. I am keeping a bird list each day and sometimes I have seen 60-70 birds on one day.  I will include an abbreviated list in next post.

We are enjoying the friendly people and the delicious Tex-Mex food. 

And we are gathering pictures of some special aspects of the Lower Rio Grande Valley as well.

Our television/DVD player works well for programs after it gets dark, so we are quite content! 

Sending love and hugs, L and L