More Pictures from South Texas

The Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park is one of the few places in the US where you are almost guaranteed to see an Altamira Oriole.

This one was busy trying (with little success) to build his nest on the wire. There were several "starts" that looked like air plants along the wire. Hopefully, this one went better.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are another South Texas specialty although I have seen them in Florida.

...and the ever-present Chachalacas.

On Saturday we took a guided walk with a Naturalist through some wonderful habitat. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the place - I'll have to check with Cheryl.

Our guide took us to a portion closed to other visitors so we could see the nesting Green Parrots.

Too cute! Rabbits are just too photogenic!

Another treat - a Long-billed Thrasher. Apparently the Long-billed and Curved-billed Thrashers look extremely similar. I'll bet I mis-identified this on our last trip in 2013.

Cheryl spotted this Texas Lizard.

This is a Couch's Kingbird - or is it a Tropical Kingbird?

Doves! We saw lots of Doves. This is a small Inca Dove.

 Here the Inca Dove is next to a White-winged Dove so you can see the difference in size.

The whole time we were visiting, Cheryl tried to find us a Road-runner. Laura and Cheryl have seen them in their front yard (so they said) but try as they might, they were no where to be found! Bill and I took a ride one afternoon down around the border (and met lots of nice Border Patrol) and when we got back we proudly showed then the picture of the Road-runner we found!

Life Birds & More!

It was an amazing trip from Ocala to Colorado Springs via South Texas. The birds were fabulous and we added over 3 dozen birds to our Life List. Please let me know if I've misidentified any of the birds!

 An American Redstart - a real challenge to photograph!

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (F)

We've seen one before, but this is the first good picture I've gotten. We also saw a Ladder-backed Woodpecker - but I did not get a picture.

 Audubon's Oriole - immature male.

 Tennessee Warbler

Black-bellied Whistling Duck 

Black-crested Titmouse 

 Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Clay-colored Thrush 

Couch's Kingbird

Caloosa Bird Club Field Trip

Bill and I spent a day birding around Sarasota with the Caloose Bird Club. We started at Ackerman Park before moving on to the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Facility and several small lakes in the area and finished up at the Myakka River State Park. The official club count of different species sighted that day was over 70. I identified over 50 different species including several birds I had never seen before. Most, I would have never spotted, let alone identified, if I had not been with so many friendly and knowledgeable birders.

This is a large flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks that are native to Texas and rarely seen on the east coast.

I'm sure I've seen a Savannah Sparrow before but had no clue what it was.

I was very excited to be the first one in the club to spot this Sora, a type of rail. I had to have help with identification as I had never seen a rail before. Soras are small chickenlike birds that feed along the edges of water - hiding in the weeds looking for aquatic insects and seeds.

The club had lunch at Myakka River State Park, where I saw this beautiful Limpkin hunting for snails. S/He took this one back to the two babies hiding in the tall grass. I'm sure the snail was as much a treat for them as just seeing them was for me.