A Warm Windy Day at Estero with Anita

Birding at Estero was special today because my sister from Minnesota was birding there for the first time. We saw more turtles and alligators than we normally do because John is a great reptile spotter. There were fewer birds because of the strong south wind. The highlight for them was pelicans flying out of the levee and then kettling to gain altitude. Almost as good was seeing Jachin, the best young photographer and his family. 

                    Showy Egrit Hunting

Immature Night Heron 

Female Anhinga in the thicket.  She rejected her mate in the water and saw off.

Tri-colored Heron

American White Pelicans 

Long-billed Dowitchers in foreground and Yellow Legs along the shoreline feeding.

 Long-billed Dowitchers (11 inches)

Least Sandpipers 6 inches

Jachin's hat blew off into the water 2" deep

Fulvous Whistling Ducks

The Fulvous Whistling Ducks are my favorite ducks in South Texas. They have shape, design and beautiful coloring.  Fulvous are at both Santa Ana and Estero. But at Estero Llando Grande they were quite close in a pond on one windy Saturday. We regularly spotted them at Pintail Lakes at Santa Ana either on a log or on a small floating island near where the newest Jacana were seen.

Brushline Road & La Sal del Ray 1/22

                There was plenty to see in the sky that cold morning in January. First is a Harris's Hawk and then a pair of Crested Caracara, known as Mexican Eagles, but not nearly as cool as American Eagles. Then came the White-tailed Kite flying over looking for dinner before preening treetop. On to La Sal del Ray, which is a 1/2 mile hike from the parking lot before the hike. It was pleasant but not sure about the effort it took to get there

Harris's Hawk

Crested Caracaras 

 

White-tailed Kite

Gunnar and Paul my front seat drivers.

                Not much to see at La Sal del Rey, but an Egrit, Sanderlings, plants and salt.

Brushline Road - Pyrrhuloxia & Other Song Birds

            January 28th the temperature was 34 degrees when we left Alamo heading north to Brushline Road northeast of Edinburg.  The windows were rolled down in front for sighting and it was freezing in the back. I checked the temp on the truck at I was right 30 degrees plus windchill. But we were soon rewarded by seeing Pyrrhuloxias in the high brush. The photos were all females or immatures which sort of cardinal look a like.  

Incomparison to the Pyrrhuloxia,   Cardinals ( Frontera)

  in Texas are much more vibrant than those in  Oakwood (MN)

 The Curved-billed Thrasher was in the undergrowth below the Pyrrhuloxia.

Sprague's Pipits (sparrow like bird) did a courtship flight from the ground to high in the air.  No Photographs but we chanced on another rare bird, the Green-tailed Towhee very high.

Vesper Sparrow 

 Savanah Sparrow, below Verdin and White-eyed Vireo

                                                  















                        Eastern  Phoebe  

                                                                                                               

Vermillion Flycatcher, 2 photos 

Mockingbird (pretending to be someone else) 

 

Two Kiskadees, more to come to the pair. 

Frontera Rare Birds and Birders

In the last weeks, Frontera was humming with birders and rare birds. I was lucky enough to see most of them. The Blue Bunting, the rarest of the birds seldom seen in the US drew hundreds of birders. I have spent 5 mornings there with the crowd and the chance to see rare and wonderful birds. Crimson Collared Grosbeak, Blackheaded Grosbeak, Painted Bunting and the Blue Bunting were all firsts for me. Paul and I were without cameras when the Crimson sat smackdab in front of us. The Blue Bunting was a fleeting sight so Frontera is now a regular haunt for Gunnar and I. We want our own photos of it.  

Photo by Michael Emenaker 

 Above:  Black-throated Green Warbler,    Below Tropical Parulas  

On January 26th, our Warbler Day with no camera day, we saw 10 warblers species. 

After the rain stopped and the warblers were actively feeding.  Good call Paul.

           After the news of the Blue Bunting, Frontera was a zoo, exciting but claustrophobic. 

                                  

                No sighting yet . . .   But that day, Carolee, Paul and I scored a Blue Bunting! Not everyone did. 

                              Black-headed Grosbeak (female)

Feeding Station Regulars  : Buff-belled Hummingbird, Gray Catbird, Clay-colored Thrush

 

                

 Altimara Oriole (immature)  Ovenbird, below