cedar waxwings and pine warbler

I have been seeing trees covered with Cedar Waxwings.

It is always a delight to see the brightly colored Pine Warbler at my feeder!

It was pretty late in the day and overcast as well, so it is really hard for me to tell what this is - I think this may be a savannah sparrow along my creek. (HINT: I need help)

He would not pose for me...

There were 3 of them in a tree.

The next tree had this very funny looking Great Blue Heron, must be a youngster.

I have to admit, this camera has a great zoom!

I forgot to take a picture of the gang of 30 or so white winged doves that
can empty my feeders in a matter of minutes... they hang out in the tree to see if I will come back out to refill.

odds and ends from January and February

Here are some odds and ends from the past few weeks. First, some photos...

Here is a pair of red-shouldered hawks!

I believe this was the first spotted sandpiper I have seen along the creek near my neighborhood. I always enjoy having the American Goldfinches in my yard!! (Sad about the nearly dead orange tree :( - hope it recovers in the spring!)

Another American Goldfinch waiting his turn at my feeder...

For my friends in the frozen north this will be a good sign: ROBINS!!! These are very late for my first sighting, but they are on the move! I love hearing them.

This yellow-rumped Warbler was at Challenger 7 Memorial Park.

Not the greatest shot of a Northern Flicker.

I guess this possum looked cute with its pink cheeks... it was a very big one in Challenger 7 Memorial Park. (I don't think they are so cute when they are in my backyard)

I also found this squadron of white ibis feeding!

Now, for some videos.


The White Ibis must have really been hungry.

Wonder why that one was in such a hurry? :)

These next two show Snowy Egrets feeding - they wiggle their colorful feet like a lure!

I saw this Red-shouldered Hawk flying, of course as soon as I turned off the video the second one flew up into the tree.





The Spotted Sandpiper pretty much continually bobs its tail as it walks.

Even if the weather is dreary you can almost always find some interesting wildlife out there!

Galveston and surrounding area birding

Here are some photos from a few weeks ago when I was pretending to be a bird guide for my sister and nephews! The first stop on Galveston was the east end, where we found (right to left) some marbled godwits, american oyster catchers, black necked stilts, and swimming (and diving) was a neotropic comorant. This long-billed curlew has a very long bill to reach crusty critters deep in the mud! The black necked stilt does not seem to mind sharing the shoreline.

The laughing gull will have a completely black head by summer.

No, these are not Texas mosquitos - they are black skimmers!!! (Does kind of make you want to break out the DEET, though)!

One more shot of the long-billed curlew, wow.

Why is it that birds are more obedient that people? Here is a neotropic cormorant who apparently can read.

As we were searching for piping plovers along the beach, the sea fog was rolling in.

Hmmm, is this a laughing gull or a Franklins? Only the bill can say for sure, but with these dark legs I am thinking it is a Franklin's.

I think this is another Franklin's gull with a Ruddy Turnstone at the west end of the seawall.

The gulf was a bit rough, but the birds (and birders) did not seem to mind.

Cruising around potholes at the far west side of the island, we found this Lesser Scaup in a pond.

We also did manage to find a piping plover but it was too foggy and dark to get a good photo.





Today I had a root canal :( and on the way home I just happened to have a camera along and I decided to drive through Challenger 7 Memorial Park in League City. I was feeling kind of down so I took a picture of this American Crow.

This park is not too far from Ellington Field, and since I am always looking up for flying things, lo and behold what flew over!!

Amazing how close together they can fly! Thank you for patroling the coast and may Adonai bless and keep you!!!!



Driving around I noticed this Red shouldered Hawk in the tree. It was a little chilly, in the mid-40's, and not too much moving around... but I was birding by car nice and warm.

This was a surprise - a Pied billed Grebe in the pond! Everytime I would try to get a picture it would dive under the water and come up 50' away.

What I really love about birdwatching is that Adonai ALWAYS provides me just what I need, and after a root canal it was good medicine to see this Eastern Bluebird!

In fact, there was a whole tree full of them.

Ok, I feel better now!!!!!

more Rio Grande Valley birds

This was our last morning in Weslaco :( so we started early at Estero Llano. This is the golden fronted woodpecker. Wow - my first Wilson's warbler !

Another valley specialty, the Plain Chachalaca.

This is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird having a short siesta before getting hungry again.

Whoops! Guess they forgot to take the sign down after the big cowboys game....

Heading east of Brownsville, we saw this neat Harris' Hawk.

What fun to drive A RENTED CAR on the beach.... here is the reddish egret.

He kind of looks like an ostrich.

I don't name the birds, just report them... this one is a Brown Booby - a bird that normally lives far offshore. We watched them soaring and diving like a rocket into the water to catch fish.

This is another ringbilled gull.

This one is just a baby - a young Herring gull.

Here is an adult Herring gull (the big one) next to a ringbilled gull (on the left). Can you spot the 3rd bird in the photo? It is very well camoflauged little Sanderling, who doesn't seem to be afraid of these big gulls.

Amazing to us, this is a northern Gannet, another bird normally only far offshore. It has a magnificant 72" wingspan, and also would soar and then plunge into the water after a fish.

This is another Northern Gannet.... it was kind of like trying to photograph the Space Shuttle.

After we left the beaches at the mouth of the Rio Grande, we enjoyed birding the mud flats. Here we found an Osprey eating a big fish.

A lot is going on here in the mud flats!! The largest birds are Dunlins, the tiny ones are Sanderlings, and there are a couple Western Sandpipers (like the one in the middle on the far right margin on the picture).


This white tailed kite was just soaring and hovering in the wind, nice of it to hold still for me!!

And who could go to Brownsville without a visit to the city dump? We drove up onto the debris pile to get a good view. Here we noticed a couple Crested Caracaras.

Technology is great, so I can bring you some video of our trip to the dump... we were looking for the Aplomado Falcon but couldn't find one.... guess that means we will have to go back again!

We stayed at the dump maybe 15 minutes, until the stench got to us!

You have to love the Texas Birding Trail - we found this (blurry) Yellowthroated Warbler late in the evening in a REST AREA along the highway in Sarita, Tx, the only rest stop I have ever seen marked as a good spot for birding! What a great way to end a great birding day!