Kirtland's warbler

How about a trip down memory lane? Last June I traveled to Michigan to find the endangered Kirtland's warblers with my sister and 2 nephews. First we found a chipping sparrow.
Then we heard some lovely singing, and saw our first Kirtland's warblers!

They only nest in young jack pine forests. What a beautiful song he had!

It was early June and the trees were just beginning to bud!

Later we visted a couple parks, where we found this lovely Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.

This is my first ever Evening Grosbeak.

Those jaws mean business!

This is the female Evening Grosbeak.

This is a male Purple Finch.

I think this one is the female Purple Finch.

As cute as can be, here is the White Breasted Nuthatch.

Here are my birding buddies!

I was so glad to be able to meet Arlene in person, after being in an online class together for many months. Turns out we really are kindred spirits!

What a great day!

We got some great looks at a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, feeding young ones in their tree.

The Scarlet Tanager is just stunningly beautiful!

We really enjoyed the spring flowers too.

This prayer was inside the chapel in the state park! (AMEN)

We never did figure out why the chipmunk was sitting on top of this stick - it doesn't look too comfy...

I am blessed to have help from my nephews to identify this correctly as a Hermit Thrush (thanks Henrey!!).

Spring was anxious to get going, and the woods had tiny flowers popping out everywhere.

I think this is a pink lady's slipper, kind of rare.

We noticed this common loon in a wilderness area (the bird most like me?) and also noticed the bear claw marks on the tree. Suzy and I didn't mention this little fact to each other until we finished our hike :) There is just something wonderful in the call of a loon.

On our drive south we stopped at a small lake and found a Pied Billed Grebe...

... and an Osprey with lunch.

There was one chick in the Osprey nest!

Mama Mallard was taking the kids out for a swim.

The Barn swallows were quite striking up close.

We had a terrific time, and looking at the pictures makes me want to get back out in the woods!

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!