off to west Texas

 I love the wild lantana!

 Driving around the ranch we found a Vesper Sparrow.

These deer mice were hiding in the well house.

 The Eastern Phoebe was in the same nest as last year (above the front door), just a bit taller!

The Lark Sparrows were singing, on territory?

 Ya-hoo FINALLY we found some Black Capped Vireos! It is an extremely beautiful little bird, sadly, endangered due to their habitat preference.

 Birding has its hazards, as you never know what is crawling around you!  This is a large Black Widow.

 Look at all the wildflowers!

 Love these Indian Blankets.

Hard to remember the terrible drought of last summer, but thankfully things are looking lush now.

 Zillions of monarchs took off as we drove by this thistle patch.

 Western Kingbird!

 Fields of flowers seemed endless.

 This Scissor-tailed flycatcher was chomping away on moths.

 If you look carefully you can see the excellently camouflaged Black Capped Vireo!

 There must be a nest nearby.

 This is such a great bird.

I noticed sometimes the prickly pear cactus had one bloom,

 or maybe 2 different colored blooms,

 or maybe even 3 different colored blooms!

 This is the tiny Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly, all 3/4" of it!

 I got up early to find a Cedar Waxwing in the tree!

 Oh my!

Never a dull moment... but please pay attention out there!

Birding Galveston and southward

 These are some photos from back on April 26th, we headed down to Galveston first, to find this Ruby throated Hummingbird resting after the long flight across the Gulf!

 This Scarlet Tanager was hungry after long his migration; he didn't pay much attention to us.

 Aren't I cute?!?

We found a pair of Fulvous Whistling Ducks.

 I always stop to enjoy the wild roses.

 Heading southward down the coast we found Dunlins,

 Lesser Yellowlegs,

 Semipalmated Plovers,

 a Red Knot,

 Western Sandpipers,

 Least Sandpipers,

 a Dunlin with a Semipalmated Plover,...

 ...BTW Semipalmated Plovers are really cool looking...

Greater Yellowlegs were on the move.

 I think this is a Least Sandpiper.

 White Ibises were abundant,

 as were short billed Dowitchers and Western Willets.

 This Tri-Colored Heron is in prime breeding splendor.

 And now there are 2!

 In Galveston State Park we found fields full of singing Dickcissels,

 and the incredibly beautiful Painted Buntings.

 During lunch we spotted a Mourning Dove nest near the picnic table.

 A Western Kingbird!

 I don't know what was happening here, but here was a collection of large white shorebirds, including a Snowy Egret, Great White Egret, and White Ibis.

 These orange legs have me stumped - is this a lesser Yellowlegs with orange legs?!?!?

 Moving on down the coast we headed toward Freeport, and found a Wilson's Plover.

 It was a wonderful late afternoon with lots of shore birds, including this Black Skimmer.

Well, lots of Black Skimmers.

They have a specially designed bill that allows them to catch fish while flying low over the water.

 The Whimbrel's bill is made to help it scoop out goodies in the sand to eat.

 More Wilson's Plovers!

 2 Piping Plovers!  We had so much fun watching them.

 There were lots of terns around, also.  The smaller ones are Sandwich and Common Terns.

I see one Caspian Tern (the biggest) along with a Sandwich and some Royal terns.

 We watched the cutest Least Tern catch a fish, and bring it to his potential girlfriend.

 She did not want anything to do with him, so he ate the fish himself.

 Sanderlings never stop running at the water's edge.

It had been a fabulous and relaxing day  - I think we ended up with 109 species!