Lunch for a Long-billed Curlew

At Laguna Atascosa NWR, I watched this Long-billed Curlew probing the mud & finding lunch.

Having found a tasty, crawlie morsel, how does one then get it from one end of the bill to the other?

You give it a little flip ...

... catch it again ...

... flip it again ... and swallow - in so little time that a hapless photographer only records the final "yummy, yummy" as the morsel wiggles down the throat ...

Then off to look for more ...

Good birding!

Estero Llano Grande WBC

Estero Llano Grande in Weslaco is one of eight World Birding Centers in southern Texas, and in just a few years has become a terrific place for birding. Boardwalks cross a variety of wetlands; trails go through grasslands and dry oak woodlands.

This is another brief sampling.

Long-billed Thrasher ...

Black-necked Stilts take flight. Note also the Short-billed Dowitcher ...

Vermilion Flycatcher ...

Great Kiskadees ...

Anhinga ...

In an old trailer park now owned by the state and adjoining the "developed" habitats, we joined a naturalist from another WBC and successfully chased down a juvenile Rose-throated Becard (lifer, but no photos).

We returned to the visitors' center and had our picnic lunch. But instead of leaving, another birder told us where a Common Pauraque could be found sleeping on the ground near a tree trunk. Her directions were precise, but she was concerned that even so we would miss the well camouflaged bird, so she led the way (birders are great that way!). As we looked at the sleeping bird, non-birders passed by and we tried to point out the bird. It took look minutes for them to find it, even though we were only a few feet from the bird. It slept peacefully. We had seen this bird on our first trip to Texas several years ago, but then we had to go looking for it at dusk (past our normal bedtime). It was a treat to see it in mid-day, even though it meant missing the strange sound it makes as it begins its nightime foraging


Good birding!

Birding in the Rio Grande Valley

Couch's Kingbird ...

Green Jay - like most of the Corvids, noisy, intelligent, wary - and also strikingly beautiful ...

American White Pelican ...

Red-shouldered Hawk ...

Osprey - this bird was fishing over the pond at Edinburgh World Birding Center. The photo is minimally cropped, and was taken with the zoom at less than 400mm ...

Merlin - This large female was perched on one side of the tree; on the other side and somewhat higher, sat a small male Merlin, looking covetously, or perhaps hopefully (excuse the anthropomorphizing) at the female as she mantled her prey. We were with a group from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in a residential neighborhood of Weslaco looking for parrots when we spotted the two Merlins. The male left, but she stayed put, slightly bothered by our presence but unwilling to fly off with her unconsumed prey. She was dining on an Inca Dove ...

Northern Mockingbird - fairly common in the river valleys near my Vermont home - very common in southern Texas - but that's no reason not to include this joyful mimic in a gallery of bird travel photos ...

Good birding!

Shorebirds on South Padre Island

from South Padre Island, World Birding Center - the boardwalk across the marsh gives many intimate views of shorebirds and a marvelous opportunity to observe them carefully. Here are a few ...

Short-billed Dowitcher ...

Short-billed Dowitcher just after bathing ...

Lesser Yellowlegs (not "horned," just ruffled by the wind) ...

Spotted Sandpiper, looking less than "spotty" as winter approaches, but still bobbing his tail ...

Black-bellied Plover ...

Good birding!

Waders on South Padre Island

Our last day in Texas was at San Isabel and South Padre Island, the latter at the newly opened World Birding Center with about a mile of boardwalk over the marsh. Here are a few images of the waders.

Great Blue Heron ...

Reddish Egret ...



White Ibis ...

Tricolored Heron ...

Little Blue Heron ...


I love my digital camera and my Canon 50D. But there is no restraint on picture taking. I returned from Texas with over 1700 photos. I have reduced that number to under a thousand, and I have a long way to go to work through them all. Such fun! And the birding was great! - hope yours is too.

More soon.

More from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival

Late on Saturday, I picked up another life bird in the Rio Grande Valley - a Bronzed Cowbird. I know, cowbirds are not people's favorite bird, and yes, behind the bronzie you can also see a Brown-headed Cowbird. What can I say? We tend to overlook the blackbirds, but there can occasionally be a different one mixed in. BTW, remember that orioles and meadowlarks are also blackbirds.


We took the bird festival trip to Laguna Atascosa NWR on Saturday - a day of exceptional birding, even though we did miss the Alpomado Falcon. One of the dramas we watched was this Caspian Tern with a fish in its beak being chased by another tern, probably a youngster looking to steal or be fed.

There were large flocks of Long-billed Curlews, along with many other shorebird species and most of the waders.

The Great-tailed Grackle is hardly anybodies' favorite bird, but it is a southern species, and abundant. A bird may not have flashy colors, or the perilous circumstance of being rare or lost, but that doesn't mean that it should not be photographed or even appreciated from time to time.

The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival has been a treat, with exceptional leaders on every trip. They confirm what I have occasionally said or written - that there are more exceptionally skilled birders alive today than there have ever been in history. Even the icon of birding, John James Audubon, could not hold a candle to the skill of today's field birders. In part that is because his only equipment was a shotgun. The optical equipment of modern birding, combined with knowledge, experience, and skill in visual and auditory identification, has seldom been matched in the past, and then by only a handful. Today there are many handfuls of these talented birders, and we have had the chance to bird the last three days with a few of them.

Sunday we will be on our own. Good birding wherever you may be.

More Images from the Rio Grande

We've had two full days at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. It's been good birding! Here are just a few more images of birds not seen in Vermont (unless the bird is very lost). First two are lifers.

Sprague's Pipit ...

Hooded Oriole ...

Black-crested Titmouse ...

Green Jay(the Texas equivalent of the Blue Jay, with a personality to match) ...

Neotropic Cormorant ...

Good birding!!

Early Photos from Rio Grande

We had our first day along the Rio Grande, mainly at Santa Ana NWR - a delightful way to begin our birding with the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival, which begins tomorrow. First, a few of the southern Texas specialties:

Green Jay ....

Great Kiskadee ...

Buff-bellied Hummingbird ....

Least Grebe ....

and a White Pelican, not a Texas specialty, but not a bird seen in Vermont ...

Good Birding!!

Eastern Bluebird

Sunday was too nice of a day to spend it inside watching football (although I did watch some) - my favorite companion went with me as we wandered about the Brattleboro Retreat meadows. Plenty of geese in the waters (a few Lesser Canadas among them) - Hooded & Common Mergansers and puddle ducks. Highlight was certainly the small flock of bluebirds in the woods around the cornfield ...

A Few November Backyard Birds

Like so many people who have reported to me, the birds in the backyard have almost disappeared. Almost no finches and very few sparrows. The resident Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are regulars, plus a few doves and pigeons, a stray starling, our cardinal pair, and nuthatches.

The chickadees and titmice are also regular visitors, and when I went out this afternoon to take advantage of the wonderful light, the Tufted Titmice were making regular forays for the sunflower seeds ...


The one species for which there is no shortage is the Blue Jay; this morning I counted twelve in the flock, and this afternoon they kept coming and going - rather uncertain about my presence in the yard with this long thing pointed at them. With patience, I was able to get them to hold still, and even pose from time to time ...



Among the sparrows, only the Dark-eyed Junco has been present in anything more than one or two. So far only one sighting of a White-crowned Sparrow, and no Fox Sparrow as yet.

We're off to Texas for the Rio Grande Bird Festival in Harlingen next weekend. I hope to have some good photos to post along the way - I am sure I will have plenty of photos to choose from.

Good birding!