A highlight of my trip to South Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was a pontoon boat trip on Laguna Madre Bay with Scarlet Colley of the The South Padre Island Dolphin Research and Nature Center. We arrived at the dock in Port Isabel just at sunrise on a cloudy morning.
Sunrise at Port Isabel
Six of us boarded the pontoon boat with Scarlet and Dan Jones, an excellent local birding guide.
As we cruised slowly around the harbor, Brown Pelicans seemed to be everywhere.
Brown Pelican
Black-necked Stilts waded in the shallows.
Black-necked Stilt
A Great Blue Heron was fishing in the harbor…
Great Blue Heron
… and a Common Tern hunted overhead.
Common Tern
Black Skimmers were resting on the sand bars, occasionally making forays out over the bay.
Black Skimmer
Once we were out on the bay, we saw many wading birds:
Little Blue Heron
Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit
American Oystercatcher
I am always excited to see Roseate Spoonbills with their lovely pink color and prehistoric faces.
Roseate Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills fly overhead
There were groups of Red Knots feeding on the sand bars in the bay.
Red Knots
As we headed farther out into the bay Rozzi, Scarlet’s dog, began to bark excitedly.
On the way to the refuge I saw two Aplomado Falcons, but both of them had flown by the time that I was able to stop my rental car. I certainly wish I had taken this photo. They are truly lovely birds!
Aplomado Falcon photo taken from cummah.blogspot.com
When I arrived at the Visitor’s Center I was delighted to see many residents at the feeding stations and the water feature. These are birds seen only in South Texas.
Green Jay
Plain Chachalaca
White-tipped Dove
These are birds that you will not see unless you travel to South Texas. If you would like to see them without traveling to Texas, Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary has a very nice webcam so that people can see these beautiful birds.
I am including this next bird because although it is a common bird for people in the Eastern half of the U.S., New Mexicans and most Westerners do not see this beautiful bird.
Northern Cardinal
The birds suddenly fled, and I looked for the cause of their disturbance. I finally spotted a small coyote in the underbrush, as wary of me as the birds had been of it. The coyote was quite small compared to the ones that I am accustomed to seeing in New Mexico.
Coyote
I drove the fifteen mile Bayside Drive loop, which runs for a significant distance along Laguna Madre, the bay between the mainland and South Padre Island. The scenery was interesting as desert scrub-type vegetation grows right to the water’s edge.
Laguna Madre Bay and desert scrub vegetation.
As I looked out over the bay, a Caspian Tern hunted overhead.
Caspian Tern hunting above Laguna Madre Bay.
A Great Blue Heron fished in the shallow water near the shore.
Great Blue Heron fishing in the shallows of Laguna Madre Bay.
I looked up and saw an Osprey with a fish, flying overhead. It was almost beyond the range of my lens …
Osprey with fish, flying over Laguna Madre Bay.
… but I was able to get a much better look when it landed on the shore.
Osprey on the shore with fish.
Several Semipalmated Sandpipers watched from a distance, hopeful of fish scraps.
Semipalmated Sandpiper
I continued along Bayside Drive and watched Egrets fishing in the shallow water of Laguna Madre Bay.
Here is a short video of shorebirds feeding along the edge of Laguna Madre Bay:
When I came to the end of Bayside Drive I saw a gorgeous Harris Hawk sitting on a post. It was kind enough to post for several photos.
Harris Hawk
Harris Hawk, another view.
As I left Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, I saw a Crested Caracara flying toward me. I was quicker than I had been with the Aplomado Falcon, and I was able to get a photograph.
Crested Caracara
I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Laguna Atascosa. The next day would bring new challenges involving shorebird and sparrow identification, two of my weaknesses.
A couple of weekends ago Bosque Bill and I decided to visit Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Bill is very enthusiastic about dragonflies, and there are many of them at Bosque del Apache in summer. I am always up for a road trip. It had been several years since I had visited there in summer, and I was looking forward to seeing the refuge. I knew it would be hot, and so I packed lots of cold drinks along with a cold picnic lunch.
We arrived at the refuge at mid-morning. As usual, the view across the refuge toward the hills was lovely.
Looking across the refuge toward the hills.
It was interesting to see that in summer, the areas which in fall and winter are ponds for migrating birds are covered with plants that will become food for ducks, geese and cranes when the ponding areas are flooded in fall.
In fall this area will be flooded and will become a pond for migrating waterfowl.
With temperatures hovering near 100ºF there was not a great deal of bird activity, but we did see a few birds:
A Great Blue Heron hunts in an acequia
A Black Phoebe hunts for insects at a pond on the Marsh Loop.
An unruly gang of Neotropic Cormorants were roosting on snags along the Seasonal road.
Neotropic Cormorants
We saw Blue Grosbeaks and Northern Mockingbirds and a few raptors. Either they were too far away for photos, or I was not quick enough with my camera. What we did see were dragonflies. They were beautiful!
Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta)
Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata)
Blue Darter
By early afternoon Bosque Bill and I were hot and tired, and we took a break to eat our picnic lunch and tour the Visitor’s Center. After a lovely lunch we walked around the Visitor’s Center. Bosque Bill flushed a large covey of Gambel’s Quail sheltering from the midday sun under a Three-Leaf Sumac. I don’t know who was more startled, Bill or the quail. I was laughing so hard that I didn’t get a photo.
I sat in the (blessedly) air-conditioned Visitor’s Center and enjoyed watching the birds at the feeders. Black-chinned Hummingbirds and Rufous Hummingbirds were very busy defending the food source. I took some photos through the viewing window.
A male Rufous Hummingbird vigilantly guards the feeder.
Black-chinned Hummingbirds share the feeder with the Rufous Hummingbird.
Another look at the hummingbirds around the feeder.
There were Bullock’s and Scott’s Orioles at the feeders as well.
The hummingbirds fled when a Scott's Oriole landed on the feeder.
This Scott's Oriole likes hummingbird nectar.
A Bullock's Oriole watches from a nearby tree …
… and announces his arrival at the feeder.
Very few people visit Bosque del Apache in summer. It is hot, and it lacks the large numbers of migratory waterfowl that are present in the other seasons. There is still a great deal to see.
After my initial too-brief tour of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which I discussed in Part III of my Florida adventure, I was determined to return and enjoy the birds and scenery at a more leisurely pace. Dawn, Donna, Melanie and I decided to make the trip together. There were so many beautiful birds!
Great Egret
Great Egret, another view.
We saw a trio of lovely birds, which scattered as we pulled over to photograph them.
White Ibis, Great Egret and Great Blue Heron.
On the other side of the road we saw an Anhinga high in the trees.
Anhinga
This handsome Wood Stork looked as if he was only one step removed from a pterodactyl.
Wood Stork
He seemed mildly offended by our presence, and he stalked away.
Wood Stork stalking away.
We saw Roseate Spoonbills with their beautiful colors and prehistoric faces …
Roseate Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbill at rest.
… and we were delighted to see Tricolored Herons.
Tricolored Heron
Tricolored Heron
We watched a young Osprey catch a fish and come to rest in a tree, where the fish became entangled in the branches.
Osprey with fish.
We watched the Osprey struggle with the fish for quite awhile.
The bird was finally able to free the fish from the tree and it flew away with the fish in one claw, presumably to consume it atop a power pole as the rest of the Ospreys do.
Be sure to look for A New Mexican in Florida-Part V over in my Photo Flurries blog.
One of the morning’s activities at the Space Coast Bird and Wildlife Festival was called Brevard Hot Spots. I assumed that the name referred to good birding spots in Brevard County. Perhaps it should have been called Brevard Cold Spots because the morning was very cold. We loaded ourselves onto a bus at 5:30 am, and we were taken somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and unloaded from the bus. Miserable birders stood around in the cold hoping that the sunrise would bring a bit of warmth and some birds.
Cold sunrise somewhere in Brevard County, Florida.
As it got a bit lighter, a couple of birds flew out of the reeds in the cold, dim, morning light.
Great Blue Heron
But mostly we saw this:
Pond, no birds.
Birders stood around with binoculars looking at distant sparrows, cardinals, woodpeckers and a catbird. I felt my toes going numb as I looked without success for something to photograph.
We went to several more unproductive spots. Birders were desperately looking for bird-like forms.
Finally the bus drove by a small lake in a neighborhood that had many Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, some Roseate Spoonbills and a Wood Stork. Did we stop? No. I took a bad photo through the window of the moving bus.
Bad photo through moving window of moving bus.
I believed that things could not possibly get worse, but I was wrong. Our tour leader, who seemed intent on ticking off as many species as possible for the day, decided to take all 40 of us to his very small house. We tried to cram ourselves into his enclosed porch to see birds at his feeders. We were cautioned not to touch the blinds, which were almost closed. Perhaps 3 or 4 people could actually see birds. I was able to sort of see a male and female Painted Bunting through a screen door. Even in this spectacularly bad photo taken through a screen door you can see how beautiful the birds are.
Male and Female Painted Bunting
I was feeling pretty disheartened at this point, but I perked up a bit when I learned that our next stop would be Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Our first stop was at this pond to look at ducks. Birders got out their spotting scopes and began to exclaim over the tiny dots, which they assured me were ducks.
Ducks, I think.
I wandered away and began to look for birds to photograph.
Brown Pelican flying overhead.
Belted Kingfisher flying by.
Great Egret landing.
After the birders had their fill of happily viewing duck dots through scopes, we got back on the bus and continued to Canaveral National Seashore. It is a truly beautiful, unspoiled place. In the parking lot I saw this handsome fellow sitting on a sign.
Black Vulture
He was obliging enough to sit for his portrait.
Black Vulture close-up.
sa
We walked over the dune and onto the beach. I watched an Osprey hunting above the waves.
Osprey hunting above the waves.
By the time we returned to our starting point, our group had seen 93 species of birds. I saw perhaps half that many. I learned that the type of birding where you go for big numbers is not my kind of birding. I like to stop and enjoy the birds. I would return to many of the places that I visited that day, and I would do it my way.
This past weekend Bosque Bill and I decided to attend a photo workshop at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. After leaving for Socorro at 5:30 a.m. in the bitter cold, we met at the crane pools for some early morning photos. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground from the previous week’s storm.
Crane pool at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
We toured around the refuge as a group, using the opportunity to take some photos of birds …
Great Blue Heron
… and wildlife.
Coyote
During our classroom instruction we were excited to learn that Matt Mitchell was going to bring his two Harris Hawks out for us to photograph in the afternoon. The hawks were beautiful.
Matt Mitchell and one of his Harris Hawks.
The birds very obligingly perched on low bushes …
Harris Hawks preparing to fly so that we can photograph them.
… and flew toward us.
Harris Hawk taking off.
Harris Hawk flying toward us.
I guess you can never predict where a hawk will land.
Harris Hawk and Bosque Bill.
Bosque Bill is looking for a bird to photograph. I'd suggest a shorter lens.
"I wonder if the Canon warranty covers Harris Hawk scratches?"
"Hey Bosque Bill-the other hawk is over there!"
The hawk and Bosque Bill find a new subject to photograph.
The hawk spies Matt.
The hawk flies back to Matt.
After a lovely afternoon with Matt Mitchell and his Harris Hawks, we returned to the crane pools to watch the cranes fly in …
Photo Feathers 