091424 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

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Birding on a Shoestring: South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Part 1

On Friday, March 21, 2020, the band of birding and studious pupils-to-be for our National Wildlife Rehabilitator's Conference were on the road for South Padre Island, Texas by 1000 hrs.  We were several hours late in leaving to beat the traffic, but we paid for it later.  Normally, prior Texas jaunts have taken 12-13 hours, but we didn't pull in to our hotel until 0230 hrs. Tuesday morning.

This meant that we didn't begin birding until much later on Saturday.  We began our search for South Texas birds after a good meal, starting off at the Birding and Nature Center, later wandering over to the SPI Convention Center.  There were no good songbirds there, but we did get better photos of the rarer Reddish Egret and the Black Skimmer.

02-22-20

                                                                        Brown Pelican
                             

                                                                      Reddish Egret

                                                                     Black Skimmer

                                                                       White Ibis

                                                                 Tri-colored Heron

                                                                   Great Blue Heron

                                                                   Roseate Spoonbill

                                                                         Killdeer

Some of these photos were obtained via the SPI Convention Center property.  We also viewed Redheads, Laughing Gulls, Purple Martin, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, and many other interesting individuals.  It was a full afternoon and we worked on obtaining photos between noon and 1700 hrs, which is good for semi-rested travelers.
                   

Birding On a Shoestring: Brevard County Florida Day 1

                                                                      Black Vulture

                                                                 Tri-colored Heron

                                                                        White Ibis

                                                           Male Common Yellowthroat

                                                                          Anhinga

                                                        Eastern Palm Warbler (Yellow)

                                                                        Glossy Ibis

                                                               Juvenile Wood Stork

                                                                 Common Gallinule


111718- 1100-1200 hrs/partly cloudy
Viera Wetlands AKA Rich Grissom Wetlands

No sooner did we arrive in Florida, we were on our way for an adventure.  This escapade was initiated by a birding buddy that grew up in this area.  The best thing about it was that this was an expanded area, so neither one of us knew what to expect.  I believe it went above and beyond our expectations.

My experiences in Florida never included birding, as I had not been interested in it at the time, so this visit was going to mean a great deal to me for Florida birds.  Hoping that I'd get the well-known birds to the area meant that I was prepared to work for them.  There was a little disappointment that not all of them were to be discovered on this trip, but another trip would be in order, especially since I'd gained one good contact.

Viera Wetlands netted us both some great finds, especially the Wood Stork, which I had never seen before, as well as the Eastern Palm Warbler.  Even though this was our first day birding, I tried not to let our good fortune cloud my senses or uplift my spirits needlessly.

There is more to come.

For more of the Florida adventure, see:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/11/florida-birding-adventure-in-brevard_30.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/12/florida-birding-adventure-in-brevard.html

Oklahoma Vagrants: Tri-colored Heron

A small heron with slender neck and bill, the Tricolored Heron forages in shallow water and will sometimes join other heron species when prey is abundant.  It is a resident heron in the southern states and can be a vagrant in the northern US and Canada.

Often running in the water and stirring up silt from the bottom of its chosen venue, it behaves somewhat like the Snowy and Reddish Egret in its dance routine for prey.  Often mantling to cast shadows to entice killifish and minnows, they will follow the Double-crested Cormorant or Pied-billed Grebe to snag what delicacies that they have left behind.

Favoring coastal estuaries, the Louisiana Heron could well be the single bird apart from the others, so no heron shapes bears not watching.  Most predominant at Red Slough, they can also be found at Lake Hefner,  Arcadia Lake, or Great Salt Plains where one of the earliest was found in 1980 in Oklahoma.

                                                                  Tri-colored Heron
                                                               Bolivar Flats, TX 2015

The male selects breeding sites, and they are colonial nesters, often with others of the heron clan.  The female is in charge of nest building, while the male gathers the material.  The stick platform has a hollow within, which is lined with fine materials.

Climate change seems to be sending this species in a northeasterly direction, which is not uncommon.

The Tri-colored Heron is the only dark heron with a white belly.

Birding On a Shoestring At the Lower Rio Grande Valley In Coastal Waters

                                                                       Reddish Egret

                                                                          Ditto

                                                                          Ditto

                                                                     Redhead Pair

                                                             Bonaparte's Gull (top)
                                                           Ring-billed Gull (Bottom)

                                             
                                                                     Reddish Egret

                                                                     Reddish Egret

                                                                          Ditto

                                                                    Snowy Egret

                                                                  Redheads in Flight

                                                                    Female Redhead

                                                                     Snowy Egret

                                                                          Ditto

                                                                        Ditto

                                         

                                                                     Tri-colored Heron


01-23-17

This portion of the Lower Rio Grande Valley journey encompassed a couple of places on the coast, one of which I had never been.

These birds are old friends, and even though more will be shown to you later, these are some of my favorite birds, especially since I happen to be a heron specialist.  In general, water birds are
intriguing to me, as they sometimes have to be wily and cunning in order to get a meal.

Just as an example, the Snowy Egret has yellow feet for that purpose.  The feet resemble worms in the water, and this bird has a natural instinct to lift and move its feet in a circular motion in order to attract fish and small crustaceans, as well as swirling them to the surface.  Isn't nature wonderful with some built-in ways to achieve the feeding goal?

The Reddish Egret is a canopy fisher, as you can see with its wings raised above its head.  It also tends to run about in the water in order to stir fish to move toward the surface.

Ducks are also some of my favorites, having grown up in an area where there were and still are, water birds a-plenty.

The pictures of the Redheads will thrill you as much to view them, as it did for me to take the pictures.