March 2007 Archives

I spent the entire day Friday shooting up in Madera Canyon across from the Santa Rita Lodge, one of Southeastern Arizona's birding hotspots; my host for this great photo op was again Bill from The Pond at Elephant Head. Two woodpecker species were among the regular visitors to the feeding stations. The Acorn Woodpeckers would eat anything and everything, it seemed, including suet, seeds, nuts, and mealworms, while the Arizona Woodpeckers
fed exclusively on suet. The Acorn Woodpeckers also seemed to have an extremely low level of tolerance for the gang of Mexican Jays that came around and would chase them off most of the time.

The attraction to Madera Canyon is the opportunity to see birds that barely range into the U.S. from Mexico and Central America. The Hepatic Tanager is a little more widespread than some of the others but seeing one was still a treat. The Arizona Woodpecker is one of those species but the bird that really grabbed my attention - oh, do I wish I had some shots to share but it got a little to drink and was gone - was the Painted Redstart. What a beauty! Other birds that were regular visitors included Bridled Titmouse (another AZ specialty), Lesser Goldfinch, White-breasted Nuthatch, and, foraging on the ground, Chipping Sparrows.

Late in the afternoon this uninvited guessed caused the avian activity to all but come to a stop. From the looks of it, Coatimundi's apparently have a taste for sunflower seeds. A relative of the Raccoon, it didn't seem to bothered by people and just kept on eating even though I tried to chase it off.

A couple of interesting experiences while I was in the blind: About midway through my morning session I had titmouse land for a few seconds on the end of my lens hood, look right at me, then flew over to the feeder. A little later the Bewick's Wren that was foraging on the ground with the Chipping Sparrow's actually came in the open rear "door" of the blind and hopped around for a minute looking for food.

Last week's bird was a Bronzed Cowbird. For this week, since I am still in the Southwest, we have a bird I found in the Sonoran Desert and that chooses a very different type of habitat than other members of the family. With all the classic field marks I'm sure you a just going to love this one . . .

The ride in from New Mexico took less time than I had anticipated and we arrived at our next destination south of Tucson early yesterday afternoon. This gave me a head start on my shooting since I had sort of planned on Wednesday being a wash as far as getting any done. The Pond at Elephant Head is a location set up primarily for bird photography, though there are a few other possibilities, too (see below). Birds that dwell in the Sonoran Desert are the main attraction, with some migrant species that should be showing up Spring as spring progresses (some hummingbirds are already arriving) and, in addition to the pond, there are changeable feeding stations with lots of natural places for birds to perch before they hop down to the seeds to eat.

I have featured a pair of Pyrrhuloxias with this entry - the male above and female at right - but there are House Finches, Northern Cardinals, Gambel's Quail, Verdin, 3 or 4 Sparrow species, Gila Woodpeckers, Greater Roadrunners, and Curve-billed Thrashers to name just a few. The hummingbirds present include Broad-billed, Rufous, and Black-chinned. "The Pond" is a short drive from one of Southeastern Arizona's world renowned birding "hotspots", Madera Canyon and my host, Bill, also has a location in the canyon across where I will have a chance tomorrow to shoot some montane species: Arizona Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse, and more. Plus, if it is a really lucky kind of day, maybe a Painted Redstart will make an appearance for me.

In addition to the birds at The Pond, I have had a few mammals drop by while I was in the blind. Round-tailed Ground Squirrels and Harris's Antelope Squirrels have both visited and, in true squirrel fashion, gorged themselves on bird seed. Pictured is an Audubon's Cottontail (aka Desert Cottontail); several of them are around (including some juveniles) . Bill tells me in the summer folks come out to photograph bats using a system he builds, Phototrap, that employs senors which trigger the shutter on a camera enabling photographers to get shots that would otherwise be nearly impossible to get.

Both Red-tailed Hawks I mentioned in the previous post were out and about yesterday, returning occasionally with nesting material. Given that it was fairly cool at the time (high 50's), it is unlikely, I think, that they would have left unprotected eggs. I decided to have a last look before leaving Marathon this morning and found what looks to me like a Red-tailed Hawk who just might have laid some eggs overnight . . .

Just in case you missed it last time I was in New Mexico, this afternoon as I passed through Las Cruces I once again encountered the World's Largest Roadrunner!

Marathon is a small town in the west Texas hill country which is considered the "gateway" to Big Bend National Park. It is pretty remote - I have no cell phone coverage, for example - but I knew from my stop here in December that it is a pretty birdy place. The plan was to stop for a day and a half, do a little shooting, then head in the direction of Arizona. With flood warnings as part of the forecast, most of the 40 hours here were spent indoors waiting for or watching the rain and lightning. Monday started out kind of nice before things went south; I did find a pair of Red-tailed Hawks who were building a nest - on top of a windmill.

Here at the RV park there are White-crowned Sparrows, Barn Swallows, Cactus Wrens, Say's Phoebes, Vermilion Flycatchers, Scaled Quail, House Finches, and more. Among all those birds are a pair of Killdeer that seem to be resident - although I would never have thought so considering this area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Still, there is water available as the owner's have a pond and some water features and, as long as there is food, why not?

From here we are heading straight to Southeastern Arizona with an overnight in New Mexico along the way. Hard to believe it is coming up so fast but, in about 3 weeks we'll be settling in at Bryce Canyon for a few months.

ZERO - The number of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers I found in the meadow this morning; there were 8 yesterday.

EIGHTY-SIX - The number of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers I counted along the route I took today between Mission, TX and Del Rio, TX (about 330 miles of driving or, roughly, 1 STFL per every 4 miles).

(The best one was as I was pulling in to the Border Patrol checkpoint outside Laredo - landing on a wire coming straight at me with wings and tail feathers fully spread. Can we have a do over with my camera in hand, please?)

The STFL's were only outnumbered by Northern Mockingbirds and Mourning Doves (I didn't actually take a head count of these two but I am certain there were more).

It has been breezy here all week, but the last 2 days the wind has just been unrelenting, blowing from 20-30 mph. The quest for Clay-colored Robins just sort of fizzled out when I began looking - just as unsuccessfully - for Green Kingfishers. I did discover another park, Anzalduas County Park (site LTC 068 on the Lower Texas Coastal Birding Trail) which, as it turns out, is very close to where I have been staying. Some of the local birders have said the reason I am not seeing the robins or kingfishers is because they are beginning to nest and will be somewhat scarce for a few weeks. It appears that is what the Golden-fronted Woodpeckers are doing also; this male is just outside a newly excavated hole in a dead tree next to one of the park roads. I shot it while sitting in my truck (a bonus because this park is where I think I must have found the chiggers which have my ankles all torn up and feeling like they are on fire). I even located a pair of Black Phoebes that are building a nest in the rafters of a pavilion in the park.

In addition to this week's quiz bird I also got to shoot another new bird in a meadow near the Rio Grande - Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. The plan this morning is to go back out for some more before resuming the trek westward later. Yesterday there were about 8 of the flycatchers plus a couple of Couch's Kingbirds feeding in the same general area. It could be interesting if the wind lays down some and maybe even see a little sunshine (which would be another change).

For last week's quiz we had a pair of Gadwalls, just about the only ducks left on the pond at the Audubon Sabal Palm Sanctuary near Brownsville (a pair of Ruddy Ducks were there, too). A week ago Spring was just over the horizon and the other ducks had apparently already gone "del Norte" (to the North).

For this week we move to dry land with a bird usually found only in the southwest. Good luck and have fun!

Jayne at Journey Through Grace is hosting a birthday bash for this week's edition of I and the Bird. There's a lot of great gifts to unwrap so fly on over!

(and Happy Birthday Jayne!)

What is now? Three of the last four entries are blue? This time, though, the birds are supposed to be blue. Indigo blue, in fact. As in Indigo Bunting - the second feeding station at Bentsen-RioGrande Valley State Park/World Birding Center (Mission, TX) is swarming with them at times. There seems to be an fairly even mix of males and females, with most of the males in some stage of molt to breeding plumage like the bird pictured at right. Shy, they tend to stay in the shrubs along the edge of the clearing where the feeders are located and will only come out to feed (or go to water) when the gangs of Red-winged Blackbirds clear out for a few minutes.

This is one of the few males who has a nearly complete molt - they don't get much bluer than this.

The "In the News" part of the title refers to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Web Search, a column by Randy Salas. Today's column, Nature blogs spring to life, featured 6 blogs about nature topics and among them was this very blog (and in very good company). Thanks Randy!

I did make some headway today with the elusive Clay-colored Robins in that, while there is no photo yet, at least I finally saw one. This one might follow that long running trend (or is it an unwritten rule?) where I never get the birds I really want until the last possible day before having to leave . . .

The RV park I'm staying in is about 3 miles from the World Birding Center at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park and this afternoon as I was driving to the WBC something caught my eye when I detected some movement to my left. When I looked I had to stop to make sure I was seeing was really what I was seeing: A field full of hawks. Except for a few flying, most were on the ground with a few in trees or perched on wood piles. Those I could identify were Swainson's Hawks and there were at least 70 of them that had stopped for the night on the journey north. I apologize for the lack of clarity in the image; the light was fading fast and the wind (20+ mph) didn't help much in trying to get a decent shot. See how many you can pick out - I've circled them in this image (the white circle may be a bird, I am not quite certain on that one).

On my trip into the park this morning I was still skunked on Clay-colored Robins though I saw (and shot) most of the usual "Valley" specialties. Some kind folks did direct me to the Western Screech-owl seen here looking out from its cavity in an old oak. Tomorrow I plan to look some more for the robins and see if we can find a nicely colored male Indigo Bunting

It was a very quiet weekend, attributable, I believe, to a transition point in Spring migration. On Saturday I paid visits to a couple of places I'd not visited before, looking (unsuccessfully, I might add) for Clay-colored Robins. The first of these was the Frontera Audubon Thicket, site #58 on the Lower Texas Coastal Birding Trail
. The best bird on that stop would have to have been an Ovenbird who offered up some nice views but was a bit too far away for a photo. Next stop in the quest for the robins was Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge just a few miles down the road though again I came up empty with the robins. This Black-crested Titmouse was coming to the feeder near the refuge visitor center and the only bird that would come to it while a Fox Squirrel pigged out on sunflower seeds. It was kind of funny because the titmouse would fly in and grab a seed while the Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles squawked and watched from the nearby trees. But as soon as the squirrel was gone it was a free-for-all for the Icterids*

Sunday was my last day in the area and I decided that I really needed some more shots of the blue Green Jay before heading up the road. The bird was making more frequent appearances this time and showed well on this trip to Laguna Atascosa NWR. It would be interesting to know the biological explanation for this bird's coloring and I will probably contact the refuge biologist. And will it mate and pass on the genes? I let you know if I find anything . . .

I went out to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge to have another go at the aberrant Green Jay which is blue where it should be green. Though the bird still wasn't up to posing for a pretty portrait, I thought I would share a couple of images with you since it is so unusual. This first shot is from the first appearance and it is eating grabbing seeds from a platform feeder just behind the grapefruit, clearly showing the feathers on the back which should be more of a yellow-green color.

This was shot on the third trip out of the bushes, eating from the same tray; the splotches are shadows caused by foliage, this area where the bird hangs out is really not at best when the sun shines because of the shadows. For a look at the actual colors for a Green Jayclick here.

I'm leaving the area Monday but may try to get down that way again before I go in hopes of getting some better images. However there are some new birds moving into the Rio Grande Valley that I kind of want to try and get including Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (I've seen 3 but they weren't in a spot I could shoot) and some Kingbirds - either Couch's or Cassin's - that have just started hanging around here at the RV park.

Rolling right along and time for another quiz. Last week's sparrow - one of the toughest families for me to ID in the field - wasn't named after a certain U.S. President but after a traveling companion of John James Audubon, Thomas Lincoln - Lincoln's Sparrow.

For this week we have two-fer with both the male and female of the species in a photo taken just yesterday here in the Rio Grande Valley.

A family of New World passerines ("perching birds"), mimid is Latin for mimic. The family includes Thrashers, Catbirds, and, of course, Mimus polyglottos, the Northern Mockingbird. The family name comes from the fact that they can learn the songs of other birds. There used to be a mockingbird in the old neighborhood that fooled me many times with a pretty good Eastern Phoebe.

Well, here at the RV park in Harlingen, Texas a mockingbird has added "kisk-a-dee" to his repertoire. Slightly higher in pitch than the Great Kiskadee's actual call, but it is there. I suspected it a couple of days ago then heard him again this afternoon.

This morning the Golden-fronted Woodpecker finally stuck around for more than one frame. He's such a great bird I had to try one more time, though this go round I used manual flash instead of the auto in order to eliminate the pre-flash which seemed to chase him off. It still wasn't easy because he has always played this peek-a-boo game from the first time he came to the suet - the basket is hanging on the opposite side of the tree from my trailer. He grabs a little suet, then peeks around the corner to see what I'm doing - exactly what he's doing here. The challenge was to try and catch him at the right moment.

The Selasphorus sp. female hummingbird did not return to the feeder today that I saw, so we may never know for sure what she was. The Buff-bellied was here several times and I'll have to keep my eyes open for possible appearances by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. The RTHU's must be on the move - saw a male at a park I visited this afternoon and some birders I spoke to also encountered one at another park.

Yesterday was another stay at home day, dreary and drizzly through the early afternoon and, once the clouds moved out, very windy later. I did keep one eye out the front door and had both of the hummers stopping by for infrequent visits to the feeder. The Buff-bellied was seen most often and a lot more than on Monday. Even though I never see them at the same time I can easily tell that this bird is much larger (we're talking ~1/2" or 10-15%) than my other visitor.

One of three Selasphorus species in North America, the only things we know for sure so far are that the bird is a female and she's not a Broad-tailed. The "Sibley Guide" says of S. Sasin (Allen's): "Nearly identical to Rufous; averages slightly smaller with smaller tail and relatively long bill." From this angle the bill looks (proportionally) to be on par with his paintings of S.rufus and, in his paintings as well as some photos I have looked at, the Allen's bill seems to be ever so slightly "decurved" (curves down). She's not been fanning her tail and, from what I have seen, that may be the only way to tell for certain as there are some distinct differences between the two species (of course I would have to get an image of that, too. . .). For now, given range and the bill part of the equation, I'm fairly confident in going with "Rufous" (though certainly open to other interpretations).

Noel at Badbirdz is reporting the "Largest flight of the season last night." (The radar image is animated for this one and shows the birds leaving Cuba for The Keys and points north. . . )

Today's forecast wasn't very pretty (and tomorrow isn't any better), so I resolved to stay home and catch up on some computer work. And I did stay home, but spent most of the day looking out the trailer door (more on "why" below). In doing so I actually got to see a few birds, beginning with a noisy flock of Great Kiskadee's not long after sunrise. Of course the House Sparrow horde is in evidence all of the time along with a few Great-tailed Grackles that can be counted upon to be around the park. Not forgetting the daily flyover of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, either.

Skittish as they are, a pair of Mourning Doves certainly weren't bashful about doing the nasty on a neighbor's roof (Spring must be coming - unless they were confused - like the rest of us - with the "new" Daylight Savings Time).

Speaking of couples, some Curve-billed Thrashers have paired up; a couple of days ago I thought they were building a nest in the tree right out my door. I've recently decided that they are removing sticks from an old nest in the tree and taking them to a bush over next to one of the permanent "park model" homes. They seem to appreciate that I am tossing some seed down on the ground, too.

Now back to skittish: As much as they have opted to take up residence in this RV park full of people, the Golden-fronted Woodpeckers are impossible. They are the only birds eating the suet I have out but flush noisily at the slightest hint of movement. I tried to get shot of the male today with flash and modern flashes emit a "pre-flash" to determine how much light to emit for the correct exposure. This bird was completely out of the frame in the milliseconds it took for the camera to fire off an exposure after the pre-flash. It is weird since most birds are generally tolerant of flash. Hell, I shot the (closely related Red-bellies) many times back in Florida and they never so much as flinched.

The rain was sporadic and, except for one shower, barely got the ground wet. After that shower though, the little birds came out. From about 11 o'clock on the tree outside my trailer almost always had birds, especially Yellow-rumped Warblers (at times 2 or 3). Joining them at different times were Kinglets (probably Ruby-crowned), a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and one Vireo which never showed it self enough for me to ID (greenish with wing bars and no eye ring so maybe a White-eyed).

I saw all of these birds sitting inside the trailer peering out my front door because at some point this morning I saw her at the hummingbird feeder. I was there off and on most of the afternoon looking for photos, but she only came to the feeder a few times at widely spaced intervals (and most of those times to the port on the far side of the feeder, naturally). During one of those intervals she stayed in the tree for quite some time, sharing it with the other birds. She rarely sat still though, perching for a few minutes before taking off to feed on insects, then landing on a different branch in the tree. Sometimes it appeared that she was "hawking" flying insects, other times she seemed to be gleaning them from leaves and branches. I know hummingbirds do not live by nectar alone and get their protein from insects. I have seen them many times at feeders and flowers but never doing this, so it was kind of cool seeing this behavior for the first time.

And, no, I am not completely certain what she is: I'm leaning (heavily) to Rufous but Allen's, though less likely, is not completely out of the question (yet). The females of these species are nearly identical and while the Allen's would be kind of far out of range, there was a male at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory when I was up that way a couple of weeks back. So the jury is still out on the exact ID unless one of my readers can set me straight. Maybe a field mark I am missing. If she's around tomorrow maybe I can get a different perspective that would help.

Now back to what I was going to do today instead of watch birds . . .

I thought I had created some real problems for myself yesterday. I somehow managed to knock over my tripod - complete with camera body, flash, 500m lens, and some other assorted accessories. Having heard some real horror stories from people who have had the lens and body separate and a chunk of the body still attached to the lens. I avoided that sort of catastrophe because the extension tube (used to reduce the minimum focus distance) broke and, in doing so, absorbed the stresses that could have totaled the body.

While going over everything last night I did discover one problem with how the focus points display in the viewfinder. I shot some images of test patterns to check the focus, everything seemed to check out so this morning I went over to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park where I've been hanging all week. Unfortunately it was pretty dead (a yucky, breezy, off-and-on drizzly day) and I didn't get much accomplished there. I felt a bit better this afternoon thanks to this Buff-bellied Hummingbird coming to the feeder I put out a few days ago. Now I can see that it will work in tough shooting situations and I just have to remember that the focus points are displaying off one position. At least I will be able to soldier on until I get to a city where I can have the body adjusted/repaired and won't have to go through an extended period of time with no camera. This body was destined to become my backup down the road - but the new one isn't even shipping yet and I'm not exactly high on the waiting list, either.

Friday turned into a no photography day since I ended up getting the AC fixed in my truck (finally!). It gave chance to learn some new software for managing and editing my images since the little company that made the software I really like was swallowed up by the other behemoth (Adobe). I could plug along with what I have but if I decide to purchase Canon's newest camera I will have to make the change anyway.

For almost as long as I have been "into" birds I have subscribed to the listserv FLBirds to keep abreast of which birds were being seen and where in Florida. For most of that time Noel W. from Jacksonville has posted links to his website Badbirdz during the Spring and Fall where he would post radar images which show flights of birds leaving Cuba (Spring) and heading north or leaving Florida heading south (Fall). Recently Noel decided to join the Blogosphere and I've added a link to his site on my blogroll. His latest is from last night (Friday) and the radar image will be available for 4 days. It's all cool stuff and he has some entries that discuss the weather & wind and how it affects bird movement. Check it out!

Have you ever heard of the North Pacific Gyre? It is a giant mass of garbage -mostly plastic - the as big or, according to some reports, bigger than the state of Texas floating out in the Pacific. Seabirds, including albatrosses and fulmars, and some marine life see this stuff and mistake it for food - killing themselves and/or their offspring (I think I might have written about this before but a search of the blog turns up zilch). This creates a small problem for me: I have a weakness for (soft drinks, soda, pop or whatever you happen to call it in your local vernacular). I go through a 2-liter bottle about every 5 days and have recycled for years. But for the last couple of months I have not been in an RV park that has recycling for bottles. I refuse to just toss this stuff in the trash knowing what I know, but the bag full of bottles is starting to get a little unwieldy. I may have to switch to cans; most places at least have a spot for them. But that opens up another can of worms because they come in cardboard which comes from trees and the box ends up in a landfill. I could (I know Sandy, should ) start drinking more water, I suppose. But I'll go there kicking and screaming. I should ask at the park office to see if maybe the county has a recycling center.

Here it is Friday already and here we go with another quiz! Last week's bird was a Ruddy Duck and the extra credit answer would be female or hen. This week's bird could be a bit of a challenge, another from my current stay in South Texas . . .

Today marked the 4th straight day that I have been shooting mornings at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. It is hard not to when I know there is so much around (even though yesterday wasn't very productive). The "bird of the day" today had to be this Golden-fronted Woodpecker, a species which had eluded me until today. In the same area near one of the water features I also got ridiculous closeups of Curve-billed Thrasher and Olive Sparrow. There was potential for more (Kinglets, Ground-doves, Long-billed Thrasher, even the elusive Hermit Thrushes) but I have to come up with something that will keep the gnats away, standard insect DEET-based repellent wasn't working and it was hard to shoot with gnats flying into my eyes.

One of the volunteers (Diann?) who has been such a great help tipped me off to this: Blossoms on a Horse Crippler Cactus (Echinocactus texensis). This cactus gets its name because it grows very close to the ground and, because they are often hidden by taller grasses, horses would step on them and get the spines in there hoof. Beautiful flowers and it appears that there are 3 or 4 more buds that will be opening soon.

I did decide today to stay for another week before moving further west (it was pretty a foregone conclusion, really, I just had to pay the rent). Stiil places still to go if I can ever get out of Ramsey . . .

The 44th edition of I and the Bird, Science and Serendipity, Words and Pictures comes to us the week from The Greenbelt. Sit back, relax, and spend a little time as we join The Ridger for another great presentation of blog entries from around the world of birds .

Things didn't go according to plan today, I never did see the Hermit Thrushes but one thing I noticed yesterday was some singing that reminded me of something I had heard but wasn't quite the same. I found the source today; in fact, it seems like there were several more sources than there were yesterday. I saw at three "on territory" and heard at least a couple of others off in the distance. Apparently, if you are a male Bewick's Wren, the time for attracting the ladies has arrived here in the south of Texas.

This is the same bird taking a break from flitting from tree to tree in his territory and singing. He would do that every few minutes, coming down to the ground and moving in and out of this huge cactus; looking for insects would be my best guess. Then he'd start making his way up the nearest tree, pausing along the way to belt out another love song. Once he made his way to the top he would repeat the song once or twice then fly off to another tree and start again. Fun to watch.

While the Hermit Thrushes were no shows, the other bird I was on the prowl for today was the Buff-bellied Hummingbird (another of the "specialty" birds of the Rio Grande Valley). People often comment that "it must take a lot of patience" to do what I do, this is one that will try one's patience. I "worked" it for a little over 2 hours and the hummer only made 5 appearances at the feeder and his hover time was so brief I could barely get the camera moved before he zipped down to the feeder. I understand there are some flowers in bloom that they are visiting also and they may make for a better location for shooting - if I can find the flowers.

Other species of note that I saw at the park today - 4 of which I photographed - included Spotted Sandpiper, Northern Mockingbird, Inca Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, a stunning (but very shy) male Pyrrhuloxia, Indigo Bunting (a pretty scruffy looking male in mid-molt), and my first "non-Eastern" Painted Bunting, a female (2 populations of PABU exist: 1 which breeds from Florida to the Carolinas and one that breeds in Texas and Oklahoma).

I returned this morning to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen (site of the aquatic American Robin on Saturday) to see what was going on there today. It was my good fortune to meet a couple of nice folks who were volunteers at the park who provided me with a lot of great info about the park; what to look for and where. The photo at right is one of a pair of Verdin that they told me about who just happened to be building a nest near one of the butterfly gardens. The birds were working rather diligently, taking turns bringing back little twigs and bits of some kind of fluffy - cottony almost - stuff. Makes me wish I could be here in about a month or so when they are feeding little ones.

There were a number of butterflies around that proved a little difficult to get the shots I was hoping for; they all were small which requires the use of a macro lens and I couldn't get close enough. But in the course of that quest I did stumble across this damsel who is leaving me in distress because after much searching I have yet to come up with an identification. The good news is I met someone when I was here in December who is an expert in such things so and should have an answer in a couple of days.

With luck tomorrow will be as beautiful as it was today as I plan a return trip - there's some unfinished business to attend to in the form of Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Hermit Thrush, plus a few other possibilities that are present in the park.

The weatherman was at least mostly right with today's forecast: it was cooler, it was windy, but "clear" wasn't happening. So I used that as an excuse to trek over to Laguna Atascosa N.W.R. and look for the aberrant Green Jay since, if it were to make an appearance, it would be in an area where flash would be necessary. I did see the jay in question but it was well tucked away in a tangle of branches where it would be impossible to get a decent image. The bird shown here is a "normal" Green Jay I shot today; the "abnormal" bird has a blue on its back where it should be green. I'll try again later in the week since it is so unusual.

Appearing in a slightly different shade of green was this Olive Sparrow, another "specialty" bird in this part of the country. A species that lives in dense thickets and not easily seen, I only saw it briefly before a rather mean White-tipped Dove chased it away.

A few of the long-term residents here at the RV park have feeders out but all they seem to attract are House Sparrows - huge swarms of them (just for fun you can see where I am on a map here; look for "NaturalVisions" , user #4607, at the lower right of the page and click - you can even see a satellite image of the park if you have GoogleEarth on your computer!). The best birds in the park are a pair of Golden-fronted Woodpeckers; the male made an appearance in the tree just outside my door this afternoon. In a perfect spot for a morning photo. What a pretty bird . . .

Okay, not really. There is no such thing as a Red-breasted Dipper but, this afternoon I did find this American Robin that was foraging for aquatic invertebrates in a pond at the Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen. Though the robin got its feet wet it didn't do any swimming and while it would perch up on a rock like a Dipper, it didn't do any dipping either. Still, I had certainly never observed this behavior in a robin; I thought they ate worms. Another interesting behavior was that it would flick the algae near the edges of the rocks around with its bill, not unlike a Thrasher or Towhee foraging in leaf litter, then pull up a little morsel that would be wiggling around (I would have been frightened if the robin started pounding it against something like a Kingfisher does with a fish). I tell you, with birds you just never know what you will see next . . .

Roxie and I arrived in the Rio Grande Valley Thursday afternoon but some projects came up that prevented me from getting out yesterday until the afternoon. By then, unfortunately, the wind had kicked up and there wasn't anything moving around. I did see 3 Harris's Hawks and a Crested Caracara durning my travels, but they were perched facing into the wind and away from the light.

This morning I drove over to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands which is where I had found Least Grebe when we were here in December. The pond was empty save for a few American Coots and a dozen or so Blue-winged Teal. All the cormorants (Double-crested & Neotropical), White Pelicans, and grebes (Pied billed and Least) were gone. There wasn't a lot of activity in the butterfly garden either but I did shoot a few images of this Gray Hairstreak.

In the trees there were still quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers around, though I expect it won't be long before they begin to move north (in Florida they are among the last migrants to arrive and the first to leave). I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of frames of a White-eyed Vireo and the bird at right posed briefly for me too: Lesser Goldfinch (a new species for the books). Four male goldfinches were also around, doing a lot of singing up high in the trees. I hope I can found one down a little lower that I can shoot well; these were the variant with an almost completely black back and top of the head - stunning when contrasted against the yellow/gold front of the bird.

Time for another Friday Quiz and this week the extra credit option is to name the gender of our subject bird.

Last week's bird was a Lesser Black-backed Gull and the extra credit answer was (Winter) adult. To be honest, I would have thought it was a late 3rd cycle because of the amount of black in the bill mixed in with just a hint of red. Another episode with confusing gulls . . . we'll lay off of them for a while (thankfully, no?).

Seems to be this pattern of late that my last day in an area is just yuck. Yesterday was not unlike my last day at Quintana Beach when it was foggy all day with the wind blowing (it was blowing hard enough yesterday that the Kestrels - who normally perch upright - were nearly horizontal, leaning pretty hard in the face of a 15+ mph wind). Almost lost in the fog was this Great Blue Heron standing on a dune at Padre Island National Seashore - it was only about 125 feet away, the visibility was pretty poor. Can't complain though because 4 of the 5 days we were here were pretty nice and we got some shots.

A little later this morning we will be rolling off in the direction of Harlingen, our base camp for some more explorations in the Rio Grande Valley (today won't be great since we are on the edge of a front, but the long term forecast looks good for the next 4 or 5 days).