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
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