03.03.2910 Rio Grande Valley Birding trip continues.Aplomondo Falcon

We journeyed westward to Zapata and san Ygnacio looking for a seedeater but no luck. Early in the morning we left for Paradise Point, looking for shore birds and sparrows and gnatcatchers and flycatchers. A lot of little birds! Busy days and nights watching the parrots finding their positions in the roosting trees. We finished birding in Brownsville this night.




Sunrise in Zapata.




Large flock of double-crested and neotropic cormorants.

 


White pelicans - so close you could almost touch them. They flew pass on several occasions. Probably just as curious about us as we are about them.


Vermilion flycatcher. So red and vibrant sitting in the bush.

Do you know who is this bird? One hint - Beep beep!









This is a road runner. No Wil E Coyote nearby that we could see. Unlike that famous cartoon character, this bird is very shy and darted into the brush, but not before she posed a little for a few camera shots! Taken from the running van with  closed windows, the photographs still gives a good idea of the bird's colors and markings. They frequently change tail positions, not sure the significance but it must mean something that sometimes the tail feathers are up and at other times they are down.


Green jay.


Red crowned parrots roosting in a tree.


Can you find the bird in this photograph?

Here is another view on a clearer day.

It is an apolmondo falcon, an endangered falcon that is beautiful. And small! There is a major effort to save this bird - with good results. They have nesting boxes in the wildlife refuges.


Here are two falcons on the nesting box.

Great-tailed crackle were fun to watch. Very easy to spot, they are active birds with a lot of displaying.


Chacalaca in a tree.


Not just birds fishing in these waters!

   
Northern Beardless Tyrannulet hiding in the bush.



Jake, a birding guide, and LeConte's sparrow. The sparrow is an endangered bird.

   

LeConte's sparrow.


Our guide Evan, trying to flush the sparrow.


We found a dead bobcat along the road. Much smaller than I had imagined. This ;looked like a motor vehicle hit the animal. Beautiful coat.




We found a field full of snow geese, including a Ross's goose.






Parrots in the evening sky.

Who is that sitting far, far away in a tree by the river?



Common black hawk on the campus of UTRGV, Brownsville. He is flying across the river in the second photograph. See the beautiful and distinctive white band on his tail. This bird is uncommon in the Rio Grande Valley part of Texas.

More great days of birding. It was a great trip with very nice traveling companions, excellent guides, and great local food.