02.26 19 Rio Grande Valley Texas Birding Trip

It was a great weak birding along the Rio Grande River in the southeastern portion of Texas. We were so close to Mexico that we saw some of the border wall as well as walked around the area where the new wall is to be constructed. We also were at the National Butterfly Wildlife Refuge which has been successful in its attempt to have the wall divide the refuge. The river is so narrow in many places that even I could swim across it, but there are many, many border patrol who are well aware of this fact! There are also some very sophisticated surveillance cameras that most likely do not miss a trick. Let's  not digress.

The trip extended from San Ygnacio, Zapata, Harlingen, Mc Allen, Brownsville, South Padre Island, Mustang Island to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. We birded along the roads, in national wildlife refuges, world birding centers, state and county parks.

The birding was fantastic and we had two wonderful guides, Jake and Evan. They were extremely knowledgeable and able to spot the tiniest of birds from great distances. They were also able to identify birds by their call and able to flush up birds for our views. Jake kept an eBird list for us, which makes it very helpful to identify some as I am editing my photographs.

The weather was variable, from cool mornings where I had to put on my winter gloves, to hot afternoons in some areas. But there were minimal mosquitoes, many blue or slightly overcast skies, and just great birding weather in general. I already posted about observing my whooping cranes - cold and rainy. But that was the exception.

Here are several pictures of the birds and flowers and scenes we observed. I hope you enjoy them.



Sunrise in Zapata, Texas. Start the day early, but not too early as we were well within a close ride to all sites visited for the most part.

 Orange crowned warbler.

Mocking bird.

Grey hawk.

 Vermilion flycatcher.

White pelicans.

Long billed thrasher.

Yellow crowned black hawk.

Parauque.

Turtles!


Long billed thrasher.

White tipped dove.


Crimson teals.



Mural on Nana's taqueria. Was going to be the bird I posted if none of mine were clear!



Inca doves. Beautiful birds and lovely to observe.





















Great tailed crackle displaying and calling almost nonstop. Common and beautiful bird.




So to keep this file from becoming too large and unwieldy, I will post more pictures under separate entries. Stay tuned, there are many colorful birds on the list to enjoy!

02.20.19 Whooping Cranes!

Today I begin a new journey to the southeastern corner of Texas and the Rio Grande in search of the Whooping Crane. This endangered bird was the subject of several grade school book reports and I am sorry to say the bird is still endangered. It was estimated that there were once 20,000 whooping cranes in North America. There were around 20 or so when I was in school, now there are only 505 in the wild on last count. There are three populations that are “in captivity” – efforts in progress to restore them to the wild. The last report I saw indicate there may be 300 birds in these populations in Louisiana and Florida. But the Whooping Cranes have a difficult time adapting and many efforts have had minimal success. So, no better time than now to observe this bird that had captured my imagination and scholarly works all those years ago.

There are many reasons for this magnificent creature to be endangered – loss of habitat, natural disasters, predators, only one surviving offspring per reproductive season, and of course man. Even though it should be widely known that the bird is endangered, there are several reported intentional shootings of the birds in the areas of their natural habitat. Please read the report on Wikipedia. The fines are far too inconsequential, in my opinion. The bird has a long migration route, wintering in Aransas Wildlife Refuge, Texas and enjoying the Spring and Summer in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta/Northwest Territories, Canada and Wisconsin. In 2018, 98 whooping crane nests were identified in Wood Buffalo National Park.

Of course there will be searches for many more birds to add to my life list and I am excited to see some new ones, such as the roadrunner and the white tailed hawk. And of course, it would be really special to see a painted bunting.  Binoculars ready, camera fully charged with a new card, and I am off on a new adventure.

Here are a few pictures of this magnificent creature. It was raining and cold and we were on a boat in the early morning hours going through the wildlife refuge on a guided tour. I saw 5 whooping cranes, three close enough to photograph. There were 14 other birds much further off in the distance. I do hope you enjoy the photographs of these very special birds.

The bird with the reddish head feathers is the immature bird, less than one year old.

This one caught a crab!

Bands on the legs for tracking purposes.

This was a very special trip and maybe the blog serves as my "book report" on the Whooping Crane! We all should make the most of our efforts to protect and preserve all creatures. One good storm and we may lose an entire species of birds.

Will post more soon about the rest of the trip and some of the amazing birds I had the opportunity to observe.

Until next time...……...

02.03.19 New England Patriots Super Bowl Champions again!!!

It never gets old. It never is routine. It is always expected that our New England Patriots will work hard to achieve the best possible (as we all should do!). It is along hard road for the players, coaches and families. The road requires discipline, commitment, skills, athleticism, maintaining physical and emotional health, hard physical work, studying, prayer, and a love of the game.

I am always amazed how much work it takes to get to the Super Bowl, it really is not an easy task. And the Patriots have been there 9 times in 18 years, won 6. So a very heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS to one great and determined team. May there be more to come!

Here are some pictures downloaded from the internet:

Tom Brady with his daughter Vivian during the postgame celebrations. She is adorable. He is well, amazing.

It seems to always come down to an interception. Here is Stephon Gilmore intercepting a Goff pass intending for Brandin Cooks, a former Patriots player

Julian Edelman, having the game of his life, and he is the MVP. Well deserved. Well done.

TB12 and JE11 postgame.

Big plays on both sides of the ball. Jason McCourtey

Rob Gronkowski

Dont'a Hightower sacks the qb Jared Goff

 Took over three quarters of the game to score this touchdown. Sony Michele has had a great year and a great game.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1092250128847495168

Maybe this link will work to show the TD.

Bill Belichick and the traditional Gatorade bath in victory.

TB12, an amazing career and he is still going strong. 

So, once again, congratulations to the Super Bowl LIII Champions, the New England Patriots.

The boys loved the game, too. Fireworks in our town scared them but they were reassured it was a celebration of the football victory.  Of course, they said. We won!