Today I led a trip of 12 TAS birders, mostly ABC grads, to see what we could find in Pierce County on a spectacularly beautiful sunny day. After finding very little except the Queen Eider on the sound over the last 3 days I decided we’d try for fresh water and land birds. We met Read More…
Queen Eider
I got a chance to chase my first new 2015 Pierce County bird this morning, the female King Eider that has been hanging out off Ruston Way in Tacoma since discovered by Bruce Labar a couple of days after I left for my Rio Grande Valley trip. I had to look around a bit but Read More…
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch and Space Shuttle
Today Kay and I decided that we would add a trip to WG Jones Forest before we went to the Houston NASA Center, and had almost instant success finding her two life birds in the first 20 minutes there. First a Red-cockaded woodpecker called drawing us to see it first perched high on a snag Read More…
Goose Island and Aransas
Yesterday Kay and I took a day largely off from birding and rested up. Today we left early from Rockport to Goose Island State Park where it was windy which seemed to keep the birds down, but I managed to find a few birds, highlights were lots of close up looks at most of the Read More…
Leaving the RGV- Northern Jacana at Choke Canyon.
Kay and I spent our last time in the Lower Rio Grande Valley this morning at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville. The visit was notable for the incredible lack of birds, the vast swarms of mosquitos, seeing the infamous “wall” and meeting Greg Miller, the character Jack Black played in the movie The Big Read More…
Hook-billed Kite: Third Time Success
Kay and I headed back to Anzalduas Park today for our third visit looking for Hook-billed Kite. We got off to a slower than optimal start today and didn’t arrive until 9 AM. On arrival several excited birders were on the kite, and it had just slipped behind the trees by the dike. I had Read More…
Seedeater- Yes
I felt a bit bad that on our first day of the RBVBF I took the last remaining space on a King Ranch trip and on an easy half day trip got to see Ferruginous Pygmy owl, while I scheduled her for a 5AM start on the Seedeater Sojourn. The weather had made the private Read More…
Bentson Rio Grande Valley State Park
Our RGVBF trip today was to Bentson Rio Grande Valley State Park, or “Bentson” as it’s known in the local birding vernacular. Overall it was a nice day of birding considering we went with a group of 38 +4 leaders. We missed the primary targets of the trip, Ringed Kingfisher and Tropical Parula, both of Read More…
Birding Weslaco
This morning Kay and I took the half day RGVBF trip to Weslaco and visited two areas, and . These are relatively small areas but have excellent habitat for a good variety of birds. For me the highlight of the day was the ease with which we saw Clay-colored thrush. I was pleased that I Read More…
Birding by Ear with the Best
Maybe with the best in the world. Kay and I took the Birding by Ear trip with Michael O’Brien today to Santa Ana NWR. It was an experience to open eyes. Michael and his wife Louise have to be among the best if not the best North American auditory birders. Michael can identify essentially every Read More…