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| Least Bittern at the Birding Center |
On April 11th we took a day off from the hawk tower and drove east to South Padre Island for a day of birding during the peak of migration. We had lots of warblers, buntings, tanagers, and orioles. A fun day!
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| Blue Crab |
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| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker enjoying an orange |
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| Prothonotary Warbler has a nice bath |
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| Looking better now? |
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| Louisiana Waterthrush |
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| Hooded Warbler |
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| Painted Bunting |
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| Scissor's-tailed Flycatcher - hawking for insects |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| Blue Grosbeak |
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| Lesser Nighthawk flew right in near us |
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| Prairie Racer |
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| Brown-crested Flycatcher |
Back at Bentsen RGV State Park and more adventures from the hawk tower. When the hawk migration slowed, we watched for passerines.
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| Altamira Oriole visited us on the tower |
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| Mississippi Kites finally started to come from South America |
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| Cedar Waxwings |
We could hear the strangest call from below the tower and we tried to figure out what it was, a bird? A mammal? It kept getting closer and then the Chachalaca made their alert call and Ty hurried down the ramp to find this surprise. A young Bobcat!
In a palm tree at our RV park, we photgraphed this Great Horned Owl with her two owlets peeking out from behind. She wasn't too happy with the attention.
Ty got a surprise visitor on the hawk tower one morning. This hen turkey walked all the 200 feet up the ramp to the top. When she saw Ty, she didn't know what to do but pace back and forth before finally hopping up on the rail and flying down to the ground and scampering away.
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| Bronzed Cowbird flaring his "hood" |
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| Working on the nest, Altamira Oriole |
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| Here she is weaving the grass strands to make a sturdy nest. |
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| Birds are coming from all directions, seasonal count is over 92,000 raptors |
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| Hook-billed Kite, everyone's special bird |
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| A wind storm blew this baby out of the nest, Ty and the park manager rescued it from the ground. |
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| Mama was not too happy but watching every move |
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| They got him up in a tree away from predators |
The "Pink Full Moon" graced the sky, almost time for us to leave South Texas.
Tomorrow we head north to the Hill Country and then west to Big Bend National Park, a couple days in the Davis Mountains and then it's north along the Rockies to Livingston, MT for a month before heading to adventures in Alaska.
Love & Blessings,
Ty & Ida Baumann
