Rio Grande Valley - The Gulf to Mission Texas

Our last day on South Padre Island was spent at the World Birding Center on Laguna Madre.  This Clapper Rail greeted us along the boardwalk with it's loud clapping call.  This usually secretive bird was not at all hidden, giving us great looks in the salt water marsh.

Other birds along the elevated boardwalk were late migrants such as this Long-billed Curlew.  There was a good representation of wading and shore birds being watched over by a Peregrine Falcon.

In the adjacent Convention Center Natural Area we found many warblers: Hooded, Black & White, Nashville, Magnolia, Am. Redstart, Orange-crowned and Louisiana Waterthrush; Ash-throated Flycatcher, and this beautiful Rufous Hummingbird gathering nectar from this flowering bottlebrush.

We made a couple other stops at "postage stamp" wildlife areas where flocks of Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks fed on grass seeds plus a Summer Tanager.


This 30 foot statue of Jesus stands as a memorial to Shrimpers lost at sea at the harbor.  This perched Great Blue Heron finds Christ's outstretched arms as a place of refuge.

Early the next morning we went with Captain Scarlet Colley and her "Dolphin Adventures" out of Port Isabel to see the rare Mexican Mangrove Warbler.  A beautiful yellow bird with a deep rusty head.

Along the way we saw this Great Blue Heron whose eyes were bigger than it's stomach or throat.

We appreciated George & Scarlet's personal hospitality and use of their dockside RV site for the night.

At 4:30 AM we drove to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge to look for night birds such as Barn Owls & Com. Pauraques.

The auto drive was closed to public vehicles because of the endangered Ocelot's movements.  We took the small park bus on a 2 1/2 hour personal tour with only the naturalists and driver.

This White-tailed Hawk was one of our new birds for the year.

On the road south to Brownsville we found two Aplomado Falcons near the Old Port Isabel Road.

We stayed at Rio RV Park south of the famous Brownsville Sanitary Landfill (fortunately the wind was in our favor).  We scoped and found Tamaulipas Crows, Chihuahuan Raven and Crested Caracara.

This photo of the Caracara was taken on the road to Boca Chica.  This extensive salt flat marsh goes for 16 miles from Brownsville to the gulf.  Bird highlights also included hundreds of Reddish Egrets (dark & white morphs), Am. Avocets, 4 species of plovers, Harris Hawk, Cassin's & Lark Sparrows and Bronzed Cowbirds.

At the southern most point of Texas is Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  We walked the trails and boardwalks stopping at the bird blinds and feeding stations where we observed Least Grebe (photo), some feeding just hatched young; Green Kingfishers, many herons and gallinules.

We settled into a Weslaco RV Park near Estero LLano Grande State Park; one of Tropical Texas' best birding places.  A few of our birding highlights include this sleeping Com. Pauraque; Yellow-crowned & Black-crowned Night-herons, Anhingas, Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Red-Crowned Parrots and .................

this sleepy Eastern Screech Owl.  A total of 80 bird species were found in the park in the 2 days we were there.

We found this 8" (half grown) Giant Cane Toad in a small pond near the feeding station at Estero.

We also watched a Texas Tortoise quickly (at least for a tortoise) walk toward us looking for special plants to snack on.

A new experience for us was the mass migration of thousands, maybe millions, of butterflies.  From ground level to hundreds of feet in the air were glittering, fluttering wings.  One of our favorite new species was this Mexican Blue-wing.







We went to Frontera Audubon Center and it's wonderful thicket with feeding stations and watering holes along the many trails in this small acreage.  We were delighted to know that the Golden-crowned Warbler had been seen there recently.  However, we discovered and reported that there were actually two Golden-crowned Warblers - a beautiful adult male and a paler young bird.

We took an RV site in Alamo near Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  There was virtually no water in the ponds reducing the bird life greatly.  We barely found 25 species out of the 400 listed as being here.

We drove to the Edinburg Birding Center and Scenic Wetlands where we found this flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.

Butterflies and Dragonflies such as this Flame Skimmer were abundant on the acres of flowering plants.


We are now in Mission, Texas for the month of November right next to the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park.

Wishing warm greetings to you.
God Bless you all.
Ty & Ida Baumann

Central Texas Southward

Copper Breaks State Park was our first stop in Texas on Oct. 9th - a desert oasis where we found our first Ladder-backed and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers.

A number of large Desert Blonde Tarantulas were crossing the roads early in the morning as we drove south.

We headed to Abilene State Park, another wooded area with more new birds including our first Black-throated Sparrows.

We stopped at a wayside where we found our first Canyon Towhee.

The next two nights we spent at South Llano River state park.  This park had four bird feeding stations with water features and viewing blinds.  This Western Scrub Jay came to drink and bathe in the fountain.

This Vermilion Flycatcher was one of the many new birds we found including Verdin, Lesser Goldfinch, Spotted Towhee, Black-crested Titmouse, Bewick's Wren, and Lark Sparrow.


This park has one of the largest Rio Grande Turkey roosts in Texas with over 800 turkeys coming for the winter.  This roost area is closed each afternoon at 3 pm until 10 the next morning.

This Spiny Lizard was one of our best finds at the Kerr Management Area - managed for the endangered Black-capped Vireo which nests early and migrates south in August.


We stayed at the Guadalupe River RV Park through the torrential rains and flooding that hit both east and southwest of us.

We drove southeast through hugh oil fields to the coast.  We spent four days at Goose Island State Park.  This White-tailed Deer buck was near our campsite being bothered by as many mosquitos as we were.  We switched sites to the gulf coast after one night to the breeze that blew away the bugs.

This American Oystercatcher was one of many birds in this restored wetland.  We found Whooping Cranes while scoping across the bay to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

At Goose Island there were also Clapper Rails, Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, Roseate Spoonbills and Reddish Egrets plus the usual water birds.

A strong north wind brought in many migrating passerines.  It also blew around leaves and seeds such as these caught in the web of this Golden Orb Weaver.

We visited the "Big Tree" a champion Virginia Live Oak and in the area were hundreds of beautiful migrating Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.

We know these birds have been in the blog before but they are so irresistible to photograph.

The ferry took us to Mustang Island at Port Aransas and we checked out the beach at the state park.  Here we found this unusual gull,  park naturalists and a local bird expert went to check it out.  Other than bright orange bill and legs it has the characteristics of the Laughing Gull.  We found out that it is a "Mutant" and a one in a million find.

Also on the beach, hidden in the sand dunes were Snowy Plovers.  There were also Piping and Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings.   Many Sandwich, Royal and Forester's Terns fed in the rolling waves.

Early next morning a Lesser Nighthawk swooped into the campground and landed on the picnic table right across from our site.  He closed his eyes and went to sleep, ignoring the camera and photographer getting closer and closer.






We took Hwy. 77 south for 80 miles along the huge 825,000 acre King Ranch.  We found our first Green Jay at a beautiful wayside.  Along the route we saw White-tailed and Harris Hawks and Crested Caracaras (Photos in future blogs hopefully) plus many more Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.

For the next four days we were at South Padre Island at Isla Blanca County Park at the southern end of the island.  Things were really hopping here along with these Black-tailed Jackrabbits which were the main wildlife.

Our first Couch's Kingbirds were here with a good number of Tanagers, Orioles, Warblers, Buntings and Sparrows that came in with the cold front and northerly winds.  A cold front here means 80's instead of mid 90's.

To our friends up north with frost and snow flakes we send you warm greetings.

Ty & Ida Baumann

Sweeping through the Plains

Nearing the end of September, we drove into North Dakota along the prairie pot holes where we encountered many waterfowl species and shorebirds.  We then settled into Graham's Island State Park.  A walk around the grounds produced good looks at Harris's Sparrows like this male to the right.

Our next stop was the vast wetlands at Sand Lake National Wildlife Area.  Here we witnessed the staging area filling with thousands of ducks and Franklin's Gulls.  Dozens of Western Grebes (to left), Cattle, Snowy and Great Egrets, we also had out first Snow Geese signaling the winter season is coming.  New birds added were Swainson's and Ferruginous Hawks.

We continued south into South Dakota as news of a cold front was heading our way.  We saw our fist Prairie Dogs.  We stopped at Lake Louise where we added the Spotted Towhee then at Big Bend Army Corps Campground for a night on the Missouri River.

Next morning we flushed ten Prairie Chickens as we headed into Nebraska.  This one posed on the barbed-wire fence for several photos.  Now Ring-necked Pheasants were showing up in good numbers.

This White-lined Sphinx Moth was seen actively feeding on nectar at the Calamus State Park.  We then followed the Platte River that was overflowing its banks from the Colorado floods upstream.  We visited with the staff at the Sandhill Crane Audubon Nature Center near Kearney.






After several WLA stops in Nebraska we continued into Kansas.  Our first Prairie Falcon was seen harassing 3 Mourning Doves and a flock of Killdeer.

We were most impressed with the Cheyenne Bottoms State WLA where we spent 2 days traversing the 10 miles of auto tour.  We found concentrations of hundreds of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, this group was perched on the water impoundment pump along with our first Great-tailed Grackles.

Hundreds of White-faced Ibis filled the skies and settled into the marshes,  they were accompanied by thousands of Franklin's Gulls, Blue-winged Teal, American Coot and Barn Swallows.  We had good numbers of Am. Avocets, Long-billed Dowitchers, and 8 White-fronted Geese.  We established a good repoire with the naturalists at the visitor's center and enjoyed their exhibits.

Being keenly aware of the huge snow storm in South Dakota and the tornados in Nebraska and the cold front heading our way, we journeyed southward faster than we had planned.  We camped at the Great Salt Plains State Park on the west fork of the Arkansas River in Oklahoma.  We battened down the hatches as torrential rains and 60 mph winds caught up with us.  No worse  for the ware, we felt God's protection.



With the ensuing calm, this flock of Am. White Pelicans resumed feeding in the shallows below the spillway behind our campsite.  Also in the group were Cattle, Snowy and Great Egrets, and Double-crested Cormorants.

We were surprised to see so many beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Oklahoma's State Bird) still this far north.  Their tenacity at chasing any bird that interloped into their feeding area including hawks, kingfishers, blackbirds and each other.

With the National Wildlife Refuges being closed and large signs strictly forbidding roadway stopping we drove through the Wichita Mountains NWR.  This large free roaming Bison bull made us violate the dictates of the Federal Government by encouraging us to stop and take a quick picture.

Now it's onto Texas for the next 7 weeks.

God Bless "you all".    Ty & Ida Baumann

Autumn begins - NW Wisconsin & N. Minnesota

Having said "Good Bye" to friends in NE Wisconsin, we drove west stopping for the night in Buena Vista where evening birds heralded this beautiful sunset.  We then headed north and found a state park we had never visited before - Brunet Island near Cornell on the Chippewa River.

These Trumpeter Swans can be heard calling over the marshlands of Crex Meadows in Western Wisconsin.  Mix in the bugling of hundreds of Sandhill Cranes descending into the refuge and it made a symphony of sound.

Palm Warblers were migrating in great numbers in many of the places we stopped:  Stone Bridge, Pattison State Park, and the Gordon Wildlife Area where we also found 3 Sharp-tailed Grouse.

Our last state destination was Wisconsin Point which juts out into Lake Superior.  Over the years this has been one of our favorite birding hot spots.

Thousands of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls feed in this bay, and this is what brings in the Jaegers from the Arctic as they migrate south.

This spectacular sunrise set the stage for a week long, 10 hour day, jaeger vigil.

This Parasitic Jaeger (one of seven) is exhibiting it's notorious behavior of intimidating the gulls into regurgitating their full crops of food providing a stolen meal.  Another rare treat was three Long-tailed Jaegers that made fly-bys several times.

Every day birders came to the Point to see the fantastic show.  Over 100 people joined the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology's field trip dubbed "Jaegerfest".  It was a fun time seeing both birds and birders.

This Bald Eagle also became part of the bird pageantry stirring up hundreds of gulls from the lake.  Our "Point" list was well over 100 species - the best being: Sabine's, Franklin's, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls; Black & Surf Scoters; Western, Red-necked and Horned Grebes; Common & Red-throated Loons; Merlins and 17 species of warblers.

We crossed the St. Louis River to Duluth and made a stop at Hawk Ridge.  The weather was "too beautiful" for hawk migration but we enjoyed the view from high above.

We drove north to Sax-Zim Bog and spent the night on a deserted road where early morning mist enveloped this handsome bull moose.

On the way northwest to our next Boreal destination, we found a pair of Black-billed Magpies.

Happily we also added Boreal Chickadees, Gray Jays, a Black-backed Woodpecker, Spruce Grouse and Rusty Blackbirds at Pine Island State Forest.

We drove to Red Lake State Recreation Area and Campground where we walked the trails and Ty climbed the 100+ foot fire tower.  On his way down he came eye to eye with this Red-breasted Nuthatch.

This area is part of the 1.3 million acre Big Bog where we walked the 1 mile boardwalk into the Tamarack and Black Spruce habitat with it's complement of unique bog plants.

We concluded our N. Minnesota adventure with a stop at the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge north of Thief River Falls.  Here we found a wonderful variety of waterfowl, adding several to our year list which now stands at 357.


As we left the refuge, the sunbeams rained through the clouds like a waterfall.  It reminded us that God's light always shines through the darkness.

God's blessing to all,
Ty & Ida Baumann

Enjoying Green Bay

Heading north from our week in Madison, we had a spotted salamander obstacle course east of Goose Pond.  We zig-zagged down the road avoiding all but having to move a couple to the side.

We stopped in Montello to see Ida's mother Betty and sister Ella, who was celebrating her birthday.

After a couple birding stops we reached Green Bay and spent some time on Joan Grant's patio watching the last orioles come to the grape jelly feeder before migrating south.  We joined her for two pre-season Packer games out of the heat in her living room.

Here is one of the five new wolf pups enjoying celebrity status at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.  It was 1996 when the first pups were born at the sanctuary and they lived a good, long life there.

We joined the Bay Area Bird Club for five bird walks along the Wildlife Sanctuary trails.  It was fun to see everyone again.

This Green Heron entertained the group for several minutes trying to have this frog for breakfast.

In between visiting with friends, we contributed some work time on the grounds of Celebration Church.  They allowed us to park each night while we were in Green Bay.

This Gray Tree Frog was looking a little green around the gills nestled in a barberry bush which received needed pruning.

Sanctuary trails produced 23 warbler species during our 2 1/2 week visit.  This Black-throated Blue Warbler in one of our favorites.  We marked off 100 species of birds at the WLS on those walks.

In between appointments, we spent some time along the bay watching the American White Pelicans, cormorants, Caspian & Forester's Terns fishing.

While the RV was getting it's 60,000 mile checkup, we took a loaner car to Navarino State Wildlife Area.  This small Hog-nose Snake had snuck into the lower level of the beautiful new Nature Center.  We helped get it back out in the wild which I'm sure he was thankful for.

Fall is in the air and the leaves are starting to turn colors.  We are headed north to Superior for a week of watching northern migrants come out of Canada.  The Wisconsin Society of Ornithology will be holding their "Jaegerfest" at that time.

It was so good to see so many friends, if we missed you, we'll try again next September.
God Bless You!
Ty & Ida