Last days on South Padre Island

 

A wonderful way to begin the day!

Sanderlings feeding early in the surf.

 Pied-billed Grebe - check those feet!

Large catch for a small bird

Gotta turn that fish around to avoid dorsal spines

Down the hatch!

Cooper's Hawk  Juvenile

Peregrine Falcon high on the water tower above the Birding Center.

Red-eared Sliders sunning

Common Yellowthroat

Northern Waterthrush

Green Kingfisher bails off perch for minnow

Successful catch!

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Black-bellied Plover

Sora

Clapper Rail

Least Bittern grabs a Sheephead Minnow

Black-crowned Night-heron comes into the roost after a night of fishing

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron touches down

Green Heron  raising crest displaying dominance

Tricolored Heron shadowing fish

Reddish Egret white morph

How many minnows must I eat to fill the tank?

Reddish Egret rests other leg by tucking it 

Snowy Egret protests interloper

Great Egret's in style hairdo

American Coot cleared for take-off

Good thing there's a long runway.

Mottled Duck checking out newcomer -  Green-winged Teal

Question we get often " What's the name of that duck with the red head?"

Thousands of Redheads winter in the Laguna Madre area.

Red-breasted Merganser fishing in shallow water, motoring about.

Merganser gets fish and Boneparte's Gull tries to steal it.

No success, time to catch my own.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Birds of a feather flock together!

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks bid us farewell!

Our memorable three month stay at South Padre Island has gone quickly and we have been blessed enjoying God's Creation, many birding friends and services at Chapel by the Sea.

❤️ Love & Prayers 🙏 

Ty & Ida Baumann

Brownsville, San Benito, SPI Birding and Beach Sea Turtles

 

Another unique sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico

A field trip to Brownsville University produced another "life" bird for us.  The Fan-tailed Warbler.

We got great looks but no pictures because of the hoards of birders from all over the nation that were standing three deep.  Thanks to Sandie Lohse for this photo.

We drove to San Benito Wetlands and near by was our favorite Burrowing Owl.

At the ponds were Least Grebes,

Least Grebe is a specialty of South Texas

Pair of Eared Grebes

Love the red eyes of the Eared Grebe.

Black Phoebe

Another S. Texas specialty - Ringed Kingfisher, much larger than our Belted Kingfisher

White-eyed Vireo at Laguna Vista drip

Emerald Moth at Birding Center 3/4 inch.

Yellow Wooly Bear 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

American Wigeon

Northern Pintail

Pintail squabble, hen started it.

Uncommon Greater Scaup on right

Brown Pelican decided to try the fresh water pond for fish at the Birding Center

Pelican expelling water from full pouch

Water gone, any fish?

Yep! chug it down!

Neotropic Cormorants

Leucistic Piping Plover on the tidal flats.

American Oystercatcher

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet in the waves

Roseate Spoonbill coming in to feed

Feeding in the clear water

White Ibis chasing fish

Roosting Cattle Egret starting to get Spring buffy colors

Many birders coming to find the Mangrove "yellow" Warbler

Full rusty cap coming in for this young Mangrove Warbler

Green Heron

We had a surspise visit from Joan Grant from Green Bay and her son Mike from St.Louis.

This Green Kingfisher is what Mike was looking for.

The Arctic Blast reached all the way down into S. Texas with below freezing temps.  The Sea Turtles become stunned and have to be rescued to keep them from drowning.   Over 900 turtles were picked up and a few days later released at the beach.  Large numbers of trucks and volunteers assisted in this effort.

These are Loggerhead Sea Turtles and are quite a handful.

Many take two to carry them to the water.

Turtles were flapping all the way from the truck to the water

Thousands of onlookers came to see the release

A bright spot on a winter's day, Vermilion Flycatcher

Love & Prayers,

Ty & Ida Baumann