Sunday, March 29, 2015

Birding around Port Aransas


Things got off to an odd start for this adventure. First we had a LONG flight delay out of LAX that made us wonder if it would have been faster to drive to texas! So we finally settle in late at our hotel - not the usual five-star digs Chris prefers, but she'll go just about anywhere for Mike in search of a bird. Freshly rested, ready to hit the bird trails the first morning on our own without a guide, we come upon a gruesome site - a crested caracara eating a turtle! The crested caracara was a target bird, but we could,have done without the gory breakfast treat. It was one of those instances when chris says, "I hate nature." Trust us when we say we censored the pictures of this event for this family rated blog.
The rest of the first day on our own was fun after that - the birding hot spots are well marked and maintained here in port Aransas.
Next day out with our guide, we got two more target birds and no wildlife gore. We are looking forward to tomorrow, another day with our guide.


Green Jay
Green Jay


Black-crested titmouse
Black-crested titmouse

Pyrrhuloxia
Pyrrhuloxia

Crested Caracara
Crested Caracara

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Hummingbird nest

Here we go again. An Allen's hummingbird has built a nest outside a window at our house. We'll keep watching, but we hope there will be babies in a couple of weeks.

Allen's Hummingbird on nest

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Birding in Palm Springs: Mesquite Golf & Country Club

We took a quick trip to Palm Springs for some food, music and birding. We don't photograph our meals, but here are some of the birds we saw.



Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner


Abert Towhee
Abert's Towhee



Verdin
Verdin