A Birder's Life for Me

After our first big, beautiful flight across the Gulf of America, we arrived in Corpus Christi to start our 10 day excursion across Texas.

Right now, there may be one American Flamingo in Texas.  If so, this is it. This stray is hanging out with the rest of the shore birds in Port Aransas.

Another South American stray that has taken up residence behind a seafood restaurant in downtown Corpus Christi is this Cattle Tyrant.  After getting this bird last year, it was nice get it again with an even better picture this time around.

Pointing to the bird in the picture below, a fellow asked me, "Do you know what that bird is?"    I replied, "Sure.  It's a Little Blue Heron."  He said, "I know.  But what is it?"  To which I replied, "It's a Little Blue Heron.  As in the opposite of Great Blue Heron."  That seemed to make things click for him.

This Snowy Egret seemed to be lamenting, "I just washed my feathers and I can't do a thing with them!"  It had just finished taking a bath on a windy afternoon.

Hummers have been plentiful including this Ruby-throated Hummer.

After a couple of days in the Corpus area, we spent this afternoon at Kickapoo State Park west of Uvalde, TX.  It was 99 degrees when we arrived.  That is a far cry from minus 33 in Minnesota in February.

The total bird count for the trip after two full days stands at 123 with 30 new species observed for 2025.  I have picked up one life bird... an Aplomado Falcon.  These falcons are rare in the U.S. and we only got a brief glimpse of it sitting on power lines as we drove by.  It disappeared before we could turn around and come back for a better look.  Easy come, easy go.

We'll spend tomorrow in the Texas hill country before heading further west toward the Big Bend area and the Texas mountains.  I'm hoping for something other than tacos and tortilla chips west of the Pecos.