May 4th, 2014

Carolyn and I had a great day birding.  We saw 84 different species including over 20 that neither of us had ever seen before.  I didn't get pictures of all 84, but here are some highlights:

It was the day of the Tri-Colored Heron.
Carolyn had never seen one before.  I had seen a few, but I bet
we saw 20-30 this day, including about 20 along 288 on the West side of Freeport.
The in-flight pictures aren't great, but I sure like the one I took after it landed.

The is certainly the best picture of a Common Gallinule I've ever taken.
It may be the best one I'll ever take - the white "breeding feathers" are pretty cool I think.

Loggerhead Shrike on a cable.

This Painted Bunting was the first bird we saw when we got to the Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary.
I lifetime first for me.  It was very photogenic and downright friendly.

Every once in a while, a Hummingbird will land close enough to get a good picture.
This is a female ruby-throated.  By far the most common hummingbird in this part of Texas.

The birders in Quintana told us this is a Philadelphia Vireo - it was very pretty in the flowers.

This is the mystery bird of the day.  I still am not sure what it is.
The broad beak bespeaks some kind of finch, but it doesn't look like any that I can find in the guides.
I suspect it is a juvenile or first year of something that I haven't seen juvenile pictures of.
If anybody knows what it is, please let me know.

I'm pretty sure this is the same bird, but I still don't know what it is.

We saw this pair of Baltimore Orioles at a distance.
Not a great picture, but great birds.

A male Red-Breasted Grosbeak.  Another first for me.

And the female Red-breasted Grosbeak

A few pictures of a Black-throated Green Warbler.
Another first.

I really like this picture of a Swainson's Thrush.
I crop most of the pictures that I post, but I left this one - I just like the composition.

Three not-so-great pictures of what I believe is a Western Tanager

I believe it's a juvenile male - you can see what looks like the start of some red on his breast.

Whatever it is, it's obviously quite modest as it hid behind the rock while bathing!!

A Black-and-White Warbler

A not so great picture of a Northern Parula - another first for me.
Note the out-of-focus Swainson's Thrush in the background.

The Northern Parula again.

In late morning we left the bird sanctuary and drove around the block to the county park on the beach:

A lone Sanderling.

Stoic Caspian Terns

These Sanderlings where very funny.  In the cold and wind they tuck their heads and pull up one leg.
The funny part was that as the started to run when we got closer...

Many of them forgot to put down their leg - we thought maybe we'd discovered a flock of one-legged Sanderlings.

A Laughing Gull among the Caspian Terns.

Not a great picture, but a Brown Pelican in flight.

One of my favorite pictures of the day - Ruddy Turnstone - a first for Carolyn.

I took this picture from a distance so it's not great, but these five birds are Black Terns.
I think the one on the left is a Black Tern with "winter plumage."
The one in the back on the right is a Caspian.

I like this picture - it kind of makes me feel like I'm flying with them.
The one on the left is a Least Tern - if you look closely you can see the black bill with the yellow tip.

A big Herring Gull.

Willet.

I was really excited to see this bird - a Black Bellied Plover.
A first for me.

We left Qunitana and drove East to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.  We accidentally drove past the actual entrance to the refuge and were very fortunate to do so because we saw this bird sitting in a clearing on the ground not far from the road...

A Common Nighthawk - another first for me and a really cool bird.
My strategy was to take a couple pictures, then take a step or two forward and take a few more.
This is a close as I could get before he took off.

He didn't fly far though and landed on this post.  It was still quite windy out and it was really cool to watch him
balance himself against the wind by pushing that bottom tail-feather against the post.
I used the same strategy here and this is the last shot I got before he took off again.

I didn't get any good pictures in flight, but I wanted to post this one anyway just to show the really cool wing bands.

It wouldn't be birding in Southeast Texas without seeing a Crested Caracara.
The smallest one I've ever seen by the way.
At first we both thought it was something else because it was so small.

I don't know how this got in here!!  I think it's fun that I can take pictures like this.

I love Black-necked Stilts and this is my favorite picture of the day.
I just love the hard angles and contrast of the birds above the ripples in the water and the reflection.

Another first for me - Wilson's Phalarope.
We had actually seen some earlier in the day as we left Qunitana (right next to the Freeport LNG terminal).
But I was glad see a bunch of them at Brazoria where the pictures were much better.
They are actually quite small waders - maybe 6-8 inches long.

Carolyn thinks I'm funny, but whenever I go birding for a day, I always pick a species or two that I hope to
see that day, based on what has been seen lately and what I've never seen before.
Well, this day I really wanted to see an American Avocet and there one is, on one leg on the far left.

I kept hoping he would pull his head up and show of the slender up-curved bill, but no such luck.
I was tempted to throw a rock...
By the way, the other bird a wanted to see that day was a Bittern and we saw one
at the Freeport LNG terminal, but he flew too quickly for a picture.

At the far right of that same "island" was a group of King Rails, another first.

Kind of an odd trio I thought - two Black-necked Stilts and a White Ibis.

According to my Nat Geo guide and Audobon bird app, Northern Shovelers only winter here.
But there were a lot of them in Brazoria on this early May day.

We had to head home but I got this shot of a Scissor-tail Flycatcher before we left.
It was truly a great day.