Birds and Nature

This should provide some interesting and valuable information--it's pretty cool, way to go Cornel Lab. SeEtta

I finally made the trip this morning to Sabal Palm Sanctuary, one of my favorite birding hotspots in the Rio Grande Valley. I refound this female Crimson-collared Grosbeak that was first found on December 15 by Jimmy Paz and David Benn during their Christmas Bird Count. This rare Mexican bird had not been seen since Dec 18 but Jimmy Paz optimistically told me the locations it had been seen and promised a hug if I found it. And Jimmy kept his word when I returned to let him know I refound this bird. I got these photos during the 10 minutes I watched her. She fed in several trees quite actively and stayed in the shade, often partially obscured by foliage or branches making it challenging to get reasonable good photos. SeEtta

I found this scaup yesterday while participating in the Harlingen CBC, a count that has never had an identified Greater Scaup in it's history so I am going to be conservative and call this a possible Greater Scaup. The bird was among about 250 Lesser Scaup on the lake in Dixieland Park. I believe it has following characteristics that distinguish female Greater from Lesser Scaup: black nail is large, shape of bill is more spatulate, the bill is larger proportionally to it's head than on Lesser's, and the forehead is not as steep as on Lesser's. Since the bird had just come up from a dive and it's head is wet, I don't think the head shape is helpful in distinguishing the species. Note: the only thing I did to these photos was crop them to enlarge the duck and not other editing. Photos can be enlarged for closer viewing by double-clicking on them. SeEtta