Birds and Nature

I found this 1st year Gray Hawk at Old Hildago Pumphouse in Hildago, Tx today. So now I have seen 2 1st year Gray Hawks and no adults so far on this trip. I also found this Brown-crested Flycatcher at that location.

The Valley Nature Center in Weslaco is another nature area with native vegetation here in the Rio Grande Valley. And the vegetation is really maturing nicely. I was pleased to have pretty close up views of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, only 30 or so feet up in the trees. I saw more than a dozen of these birds in this fairly small location. I saw about 5 active nests with birds that appear to be sitting on eggs like in the pic below. SeEtta

I really had to work for this sighting. I spotted this skulker late in the afternoon, getting brief glimpses of it as it moved through some thick vegetation on the south side of the Convention Center. It took about 20 minutes to finally get a confirming view like the one below. SeEtta

I saw two more eastern warblers at the Convention Center gardens on SPI today. Though I didn't get a pic the first time I saw a male Hooded Warbler today was on the boardwalk where one had ventured briefly from the vegetation adjacent. The one pictured here was foraging in gardens area. This Yellow-troated Warbler came in to take a bath at the water feature. SeEtta

This is one of the two Black-throated Green Warblers coming into the gardens next to the SPI Convention Center today. Both of these warblers took baths in the water feature. SeEtta

I was delighted to get to observe this Blue-winged Warbler for several minutes, in fact 3 times in 30 minutes at the Convention Center Gardens on South Padre Island. It bathed in the water feature but spent most of the time feeding in some low vegetation. So I was able to get some excellent looks at this beautiful bird and these pics. I actually saw my first of this species at Two Buttes 'black hole' in southeast Colorado more than a decade ago, but I saw that bird briefly from further away so not a great view. So today's views were so much better. It did appear to be successful in it's foraging as the pic above shows it with something in it's bill. Since this bird may have flown over the Gulf of Mexico before stopping over on South Padre Island it is likely very hungry. So glad that these gardens next to the South Padre Island Convention Center are available to provide a good stop over spot with food, water and shelter in the many shrubs, perennials...