Birds and Nature

Yesterday the rare Yellow-green Vireo was still at the Sheepshead Valley Fund lots on South Padre Island and it put on a show foraging in sight 4 different times while I was there. And it came in to the closer water feature that has better lighting and is closer than where I photographed it day before yesterday. The pics above and below nicely show the how extensive the  yellowish is on this bird as it extends into it's belly from it's neck and flanks, a field mark for Yellow-green but not for the similar Red-eyed Vireo. SeEtta

As I was driving out to South Padre Island I saw a facebook post that a Yellow-green Vireo was being seen at the Sheepshead Valley Fund Lots there. As this is rare bird that only ventures into South Texas I was very interested and wanted to get there quickly--first I tried to take a short cut that turned to be a closed road then wouldn't you know a local sheriff's deputy pulled onto the highway in front in me for a distance. I did make it without a ticket to the birding hotspot and spotted this bird. This was a difficult id for me as this species is very similar to Red-eyed Vireo but a local birder who has seen this species before confirmed it from my photos. Now that I have had a chance to read about this species I can see that it shows greenish sides of neck, yellow on it's it's flank (didn't see or photo the undertail coverts), larger bill, off-white breast, greenish back with grey cap, less distinct face pattern than Red-eyed Vireo.  Like the Red-eyed ...