Discovered this morning that one of my new baby hens is, in fact, a little dude. Very proud of how strong of a morning call he has. Still keeping the name Tootsie though.
we live like 30 minutes away from the city where there's not much except farmland and new developments. There's a little pond at the corner of an intersection of county roads. Finally saw some ducks there yesterday so I visited on my lunch break today (it's 5 minutes from our place) and there were about 40 ducks. It was difficult to get actual breeds and counts, but for sure saw some Lesser Scaups, Green-winged Teals, American Wigeons, and shorebirds like Killdeer and a Greater Yellowlegs. Gonna go back in the morning. Winter is great for waterfowl watching
Been trying to identify another one I see at work above the water channel and I went on a walk with some co-workers today and we were talking about the turkey vulture and a guy mentioned there are Kingfishers too and sure enough that's what it was. He said it was a white-throated Kingfisher, but that didn't match, but it did turn out to be a Belted Kingfisher.
would have been very far from home if it were a white-throated lol but yeah Belted Kingfishers are probably the most common ones in America. They are so cool!
After months and months of nothing but House Sparrows, House Finches, and Mourning Doves in our backyard, we FINALLY got a couple of Goldfinches this morning. They are super common year round but not in our neighborhood because there are no trees (new development). That's how down bad we are here for variety. In other news, I'm visiting the Rio Grande Valley for a few days this week and the birding there is outrageous. Gonna see some Green Jays, Chachalacas, Altamira Orioles, Great Kiskadees, etc. Can't wait.
Saw like 7 new birds after my trip to the RGV this past week. Definitely an elite birding spot. I'll post checklists tomorrow because I know you're all dying to see them
So my trip to the Rio Grande Valley was great. I was able to hit 3hotspots for a total of 7 new birds. First place was a wildlife preserve built on the grounds of a 1930's mansion built from adobe with all kinds of Spanish elements. I was able to see some Green Jays (seen before, but barely). Second place was a state park after hours where I saw a group of 17 Wild Turkeys. Plenty of Green Jays and Chachalacas as well. Lastly was a wildlife refuge in the wetlands of Corpus Christi where there were hundreds of shorebirds and gulls. Saw my first Black Skimmers there. The new finds of note (photos not mine): Plain Chachalaca - a group of six of them ran across the path right between my brother-in-law and I. They were also all over the state park, I could hear their croaking in the bushes everywhere. I love the eBird description: "Extremely noisy and full of character. Small groups crash through the brush from tree to tree with the grace of a large bulldozer. Often heard "singing" a cacophony of grating shouts and squawks." Great Kiskadee - their calls straight up sound like cats meowing. Very vibrant, probably my favorite sighting. Altamira Oriole - I only got to see one of these and it was concealed in some brush. Wish I'd seen more. Orioles are always so striking. Black Skimmer - there were a pocket of about 60 of these tucked within a horde of Laughing Gulls in the wetlands. Super weird looking bills: Other new species: Redhead, Short-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, Clay-colored Thrush, Rufous Hummingbird. Checklists: https://ebird.org/checklist/S302050719 (27 species) https://ebird.org/checklist/S302102747 (19 species) https://ebird.org/checklist/S302453407 (44 species) Would love to go back.
This guy was bullying all the other birds in the channel today. I think he's a Californian Brown Pelican.
Two brothers learn about competitive birdwatching by becoming birdwatchers—spending a year living in a used minivan, traveling the country to compete in a ‘Big Year'.
A wild turkey wandered into my yard this morning. Which made me think there was a gap in the fence but then when I went out to try and free him he just got a running start a hop-flew right over it. It was quite impressive for a flightless bird.