Antshrike's Bird Blog: Jabiru in Willacy County, 8/21/08

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Jabiru in Willacy County, 8/21/08

A couple of weeks ago I heard a rumor of a Jabiru (or a Jacana) up by Raymondville in Willacy County. Well, I couldn't get any more details so I forgot it till I checked out Texbirds Thursday afternoon after a day of boring back to school inservices. They were reporting a juvenile Jabiru in the flooded fields along Hwy 490 west of Raymondville. So I escaped a few minutes early, raced home and grabbed Honey and my camera and we were off. We arrived to find a dozen unsuccessful birders. After an hour of driving and searching someone found the bird right where we were all originally parked. This is about the tenth ABA record, all occuring in late summer or fall in Texas except for two Louisiana records. Jabirus are native from the Atlantic coastal wetland of Tabasco and Campeche in Mexico to Brazil. They like open grassy areas with shallow water. What a bitchin' bird!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Oh yes, I was there! I was one of those unsuccessful birders you mentioned. I took some awesome photographs, uploaded them to my laptop, and then the next day proceeded to destroy my laptop. I lost my Jabiru pictures! You should see the ones Ruth Hoyt took! And I am a new lister, very new to birding. This rocks!; September 15, 2008 at 6:12 PM

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Listers, Come out of the closet!

I have a problem. I am a lister. There. I said it. I'm not ashamed of it. There's lots of birders out there who look down their noses at listers. But I bet they have lists too. They list in the privacy of their homes. Maybe behind the locked door of the bathroom. Come on listers. Come out of the closet (or the bathroom)! Oh I know what they say about listing. You go blind or hair grows on the palms of your hands. But it's not true. In fact listing is good for you. So make your lists and don't feel guilty about it.