Progreso Lakes, 12/22/16

I had plenty of stuff to do in our new house at Progreso Lakes today so I spent the morning birding in the yard instead.  I was happy to finally get some good photos of the female Canvasback.  That's a species I figured we would get eventually but we sure didn't have to wait long.

I think this is a different first winter female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker than the one I had seen a couple of times before.

The first new yard bird of the day were a couple of White-winged Doves.  I thought I might have to wait till spring to get one.

I saw a pair of Inca Doves so I imitated their "no hope" call and they walked right up to me.

Our first White-fronted Goose for the yard was this juvenal two days ago.  I had a flock of nine fly over today.

Later I thought I head Snow Geese and eventually found this distant lone bird which was new for the yard.

The local pair of Peregrines passed over.

And then there was this Sharp-shinned Hawk which was another new yard bird.

Saw the pair of Green Kingfishers feeding distantly and then the Ringed zoomed past.

Living with a couple of thousand Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks I often get to see a few squabbles.

Among the many Black-bellies was a single Fulvous Whistling Duck.

The local Plain chachalaca flock has now grown to thirteen birds.  They seem to wander up and down the shore passing through all the neighbors' yards.

I finished the morning with my new daily high of 56 species.  Just wait till spring gets here!

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (fulgens) 1500
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 1
Greater White-fronted Goose (Western) 9
Snow Goose 1
Muscovy Duck (Domestic type) 4
Mottled Duck (Gulf Coast) 2
Blue-winged Teal 5
Canvasback 1
Ring-necked Duck 5
Lesser Scaup 100
Plain Chachalaca 13
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Double-crested Cormorant 1
American White Pelican 7
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 1
Cattle Egret (Western) 13
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 6
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 60
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Northern) 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot (Red-shielded) 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Caspian Tern 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Inca Dove 2
White-winged Dove 2
Mourning Dove 9
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Northern) 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Crested Caracara 1
American Kestrel 1
Peregrine Falcon 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 4
Tropical Kingbird 1
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Green Jay (Green) 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 15
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Red-winged Blackbird 130
Great-tailed Grackle 4