It's been a good fall for unusual butterflies in the Rio Grande Valley so I have been spending quite a bit of time at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas. A Winter Wren has been present there for a few weeks but not being cooperative for me... till today. I was sitting at the bird feeding station hoping for its magical apparition as has been describe to me by other birders and sure enough today I finally got my turn to watch this little cutie. It was a little shady and distant so my photos are not great but I bumped up the iso to 1600 and got some ok images.
For many years the Winter Wren of North American and the Wren of Europe and Asia were considered to be the same species. Now the Eurasian Wren has been split off as has the Pacific Wren of the Pacific Coast of North America. The eastern North American species remains the Winter Wren. We get a few every winter but they are secretive and hard to photograph.
Meanwhile last week a White-throated Sparrow hung around a few days. I thought it would enjoy the free food and stay awhile but it appears to be gone.
An Eastern Bluebird has been hanging a round but I've yet to see it. One great thing about living in the RGV is you can see eastern, western, Mexican and even northern species of birds. You never know what you're going to get.
