Black Scoter at Boca Chica Part II, 12/19/18

A couple of days after my brief sighting of the male Black Scoter at Boca Chica, Justin LeClaire found a male in the ship channel between the jetties.  I had a feeling that would be the place to find one.  And after he saw it again a few days later I figured I should try for a better photo.  So I drove over today and found the Black Scoter with little effort.  It was actively feeding not far out from the riprap that lines the ship channel a few hundred yards inland from the Boca Chica jetty.  I would not be surprised if it's the same bird I found ten days earlier.

Black Scoters are being found in good numbers along northern half of the Texas Coast this fall, but the sightings at Boca Chica are the only one reported south of Aransas County so far.

Well that was easy so why not drive over to South Padre Island and look for the Black-headed Grosbeak at the Birding Center.  I have seen several in Hidalgo County and one in Cameron County but they have all been in juvenile plumage.  This one was a nice adult feeding on fiddlewood berries in front of the South Padre Island Birding Center.

It's been a great fall and I haven't even been over for the Roadside Hawk or Golden-crowned Warblers yet.  Hope they hang around.