Sparrows on Weslaco CBC, 1/3/10

Today on the Weslaco Christmas Bird Count I worked my usual area, the flood channel adjacent to Estero Llano Grande State Park from FM 88 to Mercedes. Sparrows were more numerous than in recent years. Best was my Hidalgo County first Leconte's Sparrow.



I also saw 17 Grasshopper Sparrows, a personnal one day high,



This Cassin's Sparrow seems unusually red to me.



I almost ran over this Sprague's Pipit.



Luckily this Tropical Kingbird called or I wouldn't have been able to separate it from Couch's.



I finished the long day with a Short-eared Owl at 6PM and got the counts only Bobwhite in my headlights on the way back in to the countdown.

Northern Wheatear in Bee County.

Happy new year! I've busy with CBC's and not seeing too many good birds so I haven't posted in a while. Also I've been lazy. I guess my title should be "Bare-throated Tiger Heron at Bentsen State Park" except I've wasted a lot of time on that stupid bird and have only seen it for about ten seconds in bad light. Here's a link to some pics. www.nightflightimages.blogspot.com At this point I'm seething with envy. This morning I was back up on the levee at Bentsen for my fourth try at the BTTH when Ted from Austin got word from a friend that there was a Northern Wheatear near Beeville. I've been upset a long time about missing the only other Texas wheatear at Laguna Atascosa back during the first Harlingen Bird Festival in 1994. So I got the directions and I was off to Beeville! Luckily there were a few other birders present and we found the Northern Wheatear minutes. Texas lifer #519.





I took these pics with my new Canon T1i and Canon 300mm f4 IS lens. I think I'll get some better pics now but it sure weighs a lot more. Here's some more I took yesterday of common birds while others were basking in the glory of the Bare-throated Tiger Heron. There's a White-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnat-catcher, Vermillion Flycatcher, Black-and-white Warbler and a Wilson's Snipe.











Interesting yesterday, at Delta Lake, was this Double-crested Cormorant eating a "plecostomus". This common aquarium sucker-mouth catfish from South America fish seems to be common in the Delta Lake area. This is the fifth time I've seen this happen. Hoping to get some better pics of it some day.