Normally when I take a trip, I post in chronological order my days and sightings.  But on this trip I was there for a week and I saw so many different kinds of unique and beautiful birds – many of them lifers!

So I thought I would change things up and post all of my wonderful sightings by category rather than when I saw them.

And of course I just had to write about my favorite type of bird first – warblers!  When I first arrived at Port Aransas, my first stop was at the Leonabelle Wildlife Refuge.  There is a short path along grass and bushes before it opens up into the boardwalks through the marshlands.  On my first visit there at dawn, I stopped to peer into the bushes along this path.  There wasn’t any birdsong, but upon closer inspection, I noticed a flurry of activity among the bushes.  When I looked closer, I realized it was warblers – lots of them! I could hardly contain my excitement.  But then I could hardly contain my dread…. will my new camera be up to the challenge of shooting gorgeous warblers deep in the shadows at dawn?????

Happily, with a few rough starts, I started getting some decent photos.  I got a few pics of warblers I’ve seen before.

I was especially pleased with this Yellow Warbler photo!

But then I started noticing new warblers – lifers!   I was grinning from ear to ear!  The most common warbler while birding in Port Aransas was the Magnolia Warbler.   This bird is a lifer and I was happy to capture so many photos of this stunning bird.

I kept seeing another warbler flash past me.   After several attempts, I finally managed to get a couple decent photos.  Another lifer!

 

Then to my surprise, a warbler I have looked for many times, a Black and White Warbler.  Lifer!

For me the prize of the morning was seeing the stunning Blackburnian Warbler – another lifer!  I took about 100 photos of this fast-moving bird among the foliage before I got a decent pic.

I then headed over to Paradise Pond Park – a small birding spot just a few blocks over.  It has several boardwalks that you can view birds among the bushes and grasses.  When I visited there last fall, part of the boardwalks were over water.  But this visit found the water area just mud.  But the birds were loving it.  There were lots of bugs on this mud and the songbirds were greedily snappy them up.

Also at Paradise Pond Park were a couple of vireos – both of which were lifers for me!

There were lots of songbirds around during my visit.

But the highlight of the songbirds was seeing a very cooperative and totally gorgeous Painted Bunting!

On one of my dawn patrols, I saw a pair of Eastern Kingbirds – lifer!!!  There was very little light as the sun really hadn’t fully risen yet.  But I got a good enough photo to identify the bird!

I saw all these warblers and songbirds over a two-day period.  A total of 9 lifers!  Then POOF!!! they were gone.  It seemed they all got the memo and migrated north at the same time.  I’m so glad I didn’t miss them!!!

Stay tuned for another category of bird sightings in Port Aransas, Texas!