Last Time to Bird at Port Aransas, Texas

This should be my last post from my trip to Texas last May/June. It’s taken awhile to get caught up on my blog.

Birding in Port Aransas this last time was bitter sweet in many ways. First off I knew it was most likely the last time I would be visiting there. I lived in Corpus Christi from 1982 to 1994. With my parents living in San Antonio, it was an easy drive for us to go to the beach whenever I visited them. The last time I posted about birding in Port Aransas, my dad was still alive and me and my parents had taken a 5-day trip to the beach. It was in May during spring migration. I had plenty of time there to explore all the bird sanctuaries. All the wonderful boardwalks into the marshes and estuaries were so much fun to explore.

Since that last visit, I had forgotten that Hurricane Harvey had come through and dealt a lot of damage to the coastal towns of Padre Island. So while I was excited to visit the beach, I was sad to know my dad wouldn’t be there to join us and that all the bird sanctuaries had been destroyed.

Demolition and construction was still ongoing while I visited. This restaurant still hadn’t been addressed.

Going to cost a pretty penny to get this boat fixed.

Birding this year was tough. I believe a lot of the birds did not linger during the spring migration because the usual areas they visited were completely destroyed. Also, I think a lot of the local birds had left and not returned. Needless to say, it took a lot of driving around to find any birds. But I did manage to find a few good spots.

The first evening we were there I drove to the ferry and the walkway along the intra-coastal channel. The damage from the hurricane was very evident here. Huge pieces of concrete were lifted like they weighed very little.

Destruction from Hurricane Harvey

While here I enjoyed the antics of several dolphin getting dinner. It was interesting to watch them herd fish toward the wall so they could catch them. I spotted a mother and her calf working the wall.

Mother dolphin with calf looking at me

The sunset was gorgeous!

Beautiful!

The next morning was when I realized all the local birding hot spots were destroyed. Thankfully I saw signs saying they already had funding in place to repair all the boardwalks. It looked like their plans were even going to improve what was originally there. Someday if I make it back there I will have to see what they did.

I headed to the beach and jetty where I knew terns had gathered in the past. Thankfully, this spot was still favored by the terns. The surf was rough and the birds were gathered in big numbers fishing.

Terns and gulls fishing the rough surf at the jetty

I found an area where the birds were resting and grooming after tackling the rough waters. I was able to get several good pics of the terns resting.

Black Tern Juvenile

Black Tern

Forster’s Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

From there I headed down the road toward the big bridge going to Corpus Christi. There is a marina there. I’ve seen birds hanging out there in the past so had high hopes I would see some that morning.

Along the highway I saw a hawk looking for breakfast in the coastal grasslands. I had to take a second look as I realized it was a new bird for me! A White-Tailed Hawk. Gorgeous!!!

White-Tailed Hawk

I saw a Roseate Spoonbill fishing the shallows not far from the marina. I pulled into a construction area to get closer for pics. I managed a few photos before I was run off by the foreman. 🙂

Roseate Spoonbill

As I was driving into the marina I spotted a beautiful Osprey hanging out on the electric wire. He let me take a few pics before flying off.

Osprey

The marina was not a disappointment. There were several birds hanging out hoping for a free meal.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Great Blue Heron

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Brown Pelicans

Near the marina is an area that shorebirds have liked in the past. I drove over there to see if I could find anything. I was thrilled to see a pair of Willets with two young babies. I’d never seen Willet babies before. Adorable! I sat for some time just watching this little family. You can’t help but smile and enjoy new life.

Willet juvenile

Soon though the parents grew nervous and started telling me to move along.

Willet telling me to move along

There were also some Black-Necked Stilts and a Reddish Egret enjoying the shallows.

Black-Necked Stilt

Reddish Egret

The next morning I decided to go the Horace Caldwell Fishing Pier. Not sure if I would see anything here, but it was fun to go there at sunrise.

Horace Caldwell Pier

Beach at Port Aransas, Texas

I came across these two children fast asleep on the pier. Their parent must have gotten them up really early to fish. 🙂

Too early of a morning for these kids

The only birds I saw were White-Winged Doves and Pigeons. What I found curious though, was a cross between these two species. Interesting bird.

The Rock Pigeons at the pier had very dark plumage. Doesn’t make sense at a hot beach!

Rock Pigeon and White-Winged Dove Cross Breed

After the pier I drove to the lone surviving boardwalk that overlooked a salt flat. Most of the birds were too far away for photos. I managed to see one bird closer to me. And to my surprise it was a lifer! A Black-Bellied Plover Juvenile. Too bad it wasn’t an adult. They are beautiful birds. Even better, this is a rare sighting for the area! I wouldn’t have believed I identified this bird correctly if it hadn’t been sighted by other birders on eBird.

Black-Bellied Plover – juvenile

I spotted a few birds flying over and managed to snap a couple of photos on the fly. 🙂

Black Skimmer

White Ibis

During this trip I decided to take a ride on the Red Dragon.

While waiting to start the boat ride, I saw the local offshore fishing tour boats had come in as well. They were hanging up the catch of the day. Lovely Red Snappers with a few other interesting fish mixed in.

Nice haul for the day

It’s was fun sailing with the pirates!

Kelly sailing on the Red Dragon

Arrrrrr…there be Pirates!

Beautiful boat ride

The Captain at his helm

I took the sunset tour. We boated along the intra-coastal and made it to the lighthouse. We got there just as the sun was setting. So lovely!

Sunset over the lighthouse

Gorgeous sunset!

One day at the ferry I spotted a juvenile Laughing Gull trying to swallow a whole fish. He tried and tried to gulp that fish down.

Laughing Gull juvenile

I love people watching. I think most people do. While there I captured a few fun moments of people watching.

Skateboarding buddies

The waiting line for the ferry was so long and slow, this girl had time to get into the back of the car and get cold drinks for everyone. It was fun to watch her walk along with the car while digging in the cooler.

I saw lots of turtles about while birding. I had never really seen turtles there before so it was fun to see several on this trip.

Turtle moving along

I had a great time at the beach birding and spending time with my mother. We enjoyed sitting on the beach, enjoying the warm summer days. And we had fun shopping and eating delicious fish and shrimp dinners. I’m so glad we took the time off to relax after all the stresses.

Summer Birds and Other Goodies

With my several trips this year and busy work, I haven’t had time to blog as often as I would have liked to. So I thought I would combine several sightings over the summer into one post. Now that fall is officially here, many of these birds are gone or will be gone soon.

During the summer I went on several day hikes within a couple hours of Albuquerque. Partly to see something new in scenery and partly to see some birds I don’t normally see around home.

One hike that was new for me was the Cave Creek hike in the Pecos Wilderness. It’s about a 5-mile round trip hike to some caves that were created by water eroding through limestone. It was a beautiful hike in thick forest along a creek. Of course, Scarlett enjoyed the water immensely!

So much fun at the water crossings!

Lovely stream to hike along.

The caves were very interesting. There were several that were big enough to walk inside of. I didn’t go very far in as it got dark quickly and I wasn’t sure how deep the water got. But lots of fun to explore. Scarlett was curious about the caves as well.

Unique caves created by water erosion.

Scarlett exploring a smaller cave.

On this hike I saw a flock of Dusky Grouse. This is pretty much the only grouse specie New Mexico has. I’ve only seen this bird a few times of the past 20 years and never very close. But I was lucky on this hike. When I startled them, they flew into a nearby pine and sat very still – which was perfect for a great photo.

Dusky Grouse

Another day I ventured to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains next to Santa Fe. It was a very cloudy day and the birds were few, but I managed to get a few nice sightings. A favorite – Green Tailed Towhee – came close to check me out so I was able to see his colors nicely.

Green Tailed Towhee

Williamson’s Sapsucker – Juvenile

Dark-Eyed Junco

One of the highlights of this hike was seeing lots of mushrooms. I’ve seen photos of the red and white polka dot mushrooms, but never have seen one in person. It was a real treat seeing and photographing them. 🙂

Poisonous mushroom – but so pretty!

Aspen Vista is a beautiful hike at about 8,000 feet above sea level. As you know Scarlett loves water. But she also loves culverts. She’s always looking inside them to see what might be hiding. On this hike, she found a culvert that was big enough to run through and it had water flowing through it. Bonus!

Scarlett having a blast!

I walked along the Rio Grande several times. Most of the colorful summer birds love the Bosque. It’s so much fun looking for and photographing these beauties!

Blue Grosbeak

Summer Tanager

Neotropic Cormorant

Downy Woodpecker

Great Blue Heron

Say’s Phoebe

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird enjoying the summer mimosa blooms!

House Sparrow

House Finch – partial orange morph

Orange-Crowned Warbler

One day while hiking along the river, I came across a Cooper’s Hawk enjoying breakfast. You could tell it had caught a songbird by the foot hanging out of it’s beak. Poor thing….

Songbird for breakfast anyone???

While reviewing my photos, I realized I had captured a lifer bird on one of my outings along the river. I love it when that happens! In this case, I had mistaken it for a Summer Tanager. But when I reviewed the photo more closely, I realized it was a Hepatic Tanager. Yay!!!

Hepatic Tanager

Of course, Scarlett always enjoys a visit to the river!

Look at that big grin on Scarlett’s face!

One day I took a drive out to Stanley. I hadn’t been there for quite some time. I saw a lot of the usual residents there. I never tire seeing a Western Meadowlark or the many hawks that live there. 🙂

Cliff Swallow

Red-Tailed Hawk (juvenile) – I love the coloring of this particular bird

Western Meadowlark

Around home I’ve had several new birds visit my yard this summer. It’s so exciting to see something new show up. I hope they find me again next year! Some were easy to photograph, while others were very elusive. The birds I was unable to photograph but saw were Yellow-Headed Blackbird, Brown-Headed Blackbird, Northern Saw-Whet Owl, and Green-Tailed Towhee.

Pygmy Nuthatch

Curve-Billed Thrasher

I love their orange eyes.

Along with the new birds I’ve seen this year, I’ve had plenty of the resident birds stopping by the feeders and bird baths.

Western Bluebird

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

A very shy Ladderback Woodpecker (hence the blurry photo)

Wilson’s Warbler – coming to enjoy my bird bath

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

Hairy Woodpecker

Mountain Chickadee

Holding down a sunflower seed to extract its goodness.

Bushtit

Lesser Goldfinch

Black-Headed Grosbeak

Juniper Titmouse

Virginia’s Warbler

Rufous Hummingbird

Bewick’s Wren

This summer New Mexico saw several forest fires in the Jemez Mountains. Because of this, a lot of the bird life has migrated south to new habitats. This summer we saw a large number of Lewis’s Woodpeckers in the greater Albuquerque area. We normally don’t see them here, so it was a real treat to see one only a couple miles from my house. It seemed to prefer this telephone pole as it was sighted there often. And it didn’t like the squirrel using its pole.

Lewis’s Woodpecker

Get off my pole!!!

I drove down to the Monzano Mountains a couple weeks ago hoping to see the fall colors starting in 4th of July Canyon. Though the colors still haven’t begun, I did get to see several birds.

Steller’s Jay – so beautiful!

Red-Tailed Hawks

I saw a Brown Creeper – always a delight. They are very difficult to see against the bark and they move quickly.

Brown Creeper

Plus I got a lifer! A Golden-Crowned Kinglet. I’ve been looking for this bird for several years and just happened upon it on this trail. Yay! This guy was way up in the canopy shadows and moving so fast!

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

Among the many bird sightings I had over the summer, I came across some other interesting things. I thought you might enjoy seeing them. 🙂

Cool bee on a beautiful summer sunflower

Ahhhhhhhh……

Southwestern Fence Lizard

Hoary Comma

Aphrodite Fritillary

Police Car Moth

Western Tailed-Blue

I love the colors on this dragonfly

This beetle “hisses” when you touch it. A unique defense!

Great Plains Skink (juvenile). This guy was so cool!!! I love the markings on the face. This skink will turn plain brown all over as an adult.

Painted Lady

Can you see the walking stick expertly hiding

Marine Blue

Common Side-Blotched Lizard

Jackrabbit

Wonderful Spring Birding with a New Lifer Sighting

First off, let me just say, I LOVE my new camera! I’m definitely still in the learning phase, but it’s performance is superior to my old setup. It’s a joy to use, and I’m very happy with my images.

Not too long ago, we had a spring storm blow through and it dumped 12 inches of snow at my house. The birds were not very happy about this event, and neither were my plants.

Bleeding Hearts

A Cooper’s Hawk was hanging out at my bird feeder hoping for a meal.

Cooper’s Hawk

The hummingbirds were happy I had feeders out for them.

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

I think the only one happy with the snow was Scarlett 🙂

My sweet Miss Scarlett

Thankfully the snow melted the very next day, and the temperatures returned to the mid to high 70s right away. I got to go out hiking several times this week. I visited Tingley Beach a couple days after the spring storm. The Rio Grande was raging and flooded most of the bosque trails. But it was worth trudging through it to see some new spring birds.

Ash-Throated Flycatcher

Green Heron

Baby Mallard

Summer Tanager

I have lived in the Albuquerque area for over 20 years. And during that time, I have never visited Sandia Lakes or Shady Lakes (they are next door to each other). So one day I decided to check out the lakes.

Sandia Lakes was very nice. Beautiful lawns and cottonwood trees and three separate lakes.

Sandia Lakes with the Sandia Mountains in the background

The first bird I saw was a Lark Sparrow (first one I’ve seen this year). He was singing way up high in a tree. Then I saw several Canada Geese with their babies.

Canada Geese

While watching the geese, I saw something that looked different. I quickly realized it was a Western Grebe. We don’t see them often in our area, so it was a real treat.

Western Grebe

I saw a pair of Say’s Phoebes busily hunting for bugs. I soon saw why they were so frantic to find bugs. They had three babies squeezed into a tiny nest.

Say’s Phoebes

I saw lots of Black Phoebes as well. They are such beautiful birds

Black Phoebe

While walking around the lake, an Osprey flew overhead. I thought to myself that he might be part of a nesting pair. This was confirmed recently by my friend Joe. I’m definitely going to have to check out their nesting progress.

Osprey

I came across a pair of Black-Capped Chickadees that were acting very agitated. I never did figure out what they were so upset about.

Black-Capped Chickadee

As I was walking through the grass between lakes, I saw a Killdeer doing its “I’m injured, follow me” routine. So I knew there must be a baby nearby. It was acting pretty desperate, so I thought it must be very close.

Killdeer trying to lure me away from its baby

When I looked down, I realized it was only a foot away. I almost stepped on it! Yikes! It never did move. I took a quick pic and then quickly moved away. Soon I heard the baby calling for its parents. It was nice to see them all reunite and be assured all was fine.

baby Killdeer

I then headed over to Shady Lakes. What a beautiful place! It has several ponds all covered in beautiful lily pads and lined with irises. The ponds are stocked with different varieties of fish. But I was there for the birds.

Shady Lakes

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron sitting beautifully on an old log. I then realized there were several of them gathered there. Fabulous! They are used to people so they let me get pretty close.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

I walked around the ponds and admired all the beautiful blooming lilies and irises.

I noticed a moth feeding among the irises. These moths often get called hummingbirds by people when they don’t look too closely.

White-Lined Sphinx Moth

The turtles were enjoying those big lily pads!

My last hike was up to the Cienega picnic area. The forest service blocks the road for cars until mid-May. So you have to hike along the road to get to the upper picnic area. My goal was to try and find the Northern Pygmy Owl that has been seen nesting there. Now I have made this hike several times both last spring and this spring with no luck seeing that owl. Well, this time I was successful! This is a lifer bird for me!

He was calling repeatedly on a lower branch in the aspen tree where he’s been seen nesting. All the songbirds in the area were very agitated and were trying to scare him away. It was a wonderful sighting!

For those of you not familiar with this owl. He’s very small, only 6 inches from its head to the end of its tail. So you can see why he’s so difficult to find.

Northern Pygmy Owl

I decided to hike over to Bill Spring since I was in the area. A Hermit Thrush was enjoying a bath. And a baby was in a tree nearby.

Hermit Thrush

A Western Tanager (my first of the year), briefly showed himself deep in the trees near the spring.

Western Tanager

I hadn’t been at the spring long when a Cooper’s Hawk flew in chasing a chickadee. After that, the birds were scarce. So I started hiking back to my car. I saw lots of Black-Headed Grosbeak singing and squabbling in the trees. I’m guessing they were vying for the attention of the females.

Black-Headed Grosbeak

I’m thrilled spring is here. I’m looking forward to getting out again and seeing what other beautiful spring birds have arrived. 🙂

2-Year Anniversary and 11-Mile Hike

Today is the 2nd anniversary of my blog. I can’t believe I’ve been posting my adventures for 2 years! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my birding outings and other adventures.

Scarlett and I have been walking a lot lately. And sometimes my fiends join us. It’s been a lot of fun getting out there and seeing the bosque start to wake up for spring.

My friend Joe Schelling has told me about a couple of owl nests. So I went to find them over the past couple of weeks. One is a Great Horned Owl nest. The male was difficult to find, but I did manage to locate him after much searching. He was hiding very well in a pine tree. The female in the nest is very easy to see. I’m looking forward to seeing babies soon.

Great Horned Owl

Can you see the owl among the branches?

The other owl nest is a Western Screech Owl. He’s located near the duck ponds at Tingley Beach. Which brings me to my 11-mile hike.

For awhile now, I’ve wanted to hike the trail along the Rio Grande from Tingley Beach to Alameda Open Space. I knew it was going to be a long hike and I needed a full day to do it. The weather has gotten so nice lately, that I decided I was ready to attempt this long hike. My plan was to start at Tingley Beach and head north. Once I got to Alameda, I was going to call a cab to take me back to my car.

So a couple of days ago, Scarlett and I headed out. It was a glorious spring day. At the parking lot, I was greeted by loads of beautiful daffodils blooming. So cheerful. A wonderful way to start a day.

I started at the duck ponds. I met up with a couple birder friends there and we enjoyed watching a very cooperative Neotropic Cormorant. He was enjoying the beautiful morning as well.

Neotropic Cormorant

Love their teal-colored eyes

A Pied-Billed Grebe was also enjoying the morning. As well as a gorgeous male Wood Duck.

Pied-Billed Grebe

Wood Duck enjoying a good grooming

I’ve seen a particular coloring of duck over the past year. For the longest time, I thought it was a mallard hybrid of some sort. But recently I stumbled across a photo of this same duck on the internet. Come to find out, it’s a Swedish Blue Duck. Evidently it’s a domesticated duck in Sweden and over the past few years has spread among the states. I’ve seen this duck in Utah, Nevada and now New Mexico.

Swedish Blue Duck behind a Mallard female

There were lots of turtles out sunning themselves as well. While taking photos, I guess I never realized there were so many varieties of turtles in the ponds.

I then left the ponds and went in search of that Western Screech Owl. He was looking out of his hole with slitted eyes. I guess that bright morning sun wasn’t so pleasant to him. But I was thrilled to get a cool shot of that owl looking out of the trunk of a cottonwood tree.

Western Screech Owl

I made my way along the bosque. I saw several porcupines up in the trees. Soon the leaves will make it much more difficult to see them.

Porcupine

Not far past the owl’s nest, I came across a pair of nesting Cooper’s Hawks. The female was way down low in the nest and was difficult to see. But the male was calling from a branch making himself very visible. I was pleased to get such a nice photo of him.

Cooper’s Hawk

During my hike, I saw a total of four Cooper’s Hawks. The others were not nearly as cooperative for photos.

Further along the trail, I heard this guy making odd noises. As I came closer, I saw him in the water. At first I thought he needed help, but as I got closer I realized he was doing some kind of training. Not sure what, but I guess he knew what he was doing. LOL!

Hmmmmmm……

Just upstream of this guy, I saw a Canada Goose wondering about that guy as well!

Canada Goose

I happened upon a pair of Lesser Goldfinches trying to glean a few more seeds from last season’s sunflowers.

Lesser Goldfinch – male

Lesser Goldfinch – female

At one point I heard a bunch of Gambel’s Quail. I only managed to see this one male as he peeked out from behind some cacti.

Gambel’s Quail

At one point, Scarlett stopped and was staring into the dense brush. All of a sudden, I saw a coyote run out from behind a bush. I managed to get a quick pic before he disappeared from view.

Coyote

Flying overhead I saw a nice Red-Tailed Hawk. He was enjoying the thermals.

Red-Tailed Hawk

I came across a few crows feeding on the ground. They actually let me get pretty close. Which was nice, because black birds are so difficult to get a good photo of .

American Crow

I saw a few other birds along my hike.

Say’s Phoebe

White-Crowned Sparrows

Downy Woodpecker

Spotted Towhee

Five hours and 11-miles later I arrived at Alameda Open Space parking lot. Whew!!! That was a long walk. Scarlett and I were pooped! But we had a great time. It was so much fun, I think I will do it again soon!

A Lot of Bad Bird Photos

I’ve been out walking as often as I can. Work has been hectic lately so I haven’t had a lot of time for long walks. But I’ve managed to get out here and there and walk and photograph birds.

The skies have been overcast quite a bit which has caused low light conditions for photography. Added to the frustrating photography conditions, the birds have insisted on staying in the shadows and diving for cover every chance they get. Or they were always at the far range of my lens. It was a challenging week trying to get a decent photo of a bird. I’m so ready for summer!

So here’s a collection of all the bad bird photos I’ve gotten lately.

White-Crowned Sparrow

Crissal Thrasher

Red-Tailed Hawk

Common Merganser

Western Bluebird

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Northern Shoveler

Black-Capped Chickadee

Bewick’s Wren

Sandhill Cranes

Black Phoebe

Dark-Eyed Junco

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Lesser Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

Northern Flicker – it snowed at my house but he didn’t seem to mind. He groomed on this perch for some time.

House Finches

Spotted Towhee

Kildeer

Northern Harrier

American Kestral

Say’s Phoebe

My most common view of birds lately…..

Eastern Bluebird

Great Blue Heron

This scarecrow isn’t scaring these guinea fowl much.

I did manage to get a few decent photos. These few stood out of the bunch.

Rock Wren

Ring-Necked Duck – male

Ring-Necked Duck – female

Belted Kingfisher

Great Blue Heron – he flew fairly low right over my head. I loved it!

The best photo of the bunch was of this Black Phoebe. It let me get very close and the sun actually shone weakly helping the shot.

Black Phoebe

I saw some nice wildlife on the trail as well.

Coyote

Red-Eared Turtle

Of course, Scarlett wasn’t concerned that photography conditions weren’t ideal. She always makes the best of a walk.

Scarlett loves to jump over logs. 🙂

Birding from Roswell to San Angelo

In October I went to San Antonio to visit family. I took a different route than usual on the way there so I could stop overnight in San Angelo. I’ve been following Bob Zeller’s blog Texas Tweeties for some time and have wanted to bird there after seeing all his wonderful photos.

On the way to San Angelo I stopped in at Bitter Lake in Roswell, NM. It was pretty quiet there. The fall migration has been slow this year due to unusually warm weather. Here’s some of the birds I saw.

Lesser Yellowlegs

American Coot

Snowy Egret

Least Sandpiper

Long-Billed Dowitcher

Savannah Sparrow

I noticed this one duck was reluctant to swim away. Upon a closer look, I realized it had been injured. Looks like it had a close call with a coyote or some other predator.

Injured female Mallard

As I was leaving the refuge, I noticed a turtle crossing the road. I got out and took a few photos before picking him up and moving him fully across the road. I would hate for him to get run over.

Western Painted Turtle

I stopped to get an iced tea at Starbucks in Roswell and couldn’t resist photographing the grackles hanging out there.

Great-Tailed Grackle female

Between Roswell and San Angelo, I came across this hawk enjoying the afternoon sun.

Ferruginous Hawk

I arrived in San Angelo with about 2 hours of daylight left. So I headed straight for San Angelo State Park. It was quite active with birds and butterflies. My first bird sighting there was a much hoped for one. I saw several Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers busy catching bugs. They weren’t very shy, so I was able to get some nice photos.

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

My favorite bird photo in San Angelo. Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

I saw a few other birds that afternoon.

Loggerhead Shrike

Canyon Towhee

I visited the bird blind there, but no birds were about. But about 5 javalena came through to get a drink.

Javalena

What I mostly saw were butterflies. Lots of butterflies. Most of them were one variety – Bordered Patch. This was a new butterfly for me 🙂

Bordered Patch

Gulf Fritillary

Painted Lady

Queen

Monarch

Pipevine Sawllowtail

As I was leaving that evening, I saw a vulture settling in for the night on a handicap sign in a parking lot. It was pretty much dark, but he was tame and let me drive right next to him and use a flash. 🙂

Turkey Vulture – juvenile

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the sunset as I left.

Typical Texas sunset

I got up early the next morning for another quick birding outing before heading on to San Antonio. I first stopped in at Spring Park to see if I could see a Great Kiskadee that has been see there. But no luck. All I saw were deer….lots of deer….

White-Tailed Deer – they flip their tail up when they run

The young one still has some spots

Female White-Tailed Deer

Beautiful buck

I then headed back over to San Angelo State Park to see if the birding was better in the early morning. It definitely was! As I approached the entrance to the park, I saw a roadrunner busy hunting for breakfast.

Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner eating a Painted Lady

I hiked several trails through the park and saw quite a variety of birds.

Eastern Phoebe

Northern Mockingbird

Cactus Wren

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Carolina Wren

Curve-Billed Thrasher

After hiking awhile, I visited the bird blind one more time before I had to leave. It was much more busy with birds in the morning.

American Goldfinch female

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Pyrrhuloxia

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker

White I was sitting quietly in the bird blind, a Gray Fox made a very brief appearance. I managed to get a couple pics before it was gone. Very exciting! I’ve never seen one in person before and so close!

Gray Fox

Sadly it was time to put the camera away and hit the road. I really enjoyed my short visit to San Angelo. Hopefully I will get another chance in the future to visit again.

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New Mexico Birder

Birding & Photography in New Mexico & the Southwest

Category Archives: turtle

Last Time to Bird at Port Aransas, Texas

Summer Birds and Other Goodies

Wonderful Spring Birding with a New Lifer Sighting

2-Year Anniversary and 11-Mile Hike

A Lot of Bad Bird Photos

Birding from Roswell to San Angelo