Texas Photo-highlights Spring 07
From a leader’s perspective, the Texas spring tour with Birdfinders just seems to get better and better. This year we had more than our fair share of luck.....Not only would we be destined to set a new Birdfinders tour record but we were also treated to some unseasonably cool weather conditions, keeping the bird activity high and the mosquito activity low. Quite a contrast to last year’s scorching tour.
First, it has to be said that the level of birdfinding from our group participants was exceptional resulting in some spectacular discoveries. Particularly memorable for me was Eamon O’Donnell's ability to pick out the diagnostic head pattern of a Masked Duck at the rear of a weed choked farm pond just south of Kingsville. Only the head of that bird could be seen, but thankfully the most critical feature, the buffy supercilium, was quite obvious with a scope. Still, it was an amazing piece of birding. Equally impressive, was Mark Webster’s find of the low slung basket nest of a White-collared Seedeater just a few yards from a track at Zapata. The nest was unoccupied when he found it, but later we were all treated to scope views of the female on the nest without causing any distress to the sitting female. It was the first nest of that species I’d ever seen. Towards the end of the tour, Kevin Tubb found a migrating, straight-necked soaring bird high over the Piney woods north of Beaumont. Luckily for the whole group it was in the air long enough for us all to see it through a scope. It was a Wood Stork, regular enough in Texas from late summer but very rare in spring. It was the first time that I’d ever seen a Wood Stork on a spring tour in Texas. Congratulations go to all of our group for contributing to the exceptional birding this year. The 326 species recorded during April 10th - 24th is testament to their efforts.
The tour began in Houtson where we quickly transferred for two nights in the coastal bend region near Rockport. From there we drove to the Lower Rio Grande Valley for four nights before heading north-west to Laredo for just one night. We then headed north across the desert, through Carrizo Springs to spend three nights at the delightful Neil’s Lodges before a huge drive across the state to Winnie, where we would spend four nights at the end of the tour. This was the only major itinerary change, as formally we’d stayed in Baytown closer to Houston. Our tour loop consisted of 2555 miles driven, slightly less than the 2675 that we recorded last year.
A more detailed summary will appear shortly. In the mean time, please enjoy the photo-highlights from this year’s Texas tour in Spring with Birdfinders.
Good birding,
James P. Smith
James P. Smith
Whooping Cranes - Calhoun County, April 11th, 2007.
Pacific Brown Pelican - Calhoun County, April 11th, 2007.
Prothonotary Warbler - Port Aransas, April 11th, 2007.
Sooty Tern - San Antonio Bay, Calhoun County, April 11th, 2007. A big surprise, seen on Captain Moore's Whopping Crane tour
on the very first morning of our trip! It flew through close to the boat but never landed and continued out into the bay.
Northern Bobwhite - Kleberg County, April 12th, 2007.
Painted Bunting - South Padre Island, April 12th, 2007.
To Page 2 - TX Spring 07 >>
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