A Birdy Place…

We have been enjoying the park and its proximity to some excellent biking, hiking and birding at the nearby Bentsen Rio Grande State Park. The header shot today is that of a Great Kiskadee and a Green Jay at a small watering hole. The sounds these two birds makes one feel they are in the tropics…

I finally did get to see a few “Lifer” birds while down here in the Rio Grande Valley. The first lifer I got to see was the Long Billed Thrasher which are fairly common in this part of the USA but found nowhere else. They even have them in our park. The second new lifer I got to see was the Clay Colored Thrush and I have only spotted one of these since I have been here. Interestingly it is also the national bird of Costa Rica.

The last lifer was spotted by a small group of people on an organized birding tour at the park. They have these every Tuesday and Sunday mornings. Although this lifer is not endemic to this area like the others as its natural habitat is of the lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains. Rarely spotted in this part of the world but nonetheless we spotted and photographed the Red-naped Sapsucker which turned out to be a possible first sighting here at the state park.

There are lots of other non-lifer birds we have enjoyed watching in the park. We even enjoy watching some very overfed squirrels as they eat at the all you can eat buffet (park bird feeders) a bit too frequently. Although the park is still suffering from a mix of being flooded for an extended period to an extended drought it is still a nice place to visit on a frequent basis. You simply never know what you might see in this part of Texas…