March 22, 2014

Enjoying the Chatter & Songs of the Birds

Saturday,  March 22, 2014

It has been a couple of days since I posted a blog.  There are a couple of reasons: not a lot has been going on related to my hearing issues, and I have been busy.  It is now "catch-up" time.  Thursday and Friday at the office were a little busy and I also had some chores with assorted paper work that kept me busy Thursday, but not really on Friday.  In fact I did some reading.  I used the system I talked about a few months back "Immersion Reading" where I am listening to and reading the book at the same time.    In the evenings we joined friends for supper.

Our new puzzle challenge

Last night after supper I picked my grandson up from his driver's education class and he came home with me to spend the night.  I got out a new puzzle for us to work on and he helped me get the border almost done before he called it quits and went to bed.  He and Ron spent the morning together.  I had invited him to go birding with my brother-in-law Jim and me, but his grandpa made him a better offer.

As soon as the housekeeper came, Jim and I headed to South Padre Island to look for birds.  It had been raining at my mom's house when Jim left to come get me.  When we got to Port Isabel, the fog on the causeway to the island was very thick.  We looked at each other and just laughed.  We have been trying to go birding since he arrived almost 2 months ago and we finally got to go (he leaves tomorrow) and we encountered thick fog!

Our first stop was the Valley Land Fund property near the old Palmetto Inn on the island.  There were only grackles there and a few doves, but no fruit had been put out to entice the birds and the area is so overgrown, it will be hard to see the birds if they are there.

Great Egret

From there we went to the Birding Center and Jim paid my admission.  Almost as soon as we got on the boardwalk, we started seeing a nice variety of birds which were willing to pose for our photos.  We got some great shots. 

Clapper Rail

The Clapper Rail can be a very noisy bird!  But that was one of the nice things at the island today, everywhere we were, I could hear birds.  There were MANY Red-winged Blackbirds and they are loud with their trills.  The assorted ducks were making their presence known.  Grackles are noisy and there were a lot of them and of course Sea Gulls.  Many other birds were calling for mates or asking us to leave, but many of the calls I could not identify. I can't blame that on my hearing, since I have never really been able to do that.

Sora

A little further down the boardwalk one of my favorites showed up.  It is the Sora Rail.  Actually my bird book just calls it a Sora, not using the word "rail" in the name, but it is listed with the Rails.  He is just about half the size of the Clapper Rail and scurries about looking for food. 

Long-billed Curlew

Just before we saw the Sora, we had a Long-billed Curlew that posed very well for photos.  I always appreciate cooperative subjects when I am taking photos.   

Jim

Jim (my brother-in-law) is the one I have mentioned that writes birding books, telling readers where to go to look for birds.  The most recent book covers the Texas Gulf Coast (our area) and he always enjoys stopping to visit with the other bird watchers and exchanging information.  One older lady had a new camera and was trying to figure out how to work it and how to get a good photo of one of the birds.  Jim hooked her camera up to his very powerful zoom lens and she left with some amazing photos on her photo chip in the camera.  That was one happy lady!  

Little Blue Heron with crab for breakfast

Another favorite of mine is the Little Blue Heron.  Jim found one down an empty boardwalk and we photographed the bird for 15 minutes or more.  The Little Blue Heron was working on finding his breakfast and at one point got a crab.  He had a little trouble getting it in his mouth because the crab kept holding on to the long beak.  Fun to watch.  That had to tickle all the way down.

Pied-billed Grebe

There were lots of other birds we saw today.  In fact when we stopped for lunch on the way home, I asked Jim to read his list to me that I had seen him making while we were birding.  After reading it, I told him he left off some and mentioned several.  He thought of several more and I am sure as we each go through our photos, we will lengthen the list.  It was a good birding day.  Oh, there were a few migrating birds by the Convention Center at the island, but not too many.  There were a few hummingbirds and a few warblers, but the numbers should increase in the next few weeks.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (I think)

Once home I downloaded the photos and got a bath, I had gotten hot and sweaty while out on the boardwalks.  I spent time in the yard filling feeders and ponds.  I will share more of the bird photos in the days to come.