Cute little Verdin,

I photographed the Verdin the top pic at the photo blind feeders at Falcon State Park earlier this week. It was in the company of 2 other Verdin that stopped for a quick pick-me-up at this orange before flitting away.

I spotted the Verdin in the bottom two pics this morning at Edinburg Wetlands. It was foraging actively with a second Verdin in several of the many native trees at this great birding spot that seems the host the most Yellow-rumped Warblers in winter of any place in the Rio Grand Valley. These photos aren't really sharp but they both show the rufous on the shoulder of this species but is often hidden. I was delighted as I have never seen this, not that I have seen that many Verdin. SeEtta

Western Tanager, rare winter visitor @ Edinburg Wetlands

I photographed this female Western Tanager this morning at Edinburg Wetlands in Edinburg, TX. which is one of my favorite birding spots in the Rio Grande Valley. This rare bird was found 3 days ago. Today some ladies from Llano Grande RV Park, who were here for their regular Friday birding outing, spotted it and asked me what kind of bird it was. This species winters from well below the border in Mexico to Central America. SeEtta

Last pics of Tropical Parula

Such a beauty, I just had to post two more pics of this Tropical Parula. The top pic shows why it was fairly easy to spot this small passarine (only 4 1/2 inches in length)--it is so bright. The white spots on tail are more obvious in the bottom pic than the pic in previous post. SeEtta

More Tropical Parula Pics

The top pic isn't as sharp but it shows the white undertail coverts and very limited white spots on tail. It also shows the extensiveness of the yellow on it's underparts.

This rare parula is my consolation after being told essentially that I wasn't needed for the Weslaco CBC unless I could be used at Estero LLano Grande State Park ("I have all sections outside the state park covered. Please contact Kyle O'Haver to see if he needs assistance inside the park.")--I didn't know that it was possible to not not need more counters for CBC's! Per the CBC website, "And anyone is welcome to participate, since Compilers arrange field parties so that inexperienced observers are always out with seasoned CBC veterans." Fortunately the compiler for the Bentsen CBC, Javier Deleon, has the right spirit. Not only did he ask me last week if I was going to help on their count but put out the following in an email today, "Please forward this one to anyone interested in participating or to anyone that would be interested in participating by being a feeder watcher for the day. The more the merrier!" Kudos to Javier for his inclusiveness and keeping with the spirit of Christmas Bird Counting. SeEtta

Tropical Parula, a rare beauty Quinta Mazatlan

I went to Quinta Mazatlan this morning to look for the Tropical Parula that was seen there last week. I ran into Jack Cochran, a Penn birder, who spotted it high in the tall trees (adjacent to the new pond and actually on the grounds of the adjacent golf course) but it's bright yellow underparts stood out so I picked up on it easily. We first saw around 10 am and continued watching it forage very actively until 10:30 am. As shown on the bottom pic there appears to be light eye arcs on the bird, a phenomena that the Sibley Guide to Birds of North America notes as a 'rare variant'. Sorry I could not crop the bird to a larger size but they were taken from a distance of 80-100 feet and only possible to get these as it there was bright sunshine which is required for these long shots with my long camera lens combo. More pics to follow. SeEtta

More Salineno Ladder-backed Woodpecker pics

Just a couple more pics of the female Ladder-backed Woodpecker I photographed at the feeders at DeWind RV Park in Salineno this morning. SeEtta

Ladder-backed Woodpecker: another Salineno feeder bird

One of the many birds coming in to the feeders at the DeWind RV Park in Salineno was were Ladder-back Woodpeckers including this female. She was intent on eating as much of the peanut butter mix that was put into a crevice on this tree branch as she could. SeEtta

Like many others I was delighted that Brown Jays were being seen again in Salineno at the DeWind RV Park feeders. As Mexican birds Brown Jays had previously wandered across the Rio Grande River where they had been seen in earlier years but have not beem found in about 5 years.

These very dark brown members of the corvid family, they are much larger than other jays. I was fortunate today as this single Brown Jay, an adult, came in to the feeders shortly after I got there and returned twice so I got to watch it for several minutes. SeEtta

Here the final two pics of the Black-vented Oriole and they show some of the acrobatic tendencies of this bird as it hangs upside down to feed on oranges. And the bottom pic shows the toenails that wrap around small branches and dig in to anchor the bird. SeEtta

Black-vented Oriole: more pics

The Black-vented Oriole spent it's time either feeding on oranges as shown in these pics or waiting to get a turn to feed on the oranges. For a large sized bird it displayed a rather submissive stance letting several other birds either displace it from feeding or not jumping on to displace smaller birds as commonly occurs. These two pics provide good views of this bird's truly black colored vent area, the coloration extending all through it's undertail coverts (these stand out nicely especially in the top pic) as well as all of it's tail feathers. Note that in some pics the bird looks more orange but more yellow in others--this is what the raw pics show and appears to be a function of the light reflection on the bird. Still more pics to come. SeEtta

I was delighted to watch this Black-vented Oriole, a rare Mexican vagrant, as it fed on oranges at one of the feeding stations at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley nature center in Mission, TX. This is such a brilliantly colored bird and so boldly contrasting that it is a pleasure to watch. It was also deja vu as a Black-vented Oriole (the same one?) was in the same area last year when I was visiting though it then spent most of it's time at an RV park where it fed from some blossoms on a non-native tree. More pics to come.  (To see the bird up close just click on the each pi).  SeEtta

West Texas Chihuauhuan Raven fest

Here are two of about a thousand Chihuahuan Ravens I saw as I drove through West Texas where these birds congregate for the winter. I usually see large loose flocks that play on rising thermals but the weather was foggy and drizzly so no thermals for them to ride. SeEtta

'Cormorant dies a cruel slow death due to fishing line with hook

This awful description posted publicly on the Kansas birding listserve today of a cormorant dying a slow cruel death due to a thoughtless fisherman is just so sad: "While birding the River Pond area of Tuttle Creek State Park during the Man= hattan Christmas Bird Count, I spotted what looked like a bird hanging from= a tree on the island in River Pond. I positioned my scope on it and saw wh= at appeared to be a large lifeless bird dangling from a tree limb. Once in = a while there appeared to be movement. Winds were calm. On closer inspectio= n the bird turned out to be a double-crested cormorant that apparently swal= lowed a fish hook, and the line on the hook caught on the end of a thin syc= amore branch bending down under the weight of the bird like a fishing pole = with a large fish on the line. The line appeared to be wrapped around a fru= it of the tree (or ball of seeds) that I first took for a bobber. The bird = flapped its wings from time-to-time, most definitely alive, and hopelessly = caught. What a cruel way to go. John RowManhattan, Kansas" Fishermen--pack out and properly dispose of your fishing line and especially when it has a hook attached. SeEtta

Black-throated Green Warbler in So. Texas

I finally got down to So Texas after a friend who wanted to spend some time in Colorado came to stay in my house while I'm gone. Birding has been a bit hit and miss due to frequent drizzle and light rain which has kept me from getting many photographs yet. I did enjoy birding, albeit in drizzle, at Frontera Audubon in Weslaco today. I found this Black-throated Green Warbler in a mixed flock with a Black-and-white Warbler, two Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a White-eyed Vireo, a couple of Black-crested Titmice, and a couple of Orange-crowned Warblers. At one point this mixed flock was joined by a Golden-crowned Warbler, a very rare bird that had been found at Frontera yesterday. I got a nice but brief good look at cool rare vagrant but it moved around in the scrub quickly so didn't get a chance to photograph it. I got two more very brief looks at it again but it moves around where it is was a challenge to follow. There had also been a female Crimson-collared Grosbeak found at Frontera yesterday but I didn't find it. I also spotted an Ovenbird that was also working low in the scrub not far from the Golden-crowned Warbler. SeEtta

And a third juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I found yet another juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Canon City over the week-end, this one on the grounds of The Abbey (formerly a Catholic boarding school). This one has no red on it's crown that I could see with my binoculars or in these pics so I can feel comfortable that this is a different from the other two juveniles in town as both of them have some red feathering on their crowns. This bird also shows a lot of yellow on it's belly. It is really helpful when there are obvious plumage differences on these sapsuckers as I cannot always find them in close enough time periods to indicate I am not seeing the same one in different locations as they do move around some. SeEtta

Another juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Canon City

This week-end I found this second juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Canon City. I had just seen the juvenile Yellow-bellied I had found in Centennial Park last month right before I drove to Lakeside Cemetery where I found this one. It seems most unlikely that these are the same bird as it was just about 5 minutes and over a mile between the sightings. Plus this bird moved around a lot, flying from tree to tree often while the sapsucker at Centennial Park stays in one tree unless disturbed by people in the area. I had seen some signs in the past week that there was a sapsucker working Lakeside Cemetery but the fresh sapwells are limited in number so either this sapsucker is feeding outside of the cemetery or has recently arrived. SeEtta

Photographers convicted for White-tailed Eagle disturbance

[public domain photo/myspaceraptorcenterla]RSPB: Photographers convicted for White-tailed Eagle disturbance"Two photographers have been found guilty of disturbing a pair of nesting White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Mull. Yuli Panayotov, 32, from London, and Ivaylo Takev, 36, from Norwich, were charged at Oban Sheriff Court with disturbing the breeding birds of prey near Killechronan in May 2010. The pair were fined a combined total of £1100. The court heard how police were alerted to the pair after a number of witnesses had spotted both the adult birds circling over the nest and alarm-calling. It later emerged Panayotov and Takev had erected a photography hide a short distance from the nest. Speaking following the conviction, Sheriff Douglas Small remarked that the pair had disregarded warnings from RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton and local holidaymakers. White-tailed Eagles have been the subject of a successful reintroduction to Scotland, having become extinct early in the 20th century. Their presence on Mull is a significant tourist attraction, bringing £5m to the local economy every year. The species is afforded the highest level of protection of any British bird, due to both its rarity and also its sensitivity to disturbance, particularly during the breeding season. Speaking following today's conviction Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations at RSPB Scotland, said: "We welcome this result as it sends out a clear signal that wildlife crime will not be tolerated and we thank the Procurator Fiscal and Strathclyde Police for their work on this important case." Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland's Mull Officer, added: "Mull's economy depends to a large extent on wildlife tourism and we welcome thousands of responsible, law-abiding visitors who respect and enjoy the wildlife they've come to see.; but unacceptable behaviour from people who think they are above the law and choose to disturb protected wildlife like the eagles will not be tolerated — wildlife photographers in particular need to take note." RSPB Wednesday 30th November 2011