Where to Begin?

Usually, I am able to blog the same day or within a day after I go birding. This time, however, I went birding over two days down on the coast and was unable to get on the computer. In addition, I had hundreds of photos to sort through as the birding is quite good on the coastal bend--even this time of year. Because of the large number of quality birds, I have broken up this blog post into sections based on the birding location. Also, I have updated the main header with a new picture of the coast.

The first place I visited was Hans Suter Wildlife Area. This was a beatiful place to bird and a great variety of bird species were present. Perhaps my favorite bird was also the BOTD from this area--The Black Skimmer. Here I managed to get a good picture of its typical feeding behavior.



Also of note that morning was this wonderful Wood Stork.



Unfortunately, he was a little far out for the lens, so the photo does not match how absolutely unique this bird is. To me, he is a cross between a Great Egret and a Turkey Vulture.

Also, rare for this time of year was this Ring-billed Gull.



Here he is seen with a crab in his mouth. Later, I came back to this spot and found this Tricolored Heron. I captured the following series of him catching and eating a fish. It reminded me of the snakes we kept as kids.










Mustang Island State Park

As you can tell from the new header photo, the view of the coast from Mustang Island State Park is beautiful. I was there on a Monday morning and I was the only person on the beach. The only other thing around was this group of gulls and terns. We stood for a few minutes, it seems, both enjoying the view.







This particular photo is of a Sandwich Tern and two Royal Terns. The key distinguishing fieldmark between the two being the beak color. In this next photo there is also a Caspian Tern.

Between the various locations I birded, I also saw Forster's Terns and Least Terns.

Packery Channel Park

Of all the places I went, Packery Channel was probably the least active with birds. Most likely, this was due to the boaters and fishermen in the water. But just across the road I was lucky to find this Osprey with a nice catch.

This next one is not a great photo, but it's a pretty good look at how these birds rotate the fish lengthwise in flight in order to decrease drag. You can see this alignment taking place as the Osprey is taking off.

Mollie Beattie

The last place I visited was one of the more interesting. From the road it does not appear as a prime spot, but once I started the walk down the sandy road I was pleasantly surprised. The first bird I spotted was this Long-billed Curlew.

From the edge of the trail I was teated to the sights and sounds of Eastern Meadowlarks and this Horned Lark.

All in all, it was a great summer trip to the coast. I saw and photographed a great deal of birds, as well, that are not in this post. To see many more photos from this trip click here.