Spring in MO

We are back in MO enjoying some beautiful spring weather, although after being in the summer like temps of TX I find myself in sweatshirts for most of the day.

We went to Watkins Mill today to see if the Red Shoulder Hawk was in it's nest, but the nest is gone so I guess they have moved to another neighborhood.

Watkins had their Spring on the Farm weekend so we enjoyed visiting with the volunteers and watching the demonstrations.

It is always interesting to visit Watkins, we did see a couple of Yellow rump Warblers and a female Baltimore Oriole.

Tomorrow the weather turns cloudy and cooler but we are going to join up with a birding group at Squaw Creek.

Have a good weekend!!

Searching for the Black-cap Vireo

We left Hummingbird Cove Sunday and stopped in Lexington for a couple of nights. We decided to look for two birds that are endangered and are known to nest in the Balcones Canyonlands NWR.
We found the Golden-cheeked Warbler on our first try, unfortunately Ken didn't have his camera ready so this is the photo I took, our only photo of it.
We tried several times to get the Black-cap Vireo, Ken did spot it but no photos.
We did get a photos of a new lizard to us and watched a snake devour a Texas spiny lizard.
We head north again tomorrow.

Happy Easter

Wishing you all a happy Easter!!

We may be on the road then, not sure yet, Ken may not feel like driving in the wind predicted but it has been windy most every day here.

Up early this morning cleaning up a cat mess, we may have another sick cat not sure.

We have been seeing a couple of bird migrants over at the island besides all the Mexicans who visit the island during holy week. We have even spotted a couple of new birds to add to our list such as the Western Tanager, Least Bittern (not a migrant) and Blackpole Warbler.

As you see we have had a good winter birding and my life list is up to 385 species with a Texas list for this winter of 225 and counting.

We had another first this week, we saw our first Coral snake at Ramsey park. It is poisonous but not an aggressive snake.

Enjoy the Easter holiday, til next time have a good one.

Some numbers

The Hawk Watch for Santa Ana is done for another year, we had a good time doing it and made some very good friends as well.The rapture numbers were down this year,

We had a over 18,000 Broadwing Hawks, 850 Swainson Hawks, 2000 Mississippi Kites and 2900 Turkey Vultures. These are the main raptures which migrate thru the valley.

Our biggest day was March 27 with over 7,000 birds.

I totaled up the number of species we saw in Ramsey this season, so far it is 64.

We saw our first Worm-eating Warbler there this week!! We saw both of these birds on the island this week, our first Painted Bunting and Varied Bunting.

We are going back to the island this weekend to see if any more migrates have stopped there.

I let you know if we see any!!

Til then, have a good one.

SPI migration anticipation

Monday night we had a cool front past thru which could mean a warbler fall out on the island, so Tuesday we head on over.

There weren't many warblers in fact the birds seen had been spotted there for several days already. There were more photographers then birds but we did get some good shots of the Blue wing Warbler, Sandwich Terns, American golden Plover and Least Tern which are all new birds we can add to our list for this year.

There is another cool front this Monday so we will go back to see if there are any new warblers taking a rest on the island.

Tuesday was a beautiful day for a little fishing!! A great day for sunbathing!! And everyday is a good day to do a little people watching!

We are still doing the Hawk Watch, it's getting a little warm the last three days have been in the high 90's. The hawks are waiting til past noon to pass over us and they are way up high and hard to see.

Our RV park is almost empty now, there may be 15 of us left and it's very quiet unless the mockingbirds and owls start conversing early in the mornings.

More next week, have a good one.

One Crazy Week

No we are not in London, we are still in the RGV enjoying some very warm weather.

I am still trying to figure out what to do about my email, I can not get to my email account and I was surprised I could still get to my blog and facebook but I guess have nothing to do with hotmail.

The same day my email was hacked, I misplaced my RV keys I did find them but the day felt like someone was playing April fools on me but it wasn't April yet.

We are still helping with the Hawk Watch at Santa Ana, Thursday we meet at one the the watchers home and had a BBQ after our watch. It was fun, it happened to be the day everything happened to me so it was a long day.

Today we helped with the trash cleanup at Ramsey Nature Park, we personally picked up two bags of trash walking the trails. The Harlingen Audubon had a good turn out for the clean up and with the new trash barrels maybe it will stay a little cleaner. After lunch we went to SPI to see what was happening there, the warblers are starting to migrate though. They migrate at night on the south winds and when the wind changes to the north they fall out and rest. Today we saw several Northern Parulas, a Hooded Warbler, an Orchard Oriole, a Louisiana Waterthrush and a Yellow bellied Sapsucker. The Tri color Herons are all decked out in the breeding plumage. We also saw several species of terns which we are still trying to ID.

At the Hawk Watch we also keep a record of the other birds we see, usually we have a list of 45 or more species on the list.

The hawks are now migrating in larger numbers, we are looking forward in seeing our first good look at a Mississippi Kite which are now starting their migration.

Til next week, have a good one.