I drove down to South Padre Island on the gulf this morning and was rewarded with great weather and 4 life birds! I did have help as I was on a guided birding tour. One of the species was a Black Skimmer.
If you look close you can see its lower bill is much longer than the upper. It feeds by flying just above the water with its long lower beak just skimming the surface and grabbing fish or shrimp! Another bird was the Clapper Rail which is a salt flats rail.
It's not a great picture but it rarely comes far out of the mangroves into the sun! On the other hand the Reddish Egret wades in shallow waters out in the open.
I did not get a picture of the Royal Tern as it flew by too quick to photo. A couple other species I got good photos of that were only added as life birds last week were the Roseate Spoonbill and the Little Blue Heron. I think you can tell which is which without a label!
To see a complete list of todays birds and more pictures, click here: South Padre Island
Glenn, I’m guessing that you intended to type SALT flats rail?
ReplyDeleteWow, what a list and so many good photos. Seems to me this birdwalk by itself justifies your long drive to get there.
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