I had a great time on the 29th communing with a visiting celebrity in Corpus Christi!!
If you haven’t heard, this is a Kelp Gull born about 1 year ago in the southern hemisphere (South America most likely). Very impressive bill (compared to Herring in pic).
Bat Falcon — That’s him on top of the telephone pole just left of the water tower. Got him after about 15 micro-seconds of very dedicated and difficult searching. We saw the Social Flycatcher too, but all my pix (from the scrum) were of Kiss-Katies.
Spent some time under a tree next to Lake Sommerville yesterday. Had 500-600 White pelicans, a smattering of gulls (Franklin’s & Ring billed) and 5 species of shorebirds For the 2024 Shorebird class: Can you ID the shorebirds and tell me why? (Feel free to review Eric’s fine table)
Gull #5 (same date location). Species? Age? Gull #5 First cycle Ring-billed with pretty advanced feathers on the back – lot of adult gray coming in. Also note shape is perfect for ring bill.
Gull #2 from Cedar Point today (for the gulls class of 2024) Pretty straight forward 1st cycle Herring gull. Notice the inner primary “window” with some light shining through. Also compare width of wing at base (where it meets body), all brownish-gray plumage and snout like pulled-taffy. As a larger gull, the wingbeats of this…
Who wants to play Empid? All but 1 of these pix was taken in September 2023. Most were taken at the Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas during Shorebirds Field Trip. There are 4 species. Your task (should you choose to accept it) is to tell me which species and give at least 3 observations…
Distant Snail Kite you may have heard of at Lake Sommerville SP this morning. Only 144 species or so more to go in Texas.
