Return to Pollywog...

Last week I posted about a morning walk around Pollywog Ponds with photos of a Pied Billed Grebe, "Foot Shipping". Within a few day's time I made a return trip since it was the day before a storm front was to move into the area. I was hoping for a few 'different' birds. Well, I was more than happy to see what I saw. In fact one bird was a total surprise!  A new bird!!  I was on my way out of the area, walking back to where I parked the car about a mile away. And to be honest, I almost walked right on by it without noticing it perched in the tree across the feeder ditch from the larger pond. It was only about 30 feet from me and barely moving a muscle. I stopped and watched it for a few seconds, trying to identify it 'cause it was one I hadn't seen before, then realized I should attempt taking a photo of it! As I raised my camera to focus, I was sure it'd fly off without any success in recording it on 'film'. But, it remained. And after several minutes of taking photos and wracking my brain [visualizing the bird guides I have at HOME] to ID it, I finally realized it was a VAGRANT Hawk!! One that should not be in MY area, [in fact its habitat is but a very small area of west Texas-more or less the mountain ranges instead of coastal areas...and very little area of USA altogether - mostly in Mexico]. Yet there it was...all primed and beautiful!!! The hawk? A ZONE TAILED Hawk!! The most distinct IDing marks are the color, the tail [one white stripe],  and the slight rufous eye-ring. I zoomed in on the tail at one point for further referencing when I returned home. And it, the zone-tailed hawk, was confirmed by an online birding forum.  Woo-hoo!! I still can't fathom my luck that it didn't leave the vicinity...perhaps it was still digesting its prey and too heavy to fly away at that particular time...

ZONED TAILED HAWK
photos taken: Pollywog Ponds - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Hawk

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Also, that very day, in the same 'neck of the woods', I spied two other birds rarely seen. At least for me. The two other birds were....

...one spotted at a far distance across the small tributary of the Nueces River...the small white 'speck' in the center of the first photo. I zoomed in on it. The only other I've spotted of this species was in the same area, but the male. Long ago.

GREEN KINGFISHER [female]
photos taken: Pollywog Ponds - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Kingfisher

...One species I saw [for the 2nd time only since I've been birding] was another 'fluke of nature'! I had crossed the feeder ditch bridge at one point 'cause I thought I heard an owl in the distance? I first thought it was too late in the day for them to be making any calls, but it was still worth the effort to find out. I followed the song. I saw no owl, but, what I did see when I was focusing through my binoculars into the high tree, my peripheral vision caught sight of a black bird silently flying to a nearby tree across the pathway. I glanced over thinking it was a Grackle...but nope...a Groove Billed Ani!! And there were four of them flitting around. I followed one with my lens before they disappeared deeper in the wooded area.

GROOVE BILLED ANI
photos taken: Pollywog Ponds - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Ani





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