Rarity Along the Coastal Bend...

If you've read any of my posts on my personal blog, Hootin' Anni's, you'd know by now that Bud and I have been chasing a certain bird that has been recorded this past month as a RARE Bird. In fact, this particular elusive bird is the FIRST ever recorded in our state. And those of us that live in Corpus Christi are the privileged ones to have it visit us. The two of us have been going out to the bay where it was spotted several times over the last three weeks in the extreme temperatures for only about 1/2 hour at a time. I know, I know, that doesn't give us much time...but I've been scolded by my physician a gazillion times to stay out of the bright, hot sun, when the heat index is above the century mark. Short times it is then. If I didn't find the bird, so be it. But, one morning, very early, we were out on the shores of the bay...tracking through the slimy muddy mudflats when another older couple was there with a scope. Still very distant from the shore. I asked if I could look through the scope to get a 'bird's eye view' of this European visitor. The kind gentleman obliged me. I then knew exactly where to point my camera with the zoom lens extended out as far as it went. The bird was active; moving swiftly as it foraged for food - keeping company with sandpipers, marbled godwits, egrets, plovers by the hundreds, sandpipers, herons and a whole slew of curlews. The sun was barely up off the Gulf's horizon and the heat was beginning to build up already. I snapped a few photos, hoping I'd captured the godwit, and then thanked them for pointing it out to us and allowing me use of their scope and then turned around a left for our long walk back to the car across the vast expanse of MORE of the mudflats and salt water plants at our encrusted, heavy mud-laden shoes.

Speaking of the mudflats, about 6 years ago, where Bud and I walked to the bird spotting...it USED to be all under water...now, with the 5 year drought, there is less and  less water requiring you walk the flats for about 1/4 mile or so to get to the shallows.  This has been the norm for this area lately. At the beginning of this post, I took a photo of my own footprint alongside a heron footprint. My shoe size is 7  [European size conversion 36.5]. HUGE bird!! 

The bird, at first only specified as the one that is found in Northern Continental Americas, and only during breeding season in the Tundra...then along came the experts in ornithology; information shared that it was of the European areas of the world. From what I see online and little tidbits in my guide books, this bird is probably going from the summer plumage to the winter colors. Heck, I was doing real well if I actually knew what I was looking for to begin this birding expedition. I've often seen the marbled species but NEVER this. Ever.  The distinguishing marks are the striped tail, the grayish legs and lighter in color than other godwits...and generally, smaller in size.

...Seriously, this godwit was all over the place -VERY ACTIVE- and hard to follow. A zoomed-in image of the rare godwit:



...and a long-billed curlew seen the same morning:




BAR TAILED GODWIT [RARE - 1st recording in Texas USA]
-take note of striped tail feather in 1st bird photos and close up  this distinguishes the "bar tail" name
photo taken: Oso Bay - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat range: Bar-Tailed Godwit of Tundra Breeding only [I couldn't find a decent European map...but read this: HERE. Ranging from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

MARBLED GODWITS  [upcurved bills]
photo taken: Oso Bay - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat range: Marbled Godwit

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER? [because of the black legs & beak?]
photo taken: Oso Bay - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat range: Semiplamated Sandpiper [comparison image]

LONG BILLED CURLEW [rufous belly & down curved bill]
photo taken: Oso Bay - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat range: Curlew

Now share your birding experiences: