Residing by the sea has its advantages in birding!! From my keeping records of different species of birds I've photographed around the south coast of Texas it's now up to 210 and counting! What's great about the total, all but 4 of the birds spotted/photographed were within a 50 mile radius. ONE I didn't get a photo of but spotted it - that's the brown creeper; I hope to see another when I have a camera. And I do hope when sometime I'm in Houston visiting our son, I spot one on my list to see...that would be a pileated woodpecker [they're thick in that area according to the American Birding Association]. In the top collage, the first one in the upper left was a stunner. By that I mean, it looked like a sparrow, it was marked so similar....but the beak and head shape was different and had white specks on its tail and black mark on its chest unlike any I've seen before...AND it WALKED instead of hopped as sparrows do. I was in a quandary. When I got home and got my Crossley guide book, I found it. It is a sparrow. A lark sparrow. First for me!! Thing is, reading about them through the Cornell Ornithology Lab site online, these LARK SPARROWS are sparrows that take steps instead of hopping. That is what threw me off...I had never seen such an action by a sparrow before. This lark sparrow only hops with both feet during courtship if I understand correctly....
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| Lark Sparrow - Loggerhead Shrike - Killdeer - Reddish Egret -Ruby Throated Hummingbird - Brown Pelican |
Lark Sparrow - Indian Point Park - Corpus Christi/Portland, Texas > Habitat Range
Loggerhead Shrike - Pollywog Ponds - Corpus Christi/Calallen, Texas > Habitat Range
Killdeer - Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center - Port Aransas, Texas > Habitat Range
Reddish Egret - NAS [Naval Station] Oso Bay - Corpus Christi, Texas > Habitat Range
Ruby Throated Hummingbird - Paradise Pond - Port Aransas, Texas > Habitat Range
Brown Pelican - Downtown Marina - Corpus Christi, Texas > Habitat Range
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| White Ibis - Wilson's Phalarope - BLK Necked Stilt - Great Egret - Brown Pelican - Yellow Crowned Night Heron |
White Ibis - Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center - Port Aransas, Texas > Habitat Range
Wilson's Phalarope - Pollywog Ponds - Corpus Christi/Calallen, Texas > Habitat Range
Black Necked Stilt - Sunset Lakes - Portland, Texas > Habitat Range
Great Egret - Pollywog Ponds, Corpus Christi/Calallen, Texas > Habitat Range
Brown Pelicans - Downtown Marina - Corpus Christi, Texas > Habitat Range
Yellow Crowned Night Heron - NAS Oso Bay, Corpus Christi, Texas > Habitat Range
Now, share your birding experiences:
Your photos of the birds are wonderful as always !
ReplyDeleteBeautifully captured these gorgeous birds !
I wish you a great weekend :)
we get the lark sparrows here. they're so pretty and quite large, too. :) 210 is awesome!
ReplyDeletei live by the jersey shore and don't see any of these birds except the egret and the hummingbird. i see egrets but i have to really search for them, the hummers come to my feeders. pretty collages today, it's the first time i remember to join/link in and texwisgirl helped me!!!
ReplyDeleteenjoy the rest of your weekend!!!
I recognized about half of all your pictures! This is SO interesting about the Lark Sparrow! It would be so weird to see it walk. We have Pileated Woodpeckers here! A pair And have seen them many times, they are huge and impressive. But they are canny, wherever you are, they will go around to the other side of the tree trunk. I will post my pictures for you this month sometime.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos...such a pretty assortment, Anni!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful birds all of them. 210 is a LOT of different species. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images.Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
ReplyDeleteGreat series of bird images, great share!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a Lark Sparrow. I probably would have dismissed it as just another of those pesky sparrows. I'll keep an eye out come next spring. Wonderful collages.
ReplyDeleteSplendid collages. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful captures, Anni! Those black-necked stilts are fun to watch. We saw a pair when we were in Galveston this past July. I had read that about the Lark Sparrow also, that they only hop when courting. Great addition to your life list! Have a blessed week!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful collection of birds.
ReplyDeleteHi Anni. I'd be more than pleased to see just half of those birds you feature here. Like you I live very near rthe coast and it sure makes a positive impact to a list. Thanks for the birding party this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the pileated woodpecker north of Houston, but I don't have any photos. I'll be sure and let you know if I see them in or near town and where.
ReplyDeleteA nice set of bird photos - my favorites are the pelicans.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, especially the water bird collage.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of beautiful birds all over the world.
ReplyDeleteAlso you collages are great to see. Beautiful birds that are not in the Netherlands.
Cordial greetings.
You are indeed a lucky gal to have such an abundance of birds in your area. Your collages are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWow; such variety of gorgeous birds♡♡♡ It must be SO wonderful to have the environment; LOVE the collage as well.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for my belated comment.Still struggling with new PC p:)
Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*
That Lark Sparrow is striking. Although I saw them in New Mexico I was surprised to find one near our home in NE Illinois, where it is more unusual, especially away from Lake Michigan.
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