Ringing in 2016....

The American Birding Association's Bird of the Year for 2016....drum roll please!!!
Chestnut Collared Longspur

Only one day into the new year, and I sighted a 'new' bird! At least new since our decade living in Arizona. Along the Sonoran Desert landscape of USA's Southwestern states and our travels through Old Mexico, this bird was spotted just about everywhere we went...even our Tucson back yard. But in the last eleven years, this is the 'first' I've seen one here in Texas. With my luck, it was on an overcast, dreary, gray day, with no good lighting for photos; not to mention a far distance from the trail I was traversing. The bird I sighted is closely related to the Northern Cardinal of North America. Yet, there are distinguishing markings, colors, and shapes that separate them from the cardinal. First, the beak.  With  cardinals, the beaks of both genders are red/pink. The cardinal has dark to black throats and around the eye. And the crest is all red. Tho, never mentioned in guide books, I've seen a difference in leg color also...the cardinal is more deep pink  to charcoal [as seen here] while the bird I spotted on New Year's Day had pale gray legs, the color of the over-all body. So, the difference in the Northern Cardinal and the bird I spotted a fleeting moment before it flew off is this: Yellow, dingy, beak. Higher, longer crest tipped in red. No black on the face. And MUCH grayer over-all. Oftentimes it's dubbed the Mexican Cardinal. The bird: PYRRHULOXIA. [pronounced peer uh LOX ee-ah]

I only managed to get two photos before it disappeared into the brush...


PYRRHULOXIA -female [the MALE has a bright, red, dappled breast]
photos taken: Charlie's Pasture North - Port Aransas, Texas
habitat map: Pyrrhuloxia


With the rainy, gray day, not many birds showed activity!! Other birds seen that day -


WHITE FACED IBIS - ROSEATE SPOONBILL
photos taken:  Mustang Island
habitat maps:  Ibis - Spoonbill


GREEN WINGED TEAL [female] - TRI-COLORED HERON
photos taken:  Mustang Island
habitat maps:  Teal - Heron


GREAT EGRET
photos taken:  Mustang Island
habitat map:  Egret


MYRTLE WARBLER - BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON
photos taken:  Mustang Island
habitat maps:  Warbler - Heron


WHITE PELICANS - LESSER YELLOWLEGS
photos taken:  Mustang Island
habitat maps:  Pelicans - Yellowlegs



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