We've been doing quite a bit of birding here on the coast of Texas, The birds are everywhere and the spring migration hasn't even kicked in yet. In and around the Rockport area there are numerous birding sites ranging in size from just a few acres to thousands of acres.
Some of the birding sites have boardwalks jutting out into the water and the birds come up incredibly close - like you're not even there.
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| Boardwalk at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center |
Here are some of the birds we've been seeing captured by staff photographer, Loretta.
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| American Bittern |
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| Great Blue Heron Battling a Snake for Lunch |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Green Heron |
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| Juvenile Little Blue Heron |
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| Cute Little Pied Billed Grebe |
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| Pied Billed Grebe with Fresh Caught Crab |
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| Black Necked Stilt in Formal Wear |
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| Action Shot of Tricolored Heron Catching Dinner |
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| Black Bellied Whistling Ducks Giving Us the Evil Eye |
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| Blue Wing Teals |
It's definitely springtime here and flowers are popping up more and more every day. One place that really caught us by surprise was the Rockport Cemetery which is a field of beautiful wildflowers!
We kinda found it by accident turning down a street just to see what might be there and WOW!
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| Beautiful Final Resting Place |
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| Peaceful |
Soon the spring migration will begin as the birds start returning from points further south. They'll stop here near the coast to rest and feed before heading off to other parts of the country.
We'll start our migration soon too, as we'll be making our way west and north towards Montana and Idaho for the summer.
Here's a few bonus pictures from our birding trips these last few weeks.
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| Northern Shrike with Lizard |
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| White Eyed Vireo |
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| Female Northern Shoveler |
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| Ruddy Duck |
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| White Tailed Hawk |
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| Wilson's Snipe |
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| Female Blue Wing Teal |
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| American Bittern Stalking a meal |
Wonderful birding photos! And such a grand assortment. Fun to see so many "action" photos of the birds —you even captured the elusive bittern! Hope to catch up with you guys in Glacier this summer. :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laurel! Although the bittern was not elusive at all when we spotted it. It was in plain view and was focused on ?something? and we got to observe it for at least 15-20 minutes! Looking forward to seeing you guys.
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