My friend Luciano told me how much fun it was to explore the Rio Grande aboard our friends Matt and Marianna’s boat. So when I ran into them at the SPI Birding and Nature Center a few days into my two-and-a-half week tenure on the island, and they extended an invitation, I knew I would … Read more
Thursday and Friday I split my time between the SPI Birding and Nature Center, and the SPI Convention Centre. But it was my long day at the Convention Centre Thursday that proved to be the most eventful. The mornings each began at the Sheepshead Sanctuary, where I met my friend Mary. We left there after … Read more
The trip home: 2021-05-09 Day 1, Port Isabel to National Butterfly Center 2021-05-10 Day 2, NBC to Rio Grande City 2021-05-11 Day 3, Rio Grande City to Uvalde 2021-05-12 Day 4, Uvalde to Sanderson 2021-05-13 Day 5, Sanderson to El Paso 2021-05-14 Day 6, El Paso to Marana, AZ 2021-05-15 Day 7, Marana to Home … Read more
This is a three day post. With my 2021 visit in south Texas drawing to a close, I’ve been pushing my limits to maximize my opportunities to meet migrating birds. This story is about Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on South Padre Island. Besides the Convention Centre, I spent most of Thursday at the SPI Birding … Read more
I spent Sunday at South Padre Island (Texas) and couldn’t resist shooting flycatchers. For most of us interested in learning to identify birds, small flycatchers are among the most difficult groups of birds to identify in the field by sight alone. I enjoy the entire flycatcher family, but as we meet more of them, we … Read more
Addendum: I learned recently, with the help of more experienced birders, that the bird I identified as a Philadelphia Vireo was, in fact, a Warbling Vireo, and the guide I used for the original ID was misleading. Tuesday began with hardly a cloud in the sky, and barely a whisper of breeze. The crowds at … Read more
Gone were the dense clouds and drizzling rain that plagued me early Saturday. The wind and the birds remained. There seemed to be even more birds on the island than yesterday. There were also more people. My first stop on the island was a brief visit to the Sheepshead Bird Sanctuary, where I captured respectable … Read more
Well friends, I said I would limit my photo shooting time in the field to half days. The strategy would allow me to process my images and tell my stories in time to meet an every-other-day in the field schedule. I also said if a warbler fallout should happen, all bets were off. Well, it … Read more
If you are passionate about birds, I believe there is no better place to hang out than South Padre Island during spring migration. As a kid growing up near the Southern California coast, eastern birds seemed out of reach for me. But here in south Texas, most of these unreachable species pass through as they … Read more
A week before the end of April 2020 I made plans to exit Texas at the end of the month. Then I learned of several locations I’d hoped to explore, but were closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, were opening. It made sense I should check these places out before I left the region, so … Read more
