Birding February 13 on SPI

This morning we went out for breakfast, then shopping in Port Isabel. On the way back to the island, we noted that the tide was going out and decided to head right to the Birding Center. We didn't have anything in the car that needed refrigeration so off we went.

Aside from the usual 'suspects' great blue herons, osprey, etc. we spotted this cormorant drying its wings in the sun. This was the best picture of the cormorant I took. Unfortunately a rock dove (pigeon) was behind one of its wings.

Along the waterway, the spotted sandpiper was seen. I guess he's a resident as we've seen him every time we've visited the birding centre.

A little while later I spotted him resting near the water.

Out from the boardwalk that juts out into the Laguna, we spotted lots of (aptly named) yellowlegs.

Nearby, several willets were working the shallows as well. This one looked quite scruffy.

I took this shot of the yellowlegs with my 'sport' setting. It darkened the picture and didn't seem to really be any clearer than on the idiot proof automatic 'iA' setting.

They were so close I couldn't resist taking lots of photos.

I only saw one of the baby gators today.

Over by the last bird blind, a big gator was floating around. We think it is the mama gator as it's not as large as the big one we saw yesterday.

I got a good shot of the blue-wing teal.

Back in the parking lot, I spotted another queen butterfly.

Back inside of the center, there is always a listing on the whiteboard of what has been spotted.

We went back to the deck of the birding centre to see what was happening by the boardwalk.  The waterway is being renovated and to get through the boardwalk, a piece of it was removed.

We got to see it being put back into place quite expertly by the backhoe operator.  It will be interesting to see what changes will be occurring over the next weeks.