Another Splendid Day of Birding on the Island

Skip and I went to the Convention Centre this morning in hopes of seeing some migratory birds.

Some black-bellied whistling ducks were feeding in the grassy area.

Out on the Laguna, was a lone reddish egret.

This summer tanager was a lifer for me.

There were a few immature ibis wandering around. This one was quite the acrobat at the top of a tall tree.

Someone told us this was a lark sparrow.

Across one of the ponds was this green heron. With the light this bright, my little point-and-shoot 30x zoom camera takes pretty amazing shots considering how far away I was.

Across the freshwater pond were about 90 cattle egrets and the odd snowy egret.

We then went over to the Birding Center next door.  Out from the boardwalk towards the Laguna Madre were about 110 more cattle egrets.

Several marbled godwits were feeding.

I keep finding these anoles in the craziest spots.

Along the boardwalk railing, this pair of willets noisily flew up and posed for us.

The white morph reddish egret let us get very close before it flew off.

Killdeer

Lesser Yellowlegs

Skip spotted the scissor-tailed flycatcher on an overhead wire on our way back to the parking lot. It is one of my favourite birds.

I always check the butterfly garden for something new. Today I saw this very small, blue butterfly. The butterfly field guide tells me it is a Reakirt's Blue butterfly. I didn't get a shot with its wings open. Another lifer for me.

The red lady beetle doesn't have any spots.

We are going to be doing a lot of birding this week as it is our last week here and we want to take it all in before we head back home.

We sure love it here.