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Antshrike's Bird Blog: March 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Tuesday, March 25, 2014. South Padre Island, 3/25/14. After reading Michael Marsdens post on Texbirds last night I decided I needed to get out to the Island. The wind was still blowing from the north and it was a very good day for March with eleven species of warblers. My favorite was this super sharp Blue-winged Warbler that I saw saw quite a few times but it took a couple of hours to finally get a photo. Yellow-throated Vireos pass through here ...
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: October 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Sunday, October 26, 2014. Sabine's Gull, Brown Booby at Boca Chica Jetty, 10/26/14. I missed yesterday's pelagic birding trip out of South Padre Island yesterday mostly because it filled up so fast and I wasn't on the ball. But I didn't mind as I had a really good butterfly day. You bet it was! Cameron County bird #377! It's a Brown Booby! This Franklin's Gull was easy to pick out among the Laughing Gulls. Links to this post. Sal del Rey, 10/15/14.
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: Estero Shorebirds, 5/7/15
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2015/05/estero-shorebirds-5715.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Thursday, May 7, 2015. Estero Shorebirds, 5/7/15. There were quite a few Least Sandpipers around, The yellow legs and long drooping bill give them away. This one is redder than the field guides show. The second is a little less red. They are brown during the winter. The black legs and short, thicker bill make this a Semipalmated Sandpiper. You can also make out the partial webbing between the toes. The Stilt Sandpipers are easy to ID in the spring.
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: September 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Monday, September 29, 2014. A couple of weeks in the Philippines, 9/9-25/14. A bare tree in the vacant lot next door would attract birds passing though the neighborhood, but they would often get chased away by the wintering Brown Shrike. When the shrike wasn't looking, three species of munias would feed in the grass. Most common was the Chestnut Munia. The third commonly seen munia was the White-bellied Munia. One weekend we traveled over to the o...
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: August 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Sugar House Pond, 8/25/14. I checked out the Sugar House Pond this morning hoping to find some good Hidalgo County stuff. The pond is a 40 acre impoundment for the effluent from the sugar refinery located on FM 1425 north of FM 107, and is just north of the railroad tracts. It is located on the left but is not visible from the highway. You have to climb the grassy berm and then this lies before you. Links to this post.
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: November 2013
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Saturday, November 9, 2013. Amazon Kingfisher in Cameron Co., TX, 11/9/13. Links to this post. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Amazon Kingfisher in Cameron Co., TX, 11/9/13. Sichuan, China Birding Trip, Sept 11-17, 2015. Rio Grande Valley Butterflies. East Slope of the Andes, Ecuador, 3/8-17/2016. First North American and ABA record. Listers, Come out of the closet! I have a problem. I am a lister. There. I said it. I'm not ashamed of ...Oh I know wha...
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: June 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Monday, June 30, 2014. Brown Booby at Port Isabel, 6/30/13. On closer inspection it appears our booby is a bit beat up. I hope it survives. Scarlet said the earlier booby made a living off of the local shrimp boats. We checked out a shrimp boat but found only a bunch of Laughing Gulls and a couple of Brown Pelicans. Links to this post. Tuesday, June 17, 2014. Old Port Isabel Road, 6/16/14. Yesterday I made my annual run out to Old Port Isabel Road...
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: July 2014
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2014_07_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Friday, July 4, 2014. Youngsters at Yturria Brush, 7/4/14. This 4th of July I decided to head over to the Yturria Brush tract of the Lower Rio Grande NWR to check out the butterflies. Of course I checked out the birds too. There were not many things singing but the summer crop of young birds were very much in evidence. Pishing is not always effective on adults but it gets young birds really excited. Here's a young Verdin. Is this a thrasher? Subsp...
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Antshrike's Bird Blog: March 2015
http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
Birding in the Rio Grande Valley and sometimes elsewhere. Sunday, March 8, 2015. South Padre Island, 3/8/15. With rainy weather ahead in the forecast, Honey and I ran out to South Padre Island so see if any early migrants were around. There was a Hermit Thrush at the Valley Land Fund's Sheepshead lot that had thus far avoided confrontation with this Cooper's Hawk. My first Least Bittern of the year only gave me a quick shot. A couple of male Red-winged Blackbirds were trying to out-display one another.
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