Photo upgrades of Species I had seen before going to Texas

 

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

 Texas isn't just full of exotic birds. Texas is roughly half way between the Atlantic coastline (it is on the gulf) and Pacific coast. The area around the Rio Grande Valley is sub-tropical. It stands to reason that birds from the east, west, and south would be able to find homes for the winter. As we all know, many species "fly south for the winter". For many of those species, Texas is home. While we were in Texas we saw many of the species we regularly see in MA/RI. Cardinals were at many feeders. I saw Pied Billed Grebes on ponds. Besides the Texas hawk species, I saw Red Tailed, Coopers, and Red Shouldered Hawks. Many duck species spend the winter in Texas.

    While we were there, I got photo upgrades of six species I had previously seen.  The first was a White Winged Dove. They are a southwestern species and very common there. One showed  up at Beavertail a couple years ago. It was feeding on the ground fifty feet away. In the photo I got on vacation the dove landed ten feet from me. 

None of the photos below are cropped. None have had any editing of light, filters, or A1 at all.

Short explanations of each of the species below.

 White Winged Dove

  I had seen Roseate Spoonbill in New Jersey and Florida. I have never seen one in Rhode Island, however one shows up in the northeast every couple years so it could happen. I had gotten decent photos of Spoonbills at Ding Darling in Florida. When we went to the Birding Center on South Padre Island, three Spoonbills were right next to the boardwalk. This is the best photo I got of them. I should have taken many more. They flew ten minutes after we got there. There were so many birds of different species, I wanted to see them all.

Roseate Spoonbill

Common Galinule

Common Galinule show up every year in Rhode Island. Only one or two are usually seen and it is usually at Trustom Pond. This one was at the same birding center and was only feet from us. It was feeding the entire two hours we were there both in and out of the water.

Northern Pintail

   These photos below are probably my favorite photo upgrade. Northern Pintails are my favorite species of duck. I saw them from only a few feet away on a boardwalk in perfect light. I could have watched them for hours but like the Spoonbill, so many things to see.

Great Blue Heron

Obviously, Great Blue Herons are really common. I got these photos of one actively fishing. It was only feet away from the boardwalk 

Long Billed Curlew

  I had seen one Long Billed Curlew in the prairie of South Dakota in 2016. It was far away and most of its body was hidden by grass. This is not a great set of photos but much better than I had. It was taken from the boat on a Whooping  Crane tour.