We hit up the week-long Winter Outdoor & Wildlife Expo.
This is the 22nd annual Expo – our favorite part was the raptor
exhibit where we saw at least a dozen large raptors, only feet away from us. We
saw four Falcons native to Texas, a Crested Caracara which we had seen wild at
the Brownsville landfill, and several owls, many of them native to Texas. My
favorite was likely the Snowy Owl, even though it was not a bird native to
Texas.
Since we were already at the Birding Center, we headed out
onto the boardwalk to see if we could spot any new birds. This Couches King
Bird qualified as new to us in South Padre Island. We used to see these
frequently in Port Aransas, but had yet to see one down here.
We had a really hard time figuring this one out. The shape
of this bird we spotted off our sunset deck looked like many of the herons or
egrets we had seen. But the colors didn’t match anything in the Audubon book we’ve
been using as our bible. I decided to try out our Sibley Guide to Eastern North
America, and bingo! This is an adolescent White Ibis! As it grows to adulthood
its feathers will turn white, except for the black tips of it’s wings. Who
knew!
Talk to you soon!
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