One Last Laguna Atascosa NWR Post

Going to, finally, wind up the Texas posts.

One of the more fascinating birds I saw at Laguna Atascosa NWR was the Plain Chachalaca. They are large birds, 22 inches long. They seem equally at home on the ground and in tree tops. I saw them in fairly large numbers chattering away in the tree tops. Unfortunately, it was an overcast day when I attempted to take pictures of them there. These pictures were taken in the bird feeding area outside the Visitor Center. The nail you see in the pictures usually held an orange, but was empty when they checked out the area.

The chachalaca has a patch of bare skin on their throats which is gray to light pink. During breeding season that patch becomes bright pinkish red on the males. The red patch is evident on the bird in front.


Another neat bird was the Long-billed thrasher. They are very similar to the Brown thrashers that are common in this part of the world.




There are of course many pictures that were taken in New Mexico and Texas that I haven't posted here.

They can be found as follows:

The scenery of Bosque del Apache NWR
Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR
The other birds of Bosque del Apache
Scenery in Texas, January 2010
Scenery in Texas, February 2010
Birds of the Texas coast
Goose Island State Park
Aransas NWR
Padre Island National Seashore
San Bernard NWR
Laguna Atascosa NWR
Whooping Cranes

White Ibis

This White ibis was doing pretty good! He caught crab after crab in a very short period of time.

Photos taken at Goose Island State Park.

Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone

Two of the busiest shorebirds are the Sanderling and the Ruddy turnstone.

The Sanderlings seem to be almost continuous motion. There is usually a small group of them and they dart back and forth. They will forage in an area and then for no apparent reason they will fly off down the beach. There is actually a purpose to it. They are seeking stranded mollusks or crustaceans which have been left behind by receding waves.

The Ruddy turnstone also generally in small flocks. Their diet is more diverse, but they quite often also seek food left behind by receding waves.


Both photos were taken at Goose Island State Park.

Great Egret

Great egrets are also common on the Texas coast. Caught this guy "fishing" at Goose Island State Park.