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

A Different Kind of "Bird"

Never could nail an id on this one...

Seen at Padre Island National Seashore.

Long-billed Curlew

Nebraska weather is a shock to the system after a month and a half on the Texas coast. Hit dense fog about 80 or 90 miles from home. Because of the fog it was a bit difficult to see some things, but there is still some snow in shaded areas and areas where the snow has melted looks pretty sloppy. Couldn't see very far down country (gravel) roads, but they looked pretty muddy also. I would suspect most of the farmers are hoping for some dry, warm, and probably windy weather, so that their fields will be dry enough for planting, when that time comes around. Alternatively they might have to consider planting rice this year!

I spent a day at Padre Island National Seashore in mid-February. The National Seashore is at the north end of Padre Island. I captured this Long-billed curlew foraging.

He puts that long bill to good use


And gets his prey