We checked out of the Alamo and said goodbye to "our" Buff-bellied Hummingbird who lives in the bush/tree in front of our room at the Alamo Inn. He has made it through two cool nights. The bird experts say that hummingbirds are fine until their food source freezes.
We packed up, we headed to Estero Ilano Grande State Park to visit the premiere birding spot for the winter birding in the Rio Grande Valley. We also hoped to visit with birding guide volunteer Doug. Doug leaves Texas on February 14 for an adventure birding through New Mexico, California, up the PCH and across the continent back home to Ontario in time for spring migration.
We met some birder friends of Doug at Estero along with volunteer birder Huck who gave us several birding locations which we followed up. One gent introduced to us was David Junkin, the last person who has had a warbler named after him. This is a hybrid and it is called Junkin's Warbler. This bird is a hybrid between a Kentucky and a Mourning Warbler through DNA analysis. So that was really interesting. This bird is not found in any guide book. David Junkin is an expert ornithologist. He was very gracious.
We then went out to a restaurant with Doug which was fun. We forgot to take a group photo though. We returned to Estero and bid farewell to Estero and Doug with best wishes and safe travels on his adventure. From there we drove to McAllen to check into a Best Western motel 2 miles from the airport that Colleen will leave from on Saturday. The place has a pool but it is cool outside and no one wants to go swimming on a chilly evening.
We went out to look for parrots/parakeets but no luck. Maybe tomorrow morning we will try for one. The sky was overcast again today and we found that even Estero birds were quiet compared to the hot sunny day we had there last week.
Colleen, Barbr and I wore our lavender coloured shirts today and we this photo taken of the Birding Triplets for posterity and our last photo together. It was really fun having Colleen with us, going to miss her.
We packed up, we headed to Estero Ilano Grande State Park to visit the premiere birding spot for the winter birding in the Rio Grande Valley. We also hoped to visit with birding guide volunteer Doug. Doug leaves Texas on February 14 for an adventure birding through New Mexico, California, up the PCH and across the continent back home to Ontario in time for spring migration.
We met some birder friends of Doug at Estero along with volunteer birder Huck who gave us several birding locations which we followed up. One gent introduced to us was David Junkin, the last person who has had a warbler named after him. This is a hybrid and it is called Junkin's Warbler. This bird is a hybrid between a Kentucky and a Mourning Warbler through DNA analysis. So that was really interesting. This bird is not found in any guide book. David Junkin is an expert ornithologist. He was very gracious.
We then went out to a restaurant with Doug which was fun. We forgot to take a group photo though. We returned to Estero and bid farewell to Estero and Doug with best wishes and safe travels on his adventure. From there we drove to McAllen to check into a Best Western motel 2 miles from the airport that Colleen will leave from on Saturday. The place has a pool but it is cool outside and no one wants to go swimming on a chilly evening.
We went out to look for parrots/parakeets but no luck. Maybe tomorrow morning we will try for one. The sky was overcast again today and we found that even Estero birds were quiet compared to the hot sunny day we had there last week.
Colleen, Barbr and I wore our lavender coloured shirts today and we this photo taken of the Birding Triplets for posterity and our last photo together. It was really fun having Colleen with us, going to miss her.
No comments:
Post a Comment