Introducing the quintessential bird of the Rio Grande Valley......the Green Jay! The range of this brilliantly blue, green, and yellow boldly-patterned tropical species just barely stretches into southern Texas. I generally have a thing for corvids, but this one really takes the cake! Their flocks are noisy and conspicuous but how could one ever tire of seeing their bright yellow/blue/green/lime flashes as they maneuver through the Tamaulipan thornscrub of the Valley?
#greenjay #rgvbf #rgvbf2019 #ebird365
Thanks goodness that my eagle-eyed friend @cboyddovideo joined me in the Rio Grande Valley. How else would I have spotted this supremely camouflaged and impressively adorable tropical nightjar? The Common Pauraque is the only fully resident U.S. nightjar. At dawn and dusk they forage for insects, during the day they roost on the forest floor where they are nearly invisible. #rgvbf #commonpauraque #santaananwr #rgvbf2019 #ebird365
I am about to hop on a flight to the Rio Grande Valley and I fear that, once I arrive, those summer photos I have been neglecting are going to quickly take an even more distant back seat! So, to relieve my photo backlog anxiety, here are a few of the pelagic birds we were lucky to see off the coast of Vancouver Island and the Cleland Island Ecological Reserve (...those I managed to snag between bouts of seasickness. I’m a pelagic wimp!). 👉 1. Breeding colony of Common Murre, 2. Rhinoceros Auklet with its characteristic breeding “horn”, 3. Tufted Puffin, 4. Pigeon guillemots, 5. Black Oystercatcher, 6. A raft of Rhino Auklets with a dreamy backdrop....
For the record, I truly loathe Iceplant. But, I LOVE Black Phoebes and the beautiful blue of the Pacific, so please indulge me this photo. #ebird365 #calnatshare #audubonca #blackphoebe
