More from the December visit to South Padre Island, USA. This island is located at the very southern most tip of Texas. We visited nearby Brownsville to allow my husband to see if he could locate a buddy from his Army days. No luck on the buddy but we did get to go through an immigration check point that was several miles within the border. We had not crossed to border into Mexico. Kinda strange to be asked if we are US citizens on a highway inside the US. Sign of the times.
I have done my best to identify the birds but, please, let me know if any are misidentified. Still working on focus with fast moving objects. Birds are fast moving objects.
As I am a senior citizen the term old coot is now a common description of myself. I do think this American Coot has its own kind of simple beauty.
Avid birders will post the common moorhen. I have not spent much time in the areas the common moorhen live so it was fun to see the antics of this breeding adult try to get the weed off of its back.
After dunking and dunking several times the poor bird just gave up and started swimming.
Finally the lovely common moorhen was able to rid itself of the weed. Well, it basically just slipped off its back.
Nearby was a moorhen displaying non-breeding coloring according to the Silbey Field Guide. Well, the best I can tell.
To close today’s visit the last birds I will share are the mottled duck and Northern Pintail . These birds were not close and lots of movement so I apologize in advance for the quality.
And here is a group doing some preening. You might see a reflection of some of next weeks post in this last photo of the Northern Pintail.
Make sure you visit all the wonderful birders over at Wild Bird Wednesday
Thanks to host Stewart M.
A beautiful selection of cracking birds in this post.
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We captured all of these at the same birding center. Thanks for your kind comment.
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Great collection of birds and sightings.. The Moorhen is one of my favorites.. And the cute Spotted Sandpiper.. have a happy day!
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I am just beginning to learn all these names. Now to recognize them on a regular basis.
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Looks like the birds are all identified. I’ve never heard of either of these, although I probably have seen them, and now I know from your pictures what they look like! Thanks, Janice.
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Thanks, Linda. I did not know any of them when I took the photos. Had to look them all up in books and on the internet.
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j’adore aussi les observer
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Thanks for stopping by to see the photos. Pleased you liked.
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Some great finds! I really like the mottled duck shot – so pretty.
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Thanks, Carletta. Pleased you enjoyed the post.
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Nice shots of the birds. They move really fast.
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Thanks, Rajesh.
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Great photos!
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Thanks, Lea.
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Nice shots! Poor moorhen with its hitchiker. Love your comment about the coot…we are all old coots, I guess. 🙂
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Thanks, Marie. It took several minutes to for the moorhen to rid itself of the weed.
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just another old coot enjoying your coots…
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