Puerto Peñasco, Mexico: Day 2

Our focus for the second day was going to be the Choya Bay area which is just a short drive north of the condos area and the roads are all sand.  There is a bit of a trick to birding this area to get the most bang for the buck; check the tide charts before exploring the area.  Choya Bay is a fairly shallow bay, but it is wide and covers a very large area.  The ideal time is low tide, when you can walk out into the bay and have a lot of shore birds foraging on exposed sandbars or rocks.  Expect to get your feet wet in the process, but it is so worth it as you never know what might fly in while you are wandering around.

During our visit, we found 5 species of plovers; Killdeer (which I did not photograph), Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover (another one that I did not photograph), Snowy Plover, and Black-bellied Plover.  It is fun to see all these species and be able to make comparisons among them.

Wilson's Plover

 Snowy Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Of course there were many more shore birds than just plovers.  How about American Oystercatchers? They are always a favorite of mine and they look a bit bizarre, but very stunning dressed in black and white with a red bill.

 American Oystercatcher

The Willet is a very common bird in this area and when looking at one standing around on the mud or in the water, they appear to be very boring to look at in the dingy grayish-brown plumage.  However, when they take flight, it is a whole different story as they then show how flashy they really are.

Willet

 Willet

Another shore bird that was in fairly high numbers was the Surfbird.  It too, shows amazing wing patterns when in flight.

 Surfbird

Surfbirds in flight

A couple more shore birds, then we will move on to some different species.  Ruddy Turnstones were quite numerous as were Long-billed-Curlews.

 Ruddy Turnstone

Long-billed Curlew

The next bird on the list was truly an amazing experience.  As we were observing all the shore birds in and around the water, we looked up to see an incoming bird in flight, a Magnificent Frigatebird!  My first sighting of this species was in Chiapas, Mexico, last July as a couple were seen at a distance far up in the sky.  This one in Puerto Peñasco, kept flying towards us a a fairly low altitude and it was a male.  What a sight to be able to get some decent photos of this pirate of the seas.

 Magnificent Frigatebird

What a wonderful day of birds we had.  Will close out this post with a shot of a House Finch, which is not a bird that I spend a lot of time photographing as they are very common, but I liked the yellow coloration of this one instead of the more common red color.  And it just happened to take flight during my photos which created an even better photo.

House Finch

Evening presented us with a fabulous sunset in Puerto Peñasco.  A fitting close to the day.

The third and last day, which will be upcoming on my next and last post, covered a new area to explore.  

  

Texas: 2nd Day, Part 2

Too many birds in one day to include all in one post, so this second part is going to focus more on waterbirds and another previously mentioned bird.  At noon, the Houston Audubon Society had another field trip and this one took us to the actual Gulf Coast and some great water birds.  First stop was Rollover Pass and the first birds we found up close and personal, were some Ruddy Turnstones.  This is one gorgeous shorebird and can really stand out in a crowd of other shorebirds.  We were so close we could see the awesome coloration of the legs and feet.  Love the black lines on the feet and the black 'knees'.

Ruddy Turnstone

Additional shorebirds included Black-bellied Plover and Wilson's Plover.    

Black-bellied Plover

Wilson's Plover

We had a total of 7 species of terns at this location, plus a Black Skimmer and of course some gulls and a few other shorebirds.  All of them were resting quite comfortably on the sand bar until an unexpected Broad-winged Hawk decided to make a brief appearance in the sky and that created pandemonium with all the birds taking flight but to return very shortly after the hawk disappeared.  

 Various terns

 Royal Tern

Broad-winged Hawk

At one brief stop near the shore, we had another 'Common' Nighthawk sitting on the ground.  Having never seen this species before this trip, now I had seen one the day before in flight, one in the morning at High Island on a wire, and now a third one resting on the ground in broad daylight.  (Be prepared to see more on a couple future posts as this was not the end of seeing this very unique bird.)

Common Nighthawk

So now back to High Island and this time my focus was to check out the rookery in Smith Oaks Woods in the afternoon.  This spot is a photographer's dream in late afternoon in spring with all the nesting and breeding birds.  They have built some great platforms that gives photographers great viewing with an abundance of subjects for your photography skills.  Here is a sampling of what I was able to capture.

 Cattle Egret

 Great Egret with chicks

Neotropic Cormorant with chicks

 Purple Gallinule

 Tricolored Heron

Tricolored Heron

 Roseate Spoonbill

 Roseate Spoonbill on nest with egg

Roseate Spoonbill

By the time this day had come to a close for me and my birding I had added a total of 15 new life birds.  Some were not photograph-able, but I did get some good looks at some.  When birding with a group, photos are always not going to happen as it is quite enjoyable to let others see these birds as well.  List for the day includes; Dickcissel, Tri-colored heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Broad-winged Hawk, Tennessee Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Golden-winged Warbler, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Hooded Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.  Not a bad day at all.  

Rocky Point, 2nd post.

On Thursday morning, April 26th,  I had decided I wanted to find Cholla Bay and get there before low tide which was recommended by some other experienced birders, but low tide was not until about 11:00 am, so I went back out to Sandy Beach which is where the condo was situated and quickly found some more fun birds.  Probably the biggest surprise was a Wilson's Warbler found around the condo's grass and bushes near the pool.  I have seen these hyper-active little birds many times, but they are usually in dense vegetation of trees and since Rocky Point does not have much for trees, except palm trees, this one was spending time in the very small bushes and landed on the lawn just long enough to capture a couple of photos.  Cute little birds and always nice to find.

Wilson's Warbler

From there I continued down to the beach and found quite a few birds on the beach already.  The photo is a Willet which was a new bird for me and once I found them, they were all over the place and when they fly, their wing pattern is unmistakable. 

Willet



I also encountered a small group of 8 Sanderlings and mixed in was a bird that was colored very differently.  It took me awhile to figure out that it was a Dunlin.  Now I have seen Dunlin before in Arizona, but always in their non-breeding plumage.  I had never seen one in breeding plumage, so it looked much different than what I was used to.  Really glad I was able to capture a photo of this one as they are quite colorful.  The slightly downturned bill and the black belly are key indicators.

Dunlin

From here I finally ventured out to find Cholla Bay and did not have much difficulty in that department.  I got there just before low tide and heading down the rocks to the beach area and immediately came upon a Whimbrel, which was another new life bird for me.  This bird did was mostly in the escape mode as it did not stop to allow me to get a head on photo.  The shape of the bill is unique, with its down curved bill it slightly resembles a Long-billed Curlew.  But the Whimbrel's bill is much shorter and there are other differences that help to identify it along with a bit different habitat.

Whimbrel



The diversity of birds found on Cholla Bay was very impressive.  It seemed that I would find something new and watch and catch some photos of that and then turn around and find another new bird had flown in nearby.  Found a lone 'peep' by itself that did not stand out and just shot a few photos to look at later and when I processed the photos I discovered it was a Black-bellied Plover still in winter plumage.  Did not spend too much time looking at the plover in the water as I was more distracted by a pair of Ruddy Turnstones that flew in.  This was a very nice find and had been one on my wish list.  Breeding plumage is very distinctive.

Black-bellied Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Next new birds that made an appearance were Marbled Godwit with their upturned bills and a flock of Red Knots that seemed content to just rest in the water. 

Marbled Godwit

Red Knot

And finally a pair of Semipalmated Plovers stopped by rounding out an incredible morning on Cholla Bay at low tide.  The number of terns was also very high, but have decided to do another post later on to cover some of the many terns I found.

Semipalmated Plover