Texas 22 - First Half Summary (1)

OK. If you recall I started with a Tuesday morning near San Antonio at Goverment Canyon S.P.. Like most things in Texas it's a HUGE area. My motive was to try for the elusive Black-capped Vireo (which I've never managed to get a decent photo of). Having talked to a member of staff it soon became apparent this wasn't going to happen, as the eBird reports came from a private area! So..we quickly headed for SPI.

Sites visited on the Island between April 12th and 20th...

Birding Centre 

As you can see if you click the link, there are 9 sites in the RGV of which this is one of them. The down side is you have to pay on each visit...so I only went once! Worth a visit but the next site is better.

Convention Centre

This site was the main focus for me and where I saw most of "my" Birds. Suitable habitat is limited on the Island which obviously concentrates tired and hungry migrants. The area is relatively small but there's still enough areas in which to "find your own". Many people are just interested in photos and wait on the walkway for Birds to appear. Not for me. I prefer patrolling the trees, bushes and lawns. I admit to taking the odd pic! I saw 91 species here during our 9 day stay.

Sheepshead Lot

This normally productive site was VERY disappointing on my visits. 303 species have been recorded here! I only managed 19 species. That's the way it goes!!

Residential Streets

Two visits here for Painted Redstart...

and Townsend's Warbler...

Two bonus West Texas beauties at the end of my stay! Last afternoon and final morning! More detail on the relevant Blog Posts. 

An afternoon at Laguna Atacosta was nostalgic, if not that productive, although there's always something to see...

I also had a couple of days further West, visiting Estero Llano, Santa Ana and Bentson S.P. Again, more on the relevant pages.

Tomorrow I'll post some more pics (not too many hopefully) to brighten things up...