Port Aransas Big Sit 2017-04-30

Yesterday I participated in the Big Sit division of the Great Texas Birding Classic in my hometown Port Aransas, Texas. The Port Aransas Spoonbills' team site is the observation tower at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. We had good luck with the weather -- after days of strong south winds, the night before our Big Sit the wind turned around and blew from the north all day long.

Watching a day go by from a single spot is an amazing experience that I didn't know about before participatingin a Big Sit. It's surprising how many species of birds you see. (Almost every year we see over 100.) We were treated to multiple waves of north-bound migrating birds flying over our brackish marsh site. Franklin's Gulls, Baltimore Orioles, and five kinds of swallows were the most numerous. But there were also kingbirds, buntings, Chimney Swifts, and many small songbirds we couldn't identify as they whizzed by on their way to their breeding grounds.

Here's one of the groups of Franklin's Gulls that we got to see go by. This was the only group that actually came down for a drink, and the only group that I noticed had their pinkish breeding color.

Here are more photos on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikael_behrens/albums/72157681436308860/

And attached are the same photos as observations.

Posted on Μάιος 01, 2017 1154 ΜΜ by mikaelb